By Lyndsey P.

In the novella The Old Man and the Sea, the author Earnest Hemingway creates a character names Santiago or old man, who goes on a long dangerous journey to try and catch an eighteen foot marlin. Throughout the book, he struggles internally and externally trying to capture the giant fish. He is forced to deal with having a bad hand, not being prepared for the several days out as sea, and having several sharks attack his prized catch.

In the book, one thing that Santiago struggles with is having a bad hand. Over time his hands had built up scars from handling heavy fish on cords but when catching the marlin Santiago's hands had been cramping up and sliced apart. Santiago had got more frustrated by his physical weaknesses in his body often he would complain or beg his hand to help him out and not become such of a "Treachery of one's own body" (61). In the passage, Hemingway shows that Santiago feels like his hand is acting disloyal to his body and cramping for him at the worst times. This tells the reader how subdued the old man is in the way that his brothers, or his hands, are acting. Although a cramped or cut up hand doesn't seem like much of a wound, it lays a big impact in on Santiago's mental state and how efficiently he can catch the marlin.

A second thing that the old man struggles with is not being prepared for the several days of his fishing expedition. On Santiago's trip he brought all of his fishing equipment, but he didn't bring any food or Manolin. The boy would bring Santiago his only food and they would eat together, and then fish together; until the boy's parents wouldn't let him go fishing with Santiago. (He hadn't caught a fish for about eighty-five days.) Manolin obeyed his parents, and didn't go. The old man regretted this very much on the journey; at times even talking to himself with melancholy, calling out, "'I wish the boy was here'"(50). Santiago often felt guilty for not taking the boy with him, and guilty for the boy's parents not allowing him to come along. He would express this often when he needed the boy the most, and thought how much easier it would be with him there. If Santiago had food and the boy, the fish would have been caught faster, and they might have even been able to bring the marlin back and not just a skeleton.

Lastly Santiago struggles with the multiple shark attacks to the marlin. Unfortunately, the marlin he caught was two feet longer than his sixteen-foot skiff. The marlin had to be attached to the side of the boat because it was too large. Sharks in the water smelt the blood of the fish and swam to attack it. There were multiple attacks, each time Santiago killed the sharks, but by then the shark would have eaten a piece of the marlin. In the attacks the old man ended up loosing most of his weapons including his harpoon, rope, and knife. Most attacks happened when "The shark came in a rush and the old man [would] hit him as he shut his jaws," (114) causing either death or injury to the sharks. When they got to shore the marlin had no meat, and the old man had fatigue. If the sharks hadn't attacked the marlin then it would have had all of its meat. Although, having meat on the marlin might not have changed Santiago's satisfaction with catching the fish, it would have saved him of emotional strain.

The novella had the main character Santiago thrown with many struggles. He had a bad hand, which made it difficult to handle the fishing lines without agony. He wasn't prepared to stay at sea for long, so he didn't bring food. Manolin's parents wouldn't allow him to fish with Santiago. But after Santiago was bringing the giant marlin back to shore, there were several shark attacks that left the marlin with only bones. Through all Santiago's challenges with physical setbacks, being unprepared, and having several shark attacks, he ended up with a skeleton and a story to tell.