With Santiago's left hand cramped into a claw, why does he choose not to cut the marlin loose?

A. He is tenacious and unwilling to give up.

B. He can't reach the knife at the other end of the boat.

C. He is left-handed and can't work the knife with his right.

D. He thinks the wind will change and bring them to shore.

A. He is tenacious and unwilling to give up.

Explanation:

This occurs in Part 3 of the book. In this section, we see that Santiago's hand has begun bleeding. He is not worried, as this leads him to assume that the marlin must be getting tired too. He also believes that he allowed his hand to get cut because he was distracted, and this motivates him to pay more attention and try harder. As time passes, his hand starts to get numb, and he is angry with himself. He tells his hand to turn into a claw, but knows that this will not lead him to stop. Santiago is extremely tenacious and each difficulty only encourages him to work harder.

D. He thinks the wind will change and bring them to shore.