The Journey Through the Salty Sea by Jess R.

The salty air wafts beneath his nose as a wave crashes against the hull of the boat, sending a foamy spray into the air. The clouds smear the horizon making it look heavenly as the sun peaked through the gaps between the fluffy, white pillows. This is the scene that Santiago, an old fisherman, saw as he was pulled through the calm ocean by an 18 foot long marlin. During his journey, this old man had faced many obstacles while fishing out at sea, including a dreadful hand cramp, exhaustion, and sharks.

First, Santiago attained a hand cramp that frustrated him, and drove him a little insane. The taut line that he was holding his prize catch on had burned away the flesh in a streak on the palm of his hand. Of course the cut had been exactly where he holds the line, and he needed that hand for when he attempted to catch the marlin. He had let the blood drift away in the ocean current, and then held the cord his fish was on again. This time, his hand stiffened when he held it, and began to cramp badly. Santiago had looked at his hand with disgust and hatred while saying to it, “Cramp then if you want. Make yourself into a claw. It will do you no good” (58). After cutting up another fish that he had previously caught, the old man told himself that eating it would regain the strength in his hand so it would uncurl into a normal position. He then questioned it by asking,

“ ‘How do you feel hand?’ he asked the cramped hand that was almost as stiff as rigor mortis” (58-59). Because his left hand was cramped, Santiago was left to use his right one for awhile. He wished that the marlin wouldn’t jump, because he didn’t know if he could handle it the way he could with the left one. Santiago didn’t want to force it open unless he absolutely had to, and he thought of the cramp as humiliating himself, although no one was around but the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky.

Second, Santiago was out at sea for four days and three nights. He hadn’t had much sleep because he didn’t know when the fish would jump, or start to slow down. He had to keep careful attention to the marlin as if it were a child. Santiago was tired, and going insane. He knew he wouldn’t live forever, but he kept a good grip on his life. The little energy that he had when he left on his trip was slowly draining out of his body. He needed a lot of rest and possibly some medical attention. “[He] could hardly breathe now and he felt a strange taste in his mouth. It was coppery and sweet and he was afraid of it for a moment.” (119). The old man had had fish to eat, but didn’t drink all his water, for fear he would run out of it. Where do you find fresh water when you’re in the middle of the ocean? Because he didn’t drink too much, he was extremely dehydrated. The old man was becoming dizzy, and almost passed out at the moment he needed to spear the great marlin. “For an hour now [he] had been seeing black spots before his eyes and the sweat salted his eyes and salted the cut over his eye and on his forehead” (87). It’s a good thing that Santiago hadn’t passed out on the spot. He could have tipped his boat, drowned, or lost the fish. His destination, and life, could have ended in one single second, but the old man was strong enough to hold on to what he had left in his life, and pushed himself to his limits.

Lastly, after going through with catching and spearing his prize, Santiago must have wanted to just relax in his skiff, and wait to be drifted towards home, but he couldn’t. His fish was always at risk, especially with the sharks. Santiago had already speared and killed the fish, and the blood drifted behind them, leaving a delicious smelling scent for all the sharks within a hundred miles of them. I’m sure the old man could just see them licking their lips as they followed him in the crimson water. Santiago speared one of the sharks, but the spear had broken when he tried to pry it out of the shark’s head. He was disappointed that he had lost such a valuable item, but figured it was worth it if he could get the money for his trophy fish. To make up for this weapon, Santiago grabbed his harpoon, and used it to kill another shark, but to his dismay, it was lost in the ocean forever, just as his spear was. Getting irritated at he sharks for taking large bites from the valuable sea creature that he had caught, the old man began to use anything in his skiff that he could use to kill more of them. He used an oar to stab another monster of the sea, but it had broken as well, so he used what was left of it in his hands to kill another. With his oar stuck in a shark’s head, Santiago risked his life by going to a last resort: punching any sharks that threatened to eat the corpse of the marlin. “The shark let go and rolled away. That was the last shark of the pack that came. There was nothing more for them to eat” (118-119). The fish, and the sharks were gone, but the old man’s hope was still left within him as his dream had been fulfilled.

Santiago had run into many obstacles on his journey out to sea. It isn’t every day that you get dragged out to sea by the biggest fish in the ocean. The old man had suffered his fair amount in his life, and then the opportunity to prove himself to his town and himself came, but was ripped away from him in the end after he had tried so hard in his life. He had caught his dream on a line that he had swung over the side of his skiff. Although the meat of the fish was gone, courtesy of the greedy sharks, the bones remained to remind Santiago that he had accomplished what he intended to do. Santiago had survived a horrific hand cramp, exhaustion, and wicked sharks. He endeared what most people would give up on, and was pushed to his limits to accomplish his goals. Santiago never once gave up, even if the times were tough, and he should be praised for that.