Obstacles by Emma H.

In life many people struggle with obstacles and hit roadblocks that need to be conquered before moving on. Throughout the story Old Man and the Sea, the main character Santiago has to struggle with many obstacles, before reaching his main goal of catching his dream Marlin. There were three obstacles that stood out the most with getting in Santiago’s way of catching the Marlin. There was his ongoing loneliness, being unprepared, and his hand.

Santiago, had fished with the boy Manolin for many years but when Santiago had bad luck, and failed to catch anything for 84 days, the boy’s parents made him leave Santiago’s skiff. Santiago got in his skiff all by himself on the 85th day feeling confident he would catch something. However being as old as he was, he realized that fishing without the boy was harder than he thought, and Santiago starts to struggle with loneliness. “He did not remember when he had first started to talk aloud when he was by himself…He had probably started to talk aloud, when alone, when the boy had left”(39). To avoid going crazy, and to help deal with being so lonely, Santiago starts to talk to the fish, and the bird, and then eventually he talks with the Marlin.

When Santiago set sail in his skiff on the 85th day, he was not expecting to be away for four days, causing him to be much unprepared. Santiago lacked food, enough bait, and correct fishing tools. He only brought enough supplies for one day. “The boy was back now with the sardines and the two baits wrapped in newspaper and they went down the trail to the skiff, feeling the pebbled sand under their feet, and lifted the skiff and slid her into the water”(27). Because the old man didn’t have the supplies he needed, he found ways to solve his problems. He used the two baits he had, and used them to catch some fish for him to eat and fish to be bait.

One of the biggest problems that Santiago struggled with was his hand. After clenching on to the fishing line for so long, he began to get rigor mortis in his hand. This made him frustrated, because it made it harder for him to grip his line. “What kind of a hand is that,” he said. “Cramp then if you want. Make yourself into a claw. It will do you no good”(58). Santiago knew what he had to do about his hand; he kept making himself eat more fish to help. “Be patient, hand,” he said. I do this for you”(59). Santiago didn’t want to eat the fish, but he knew that it would help, and he ate it anyways.

Santiago was a brave man who never gave up. Not once did he let himself be defeated, he solved each struggle with the goal of catching and killing the marlin. He had to deal with loneliness, lack of supplies, and a cramping hand. This shows how strong Santiago was, both physically and mentally.