1:13 PM
Mr. B-G
The novella The Old Man in the Sea by Ernest Hemingway features an old man named Santiago. He is faced with many obstacles at his four-day journey at sea, after a string of bad luck. At sea he is forced to battle sharks to protect his catch, and he has to deal with the physical fatigue from his struggles from catching the fish, and internal struggle from accepting his old age.
One obstacle that Santiago has to face while catching the fish is physical fatigue.
“ ‘How do you feel hand?’ he asked the cramped hand that was almost as stiff as rigor mortis" (58-59). While trying to catch the fish his left hand cramps up on him because he is overworking it. This obstacle affects him because when he overworks his body he has to pay the consequences because his body can only handle so much that he forces upon it. For example, while he is close to bringing the fish in, he cannot speak because he is very dehydrated. When the fish was circling, the old man felt faint from overworking his body to the point of exhaustion. So this obstacle made him weak with fatigue and exhaustion.
A second obstacle Santiago struggles with at sea is his battle with sharks to protect his catch. "The shark’s head was out of water and his back was coming out and the old man could hear the noise of skin and flesh ripping on the big fish” (102-103). And then Santiago rammed his gaff down into the shark’s brain, and he prevailed over that shark as he watched it sink into the sea. The other sharks proved to be a great obstacle for Santiago and they tested his physical well being and his resources as well, because Santiago was already tired from catching the fish when the sharks came to devour the fish. Then when his gaff was destroyed, he had to make due with what he had, so he used his tiller, and that was no use when it turned dark. The sharks turned out to be the old man’s downfall because they completely devoured the fish to the bone.
A third obstacle Santiago had to endure was his internal struggle from accepting his old age. "Fight them," he said. "I’ll fight them until I die" (115). This obstacle affected Santiago because he didn’t want to be old. He wanted to do things, like fishing, which pushed his body to the point of exhaustion, but he was determined to do them anyway. He didn’t want to accept that he was a senior citizen. He wanted to able to do what he wanted without being limited by age, but his old body could only take so much before it started to fail him.
But even though all these obstacles had their affect on Santiago, he went on and did not let them destroy him. Because even though he felt like a complete failure for catching the fish, Manolin was still proud of him. And Manolin told him that he should be proud of himself because he’s 85 years old and he could still catch a gigantic fish without any help. So even though the fish was eaten, he was not defeated because he caught the fish alone, and he should be proud.
One obstacle that Santiago has to face while catching the fish is physical fatigue.
“ ‘How do you feel hand?’ he asked the cramped hand that was almost as stiff as rigor mortis" (58-59). While trying to catch the fish his left hand cramps up on him because he is overworking it. This obstacle affects him because when he overworks his body he has to pay the consequences because his body can only handle so much that he forces upon it. For example, while he is close to bringing the fish in, he cannot speak because he is very dehydrated. When the fish was circling, the old man felt faint from overworking his body to the point of exhaustion. So this obstacle made him weak with fatigue and exhaustion.
A second obstacle Santiago struggles with at sea is his battle with sharks to protect his catch. "The shark’s head was out of water and his back was coming out and the old man could hear the noise of skin and flesh ripping on the big fish” (102-103). And then Santiago rammed his gaff down into the shark’s brain, and he prevailed over that shark as he watched it sink into the sea. The other sharks proved to be a great obstacle for Santiago and they tested his physical well being and his resources as well, because Santiago was already tired from catching the fish when the sharks came to devour the fish. Then when his gaff was destroyed, he had to make due with what he had, so he used his tiller, and that was no use when it turned dark. The sharks turned out to be the old man’s downfall because they completely devoured the fish to the bone.
A third obstacle Santiago had to endure was his internal struggle from accepting his old age. "Fight them," he said. "I’ll fight them until I die" (115). This obstacle affected Santiago because he didn’t want to be old. He wanted to do things, like fishing, which pushed his body to the point of exhaustion, but he was determined to do them anyway. He didn’t want to accept that he was a senior citizen. He wanted to able to do what he wanted without being limited by age, but his old body could only take so much before it started to fail him.
But even though all these obstacles had their affect on Santiago, he went on and did not let them destroy him. Because even though he felt like a complete failure for catching the fish, Manolin was still proud of him. And Manolin told him that he should be proud of himself because he’s 85 years old and he could still catch a gigantic fish without any help. So even though the fish was eaten, he was not defeated because he caught the fish alone, and he should be proud.
1 comments:
I think your essay is really well written. You used lots of details which made it easier as a reader to imagine the scene. I think your thesis statement was clearly stated and I like how detailed the paragraphs about each struggle Santiago faced were. You did a great job in making the words flow smoothly. Great job.
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