Obstacles by Zack T.

Throughout the novella The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago has faced many challenges. Santiago had to overcome the obstacles of being alone, not having good technology, and being unprepared. If Santiago had not gone out alone, and Manolin had gone with him, he might have caught the fish. Even though Santiago is 85, he still chose to go out to sea alone, in a small boat without technology. This undoubtedly affected the outcome of the story.

The first challenge Santiago had was that he was alone. This affected him because it was very difficult to keep a fish on a small boat, try and get to shore, and not let the sharks get the marlin. “’I wish [Manolin] was here,’ he said aloud.” (50) The old man is trying to perform too many tasks at once, and if he was with someone else such as Manolin, maybe he could have caught the marlin. The reason he could not get the fish to shore safely is because the marlin was 18 feet long. Since Santiago is alone, he talks to himself, to the birds, and to the fish. Even though this sounds weird, I think many people would do this while out to sea alone.

A second obstacle Santiago faces is not having good technology. When most people go out to sea, they have many tools to help them fish more efficiently. In the book Santiago talks about how most fishermen now use their radios to talk to each other. However he feels he doesn’t need it which is true. Despite the fact that this technology could help him, he decides to go out without it. “’ But since I am not crazy, I do not care. And the rich have radios to talk to them in their boats and to bring them the baseball.’” (39) Even though technology would help Santiago, he does not care and wants nothing to do with it. Which I do not get because only good could come from trying it, nothing bad.

The third challenge that Santiago faces is being unprepared. This is a huge part of why he did not catch the fish. If he planned on coming across such a fish, I am sure he could have prepared better. “He felt faint again now but he held on the great fish all the strain that he could.” (91) Since he is unaware of the challenge ahead, he went out alone, did not bring food or water, and I am sure he was exhausted, he was not feeling good and started feeling faint and dizzy. All he does is fish, without breaks, and then goes straight to catching an 18 foot marlin. He is also 85 years old, which makes it a lot more difficult to catch.

As a conclusion, I can rightfully say that Santiago has many obstacles that he must overcome that other fishermen do not have. However, since he caught an 18 foot marlin, with a boat not even that size, while being alone and eighty-five are incredible circumstances. The chance of someone doing it present day is very unlikely. Not only is this hard to do, but with all the technology today, who would?