The Choices Made by Katie P.

In the novella The Old Man and the Sea, there are many instances where the main character, Santiago, has to make choices that will have great consequences with his struggle to catch the great marlin. Even before he set out to catch the marlin there are choices that were made that had many consequences that effected Santiago. His friend Manolin’s parents made the choice that Manolin should no longer help Santiago on his fishing trips. Santiago made the choice early on that he would go out one more time to try to catch a fish, and while he was out on the fishing trip, he made many choices that have affects on his body greatly.

Santiago and the boy had been fishing together for a long time. They were good fisherman, and they knew what they were doing, but they were unlucky. The boy’s parents thought that Manolin should be making money and not hanging around with some old man all day, not catching any fish. “‘It was papa that made me leave. I am a boy and I must obey him,’ ” (10). This quote from Manolin shows that the he did not really want to leave Santiago and that if he had the choice to stay with Santiago, he would. His parents made the choice that Santiago needed to bring in money and that there was only one way that that could happen and that was if the boy was on a luckier boat.

Santiago went eighty-four days before he caught the marlin. He was not a lucky fisherman; many fishermen with luck like his would have probably given up on catching the great marlin. Also many fishermen would not be out deep sea fishing if they were eighty-five years old. “‘But remember how you went eighty-seven days without fish and then we caught big ones everyday for three weeks’ [Manolin said],” (10). The quote here shows how long Santiago has gone without catching a fish, but it was not the first time that Santiago has gone over eighty days without catching a fish, he had done it before, but he continues to go after the great fish in the sea. Santiago had made the choice that he was going to go out into the ocean to try to catch a fish that he may or may not come back with.

Santiago’s body was not as fit as it used to be when he was younger. His hands cramped up a lot while he was fishing. “Be patient hand, I do this for you. [Santiago said] ” This quote proves that Santiago knew what he was doing to his body. He also knew that what he was doing, and if he did catch the marlin, he would benefit from it. With the money he would get from selling the fish, he would be able to buy more than just black beans and corn.

Santiago is a very determined character in Ernest Hemingway’s novella, The Old Man and the Sea. He makes many choices that make the book the way that it is. Without the choices that Santiago made throughout the book how he was going to catch a fish or even the 16 foot marlin would affect the book greatly. Santiago has the consequences of Manolin’s parents’ choice to not allow him to fish on Santiago’s boat. Santiago has made his decision to go out on fishing, and he also made the choice to keep pushing his body beyond its limits.