Obstacles In The Old Man And The Sea

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Pages: 3

Ocean Obstacles In the novel, The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway, he goes through the journey of taking on an adventure out to sea for three days. He is known for going on various amounts of sea trips but this one was significant. Hemingway connects with his trip as he comes across challenging a marlin, and close to death multiple times from sharks. As night approaches, he seems to have continuous dreams of lions which then made him motivated to keep sailing. The marlin, the shark, and the lion all symbolizes Ernest’s growth, overcoming deadly situations, and having hope until the end. The marlin was the first fish Santiago had proceed to capture. This was his challenge in survival which strung him out more into the sea. Santiago had admired the marlin so much that it was his motivation to kill it. As the strike of his first opponent he felt it was necessary to succeed. As going through his trials of execution he says to the marlin, “Fish, I love and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends (54)”. The marlin symbolizes Santiago’s struggle in life and …show more content…
They destroyed the marlin which devastated Santiago because he was really in love with the marlin. They returned multiple days to finish the job, but Santiago held it out and fought right back. He knew his life was on the line, but that was not enough for him. While preparing to challenge the shark, Santiago motivates himself and says, “A man can be destroyed but not defeated” (123). At this point he was accepting the fact that he might not live. The sharks symbolized the fight for survival through destructions of nature. Santiago could not help that they kept returning because of the blood from the marlin kept oozing into the sea. After the first forty pounds was bitten off, Santiago knew he had to fight hard to defeat the sharks. Those three days turn into what it seemed like to be