By my standards, Santiago was a huge success. You don’t always have to come back with the whole prize to be a success. Look at the movie “Rocky”. Rocky had many successes in his life. He took the title of Heavyweight Champion of the World by beating Apollo Creed, he beat Mr. T, and the Russian giant. But Rocky’s true test took place in his old age. When Mason Dixon called Rocky and asked him to fight, Rocky accepted the invitation even though he knew his chances of winning were slim-to-none. As expected, Rocky lost the fight technically, but he went a full ten rounds with an opponent that was supposed to knock him out in the first round. I call that a success, and Rocky treated it like a success, as he should have. Just like Santiago, Rocky’s wife died, and it affected him to a major extent. He kept a picture of her on his nightstand to remember her and all that she did to help him. The movie ends with Rocky at the cemetery speaking to his deceased wife about his accomplishment. He also says that he is no longer going to fight, as he stared death in the face and beat it back with a broom. Rocky and Santiago both had extremely difficult tasks before them, and even though they didn’t “win” the fight, they accomplished all that they wanted to and that is a success by anyone’s standards.