Essay on Something to Live For

Submitted By kylemazer
Words: 668
Pages: 3
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Man is born, he lives, and eventually, he dies. It is what man lives for that motivates the human race. Man lives to love, to succeed and to have purpose, for that is the importance of life. If that motivation is taken away, a life would be worthless. Santiago, an old man from Havana Cuba, lives to fish and loves everyone dear to him. However, he has not caught a fish in eighty-four days, and coming into shore empty-handed with no one by his side makes Santiago wonder if his life still has any significance. According to Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, to be human is to pursue and realize a life of meaning. Although Santiago is loving and amiable, when there is no one to love, the old fisher becomes forlorn. After his wife dies, Santiago befriends a young boy named Manolin. Santiago joyfully teaches the boy his methods as the two fish together and practically live as father and son. Sadly, after forty days without catching a fish, Manolin’s parents need money so they take their boy unwillingly off Santiago’s boat and put him on a luckier one. Forty-four days later, when Santiago still has not caught a fish, the pain is even harder to bear without a friend to pass the dreadful time on the water. On the eighty-fifth day, the unlucky fisher hooks an eighteen-foot marlin and as it jumps, revealing its colors, Santiago says, “’I wish I had the boy […] to see this’” (48). Santiago wishes his companion were there so that he would have someone to enjoy this moment with. After months without a catch, Santiago has hooked a beast but being alone in this moment of awe depresses the lone sailor as he remembers that he is without the boy. By himself, Santiago feels a major part of his life is missing. As he rides alone with the marlin, the absence of a friend magnifies the lack of significance to Santiago’s life. Not only does Santiago yearn for a companion, but he yearns for success as well. After eighty-five days and a fight to the death, when Santiago finally reels in the marlin and ties it to the skiff, he believes he is successful again. Unfortunately, as the first shark comes and takes a bite out of the eighteen-foot fish, Santiago’s triumphant state vanishes. He begins to battle the predators, but as their hard skin breaks his tools, the determined warrior is left with nothing but his bare hands. In between blows, “he spat into the water and said, ‘eat that
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