The Old Man and the Sea Question 2

In The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago decides to sail farther out than he has ever been.  Because of this, he is able to catch an eighteen foot long and a fifteen hundred pound marlin.  For three long, grueling days in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, Santiago struggles to beat the marlin.  All the old man has is fishing line and his skinny, gaunt body.  He is extremely weak from not having enough money to purchase food to eat, but manages to find the strength within him to catch the fish.  The conflict of The Old Man and the Sea is the battle of Santiago and the beautiful marlin for the three days. 

The causes of this conflict come from the choices Santiago made.  For eighty-four days, he had not caught a fish so obviously he wanted to end that streak.  He told himself that he would go farther than he usually does and therefore be able to find a great catch.  Once he hooked the heavy and strong fish, which the old man did not know what kind until it jumped, his mood changed.  Santiago became grateful that the fish chose his sardines to eat from his hook.  To kill the marlin, he shoved a harpoon into its side.  “The old man dropped the line and put his foot on it and lifter the harpoon as high as he could and drove it down with all his strength into the fish’s side just behind the great chest fin that rose high in the air to the altitude of the man’s chest” (Hemingway 94).  After the death of the marlin, he felt regret that he “killed this fish, which is my brother” (Hemingway 95). 

Everything in nature is either a gain or a loss and Santiago experiences both of these.  He gained the marlin as a beautiful treasure, but lost it to the powerful teeth of sharks.  The sharks gained the fish as a meal to subdue their hunger.  The old man gained accomplishment and experience even though he sailed back to the harbor empty handed.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.