Answer:
Santiago is ennobled for having managed to fight such a majestic fish. This defines his character, as someone he recognizes as a wonderful openente, besides, he already feels victorious for being able to face this openente, even if it causes his death.
Explanation:
Although you haven't shown the book that this question refers to, we can see that you have an excerpt from "The Old Man and the Sea," which is a book that tells the story of Santiago, an aging fisherman who can't catch anything for days, until he came across the most wonderful, majestic, and tough fish he'd ever seen. During this fishing, Santiago learns many concepts and begins to interpret life, the sea and fishing in different ways. These reflections make Santiago admire the fish and see him as a wonderful opponent. He feels good to be able to participate in this fishing and although he wants to kill the fish, he doesn't care if the fish kills him, because he already feels victorious.