By Matt C.

The Old Man and the Sea is a great novel and like all good books the main character faces obstacles that he has to overcome. That trend is not changed as Santiago faces many obstacles on his way to catching the giant marlin. It is amazing that he has the strength to continue through every challenge that the great ocean throws at him. These obstacles do not only challenge him physically but also mentally.

While fighting the monster marlin Santiago has to continue although he is 84 years old. This makes him extremely tired. It takes Santiago four days to catch the fish and get back home. This is an enormous obstacle because any regular man his age would collapse of exhaustion after putting out that much effort for that long. "I'll try it again, the old man promised, although his hands were mushy now and he could only see well in flashes." Santiago overcomes this obstacle with his determination and great strength. A regular person of any age would have given up after less than a day of struggle but Santiago fought a legendary fish for three whole days. Most people of his age can hardly do any daily activity but is out and using all his effort for a straight 72 hours.

Another one of Santiago's obstacles is the creatures of the ocean. The strength of the marlin is enormous and it takes all of the old mans effort to catch him. Even worse than the marlin are the sharks that attack the dead body of the marlin. They are an obstacle because they prevent him from reaching home with the whole fish. They also test Santiago's mental toughness because once the fish that he worked so hard to get is gone there isn't a lot of motivation to go home. When Santiago went home it proved that he wanted to catch the fish just to beat him and it wasn't about the money that he would have gotten from catching him. He also knew that it was about not giving up no matter what the obstacle was. "What will you do now if they come in the night? What can you do?' Fight them,' he said. 'I'll fight them till I die." Santiago worked hard and got through this tough obstacle. He didn't make it home with the fish but he had not given up and had fought them as hard as he could.

Santiago's other great obstacle is the fact that he is extremely poor and has very simple fishing supplies. He has strings attached to sticks for his fishing poles and because of that he is forced to pull the line in while the great fish uses all of his might to swim away. Pulling on the very skinny line against the fish causes his hands to become much less powerful because they have deep gashes running through them. Also because of his inadequate supplies he is forced to fend off the sharks with his knife tied to his oar. " But there was nothing to be done now. ‘Yes there is,’ he said aloud. ‘I can lash my knife to the butt of one of the oars.’" Had he been able to buy a gaff or other simple hook he would have had a better chance of fending off the sharks and saving his fish.

Throughout the book there are many obstacles that Santiago must fight through and he always makes it although giving up would be much easier. He strives to defeat all obstacles that he is faced with on a day to day basis. Santiago is able to break through and continue because of his great determination and persistence. Santiago is a strong man in both his body and his mind.