The bond of friendship is sometimes stretched to ultimate lengths, but has an elasticity like no other. With friendship certain key factors are brought to the surface, these are essential to hold the bond together. The most important factors are honesty, trust and loyalty. A prime example of a tight bond of friendship is the sequel to the Old Man and the Sea. The sequel is called An Old Man, Young Man, and the Seaizzle. Within this sequel Santiago, the old man, and Manolin, the young man/boy, set up a business called the Seaizzle Sailors. Manolin undergoes changes from the young boy introduced to us by Ernest Hemingway into a young man.
Although Manolin’s character stays the same he makes a few judgemental errors. His first judgemental error occurs in the beginning of the sequel on his first day of work. “I was helping an injured bird.” he said quickly for he felt stupid for being delayed by a girl.” This quote is an example of how the first factor can be damaged. Even though he said this small “white lie” because he was ashamed it would have been better to tell Santiago the truth. Now he has planted a seed of doubt within the old man’s mind, making him question some things that would otherwise have been left alone. This brings us to the second important factor, trust, without trust a friendship can unravel.
The old man is just that, an old man, and it is important that he has someone he can depend on someone he can trust. Without a dependable, trustworthy person by his side the old man must do more things on his own. “Santiago checked the line to make sure it was done right, although he regretted not being able to trust the boy with such an easy task.” This quote shows that Manolin has been failing to successfully accomplish simple tasks. This is an example of how the second factor can be damaged. With Manolin slipping up on his duties as Santiago's assistant, Santiago must put his trust more in himself than in Manolin. This brings us to the third important factor in a friendship, loyalty.
Manolin has disappointed Santiago by lying to him and now fracturing his trust. With such disappointment coming from the old man, Manolin must decide to stay with him or turn to someone else. "He pictured her smiling face then the old man's sea worn one. Manolin made up his mind in that instant, he would preform his duties correctly and help the old man." This quote shows that even when he had all the reasons to leave, Manolin held loyal to Santiago and chose him over his frequent "distraction".
Throughout the sequel it is described how Manolin and Santiago have bumps in their friendship bond. Yet even though Manolin lied to the old man and had lost his trust, he still remained loyal. This just goes to show the strength of their bond and how important and essential strong bonds are. In the last few pages Manolin regains all of that by telling Santiago the truth and making the disappointments up to him. "I have something to confess," he said slowly "the reason I was late two months back was because I was talking to a girl. I never meant it to hinder our work and for that I am truly sorry." Santiago merely chuckles and tells the boy that everything was forgiven as long as he didn't have to double check the line anymore. That same day they catch a record braking marlin and everything goes back to the way it was.
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