In The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway uses the connection of Santiago’s dreams to illustrate the source of inspiration during the time of a crisis. From the dreams of women, fights, and storms, to the dreams of the lions on the African beach, an inspiration is found in those dreams as he tries to think of them when in time of need.
When Santiago had a fish on the line, and was very tired as the boat moved slowly and steadily, he began to remember a time in the past where he was in Casablanca. “As the sun set, he remembered…the time in the tavern at Casablanca when he had played the hand game with the great negro from Cienfuegos who was the strongest man on the docks.”() In this moment from the past, Santiago had won the match against his opponent after one day and one night of being very focused and using all his strength he had within himself. Santiago remembered that moment from the past “to give himself more confidence” not only in trying to get the fish that is hooked on to the line, but also to find an area where there are possibly more fish around. The crisis of his present situation is that he had a fish on the line and still did not catch it as it just kept pulling the boat, and since it has be 84 days, finding a better area for more fish to catch was just a plus on the possibility of catching a fish if not more but also to prove himself as a worthy fishermen.