Santiago’s Obstacles by Joe D.

Hemingway depicts the story of an old man battling the obstacles of deep sea fishing and how to get past the rough times in an attempt to be triumphant. “The Old Man and the Sea” tells a tale of how an 84 year old fisherman, named Santiago, struggles to capture a gigantic marlin. The difficult series of events that Santiago goes through like maintaining a clear mind, slaughtering sharks, and reeling in that fish put him through an extreme test. When Santiago first gets a hold of the Marlin he has no idea that this noble marlin will take him on the ride of his life.

Santiago is severely limited because the dangerous sharks that are attacking his skiff keep him from reaching land without dieing. Santiago complains about the massive Mako shark taking a huge amount of the fish from him, “‘He took about forty pounds,’” the old man said aloud. He took my harpoon too and all the rope, he thought, and now my fish bleeds again and there will be others” (103). In this situation the old man is struggling to fight off the sharks because his goal is to reach land with the entire beast, but this might not be accomplished.

The fish that Santiago is trying to bring in is an astonishing 18 feet, so capturing this bad boy will be very difficult. Not only does the old man have to pull in the marlin, he has to suffer thoughout the entire adventure because of his hands cramping up and the scars along his back and palms are bleeding excessively. “He could not see the fish’s jumps but only heard the breaking of the ocean and the heavy splash as he fell. The speed of the line was cutting his hands badly… and he tried to keep the cutting across the calloused parts and not let the line slip into the palm nor cut the fingers” (82-83). Wrangling in this sea monster is described to be an arduous obstacle to overcome. There are multiple things occurring while he is pulling in the marlin, like nausea from the stench of the dolphin, and keeping his pain at a minimum.

Although the physical obstacles of battling the pain, fish, and sharks are very laborious, the number one thing for the old man to do is to keep his composure. A sharp mind is necessary when trying to stay alive out at sea. “Now you are getting confused in the head, he thought. You must keep your head clear…‘Clear up, head,’ he said in a voice he could hardly hear. ‘Clear up’” (92). A foggy mind will impair his choices and his reaction time will be as slow as an intoxicated person. If Santiago is to capture this humongous marlin, then he needs to be capable of conquering each and every one of his obstacles because having a strong body is pointless without a quick mind to control it.

Hemingway takes us on a thrilling adventure with the old man as he attempts to capture the magnificent marlin. The ferocious sharks attack the old man’s skiff on multiple occasions causing Santiago to fight them off with only the materials in the skiff. Throughout the quarrel between Santiago and the marlin, his hands are severely damaged, thus making the battle more intense. All of these obstacles are amplified with the effect of light-headedness and Santiago’s reactions slowing. Although Santiago’s path to success is a rocky one, filled with pain, suffering, and monsters of the deep, he is still able to overcome these feats in the end.