Old Man and the Sea

Every day, people face many troubles and obstacles that they have to try and overcome. It can be as serious as having cancer, or as simple as missing the bus. But whatever it may be, when you overcome it, you will feel a sense of accomplishment. Like they say, you can’t enjoy a rainbow without the rain. In the novella Old Man and the Sea, by Earnest Hemingway, Santiago faces many obstacles he himself must overcome to reach his goals of catching a marlin for the first time.


Santiago befriends a young boy named Manolin, who loved going on the boat, but then his parents didn’t want to be plagued with bad luck, like Santiago, so told him go find another boat to fish on. “’Santiago,’ the boy said to him..’I could go with you again. We’ve made some money.’” ‘No,’ the old man said. ‘You’re with a lucky boat. Stay with them.’”(10) Santiago continues to tell the boy that he can’t take him on the unlucky boat although he was the one to teach him how to fish. I think that Santiago really did him. I think it was wise for Santiago not to keep Manolin for himself, because Manolin could have not benefited from the experience as much as he needed too. It makes me feel that Santiago is thoughtful and sincere.


When Santiago goes to sea in hopes of catching a marlin, his left hand is suddenly cramping, and his hand is locked in position. He hasn't eaten in four days, and catches a raw fish and eats it as it is. “I will eat it all, and then I’ll be ready. ‘Be patient, hand,’ he said. ‘I do this for you.’” (60) Santiago is telling his hand to be patient, and try and forget about the hurting because he is eating raw fish, in order to get the strength back and to stop his hand from cramping. He says, “I do this for you” because most people don’t like eating raw fish, including Santiago, so he was doing this gross act, just for the hand. This shows how much Santiago needed his hand to be better, or at least to start feeling better and un-cramp. It also makes me understand how devoted he can be if he really wants something to happen.


When Santiago caught a Marlin, it was a very proud moment in his life. Only a couple hours later, a shark took a bite out of the Marlin. As the blood spread, more and more sharks came along, and Santiago gave up fighting them off, because there were too many. “He could see their wide, flattened, shovel-pointed heads now and their white-tipped wide pectoral fins. They were hateful sharks, bad smelling, scavengers as well as killers..” (107-108) Santiago is describing the sharks. He knows that they will attack the marlin, and eat some. Once the blood of the marlin is in the water, more and more sharks would come. He would fight them off as long as he could, but once too many came, it was just to hard, and useless.


Santiago overcomes each and every one of his obstacles because of his strength and perseverance. His patience when trying to catch the marlin showed that he is willing to wait until the situation is just right in order to jump on an opportunity. He knows what he wants, and how he's going to get there. That's something that everybody should have. Also, improvement is success in itself. When santiago catches the marlin, even though the sharks ate the whole thing, he still caught the marlin which was his accomplishment because he had never caught such a large fish before. His ability to stay calm and not become irritable and bitter allows him to achieve more than if he became stressed and frantic.