The male discourse can be found in Santiago’s unquestioned patriarchal axioms:  “I will show him what a man can do and what a man endures” (66).  Implicit in Santiago’s statement is the superiority of being a man.  Throughout his quest, Santiago spits out these sorts of statements in defense of the assailing, antithetical semiotic language reverberating upward through his soul.  The rhythms of Kristeva’s Semiotic language are found in the old man’s empathetic voice.  This may seem like a contradiction for the old man generally speaks aloud, conveying his meaning in the Symbolic Order.  Yet, underlying this vocalized empathy, somewhere deep in his unconsciousness, is the realization that there is a connection between every living thing; that all life is sacred and fleeting; and he need not follow the maxims of man.