By Libby M.

Choices govern our every day life, even though we do not realize it. Will we wear the jeans or the mini skirt, the tank top or the t-shirt? Will I have cereal for breakfast or bacon and eggs? Will I walk or take the bus? Will I do my homework today or the class period before it is due? Should I answer the teacher or pretend I didn’t hear? Santiago had to make many different decisions so he would survive his fight with the marlin. He had to decide how to prepare for the trip, he had to choose to kill the fish, and his biggest choice was the decision to fight for the fish.

Santiago had to decide how to prepare for his fishing trip. “He ate the white eggs to give himself strength. He ate them all through May to be strong in September and October for the truly big fish” (38). He had to figure out what food would give him the most nutrients and protein to build his muscles before he went fishing. If he had not stayed healthy through the off months, the trip could have ended badly for Santiago. “He also drank a cup of shark liver oil each day from the big drum in the shack… It was very good against all colds and gripes and it was good for the eyes” (38). Santiago also had to keep himself healthy even if what he had to do was unappetizing.

The marlin could have killed the old man. The fish was very large and quite strong while Santiago was not in the best shape that he could be. His body was starting to work against him, like when his hand would cramp. But “[his] choice was to go there to find [the fish] beyond all people. Beyond all people in the world.” (52). Santiago needed this fish and he knew it. He had gone eighty-four days without catching a single fish and he had made the choice to go back into his boat everyday and try again.

Santiago realized that he had to work hard. This wasn’t just going to be a smooth ride to the end. “I have killed this fish which is my brother and now I must do the slave work” (93).He decided he had to do everything in his power to get that great fish home. He didn’t have to, though. He could have given up when the sharks attacked and just left the marlin to float around in its watery grave. He could have listened to the pain that he felt and admitted to his defeat. But he didn’t and he got the fish home to where people could admire him for working so very hard and persevering through many encumbrances.

Our choices adjudicate how our lives play out. We choose to wake up, to go to work, to be safe, and to live our lives. Santiago had to choose to prepare, to try, and to fight and these choices changed how Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea turned out. Without making these choices, Santiago might not have caught the fish. He might not even have lived through the fishing trip. His choices decided how his life and the life how the fish would change those fateful days on the ocean.