Once the struggle is on, Santiago makes it clear that he will succeed in either life or death:  “Fish, I’ll stay with you until I am dead” (52).  He makes good on his word by suffering through beatings, malnutrition, and even the hopelessness of the shark’s determination in order to kill the fish and come home.                                                                   Once the skeletal backdrop of Santiago’s quest for masculinity has been identified, the conflict between his masculine and feminist discourse must be scrutinized.  It is within this dichotomy that the subversion of the meaning behind Santiago’s quest occurs.  Santiago has gone out to regain a sense of superiority over something, yet what he discovers through his suffering, is that the human man shares equally a condition of subjugation with all creatures.