Samuel “Skiff” Beaman, Jr. is The Young Man and the Sea’s 12-year-old protagonist and first-person narrator. Skiff is hardworking, loyal, and creative, but sometimes makes decisions impulsively, leading to potentially problematic situations. He desires to help his father Skiff Sr. heal after his mother Mary Rose’s death, which demonstrates The Centrality of Family. To accomplish this goal, he embarks on a journey to catch a giant bluefin tuna in a small wooden skiff that his father built for him. This mission is difficult, given Skiff’s age, level of experience, size, and equipment, but he tries and succeeds, which illustrates The Necessity of Resilience. Always keeping in mind his mother’s advice to “never give up” (121), he does everything in his power to make money to fix the family boat—the Mary Rose—and improve his father’s spirits.

Although Skiff demonstrates resilience from the start, The Importance of Thinking Smart is a bit harder for him to internalize. Although “think smart” was one of his mother’s rules, he struggles to follow it while simultaneously following the rule of “never give up.” At times, he makes “foolish” decisions in pursuit of his goal.