Old man and the sea essay

Everyday we face obstacles that are harsh and difficult to overcome. These obstacles in your life may be as simple as having a hard time taking a test in school, or as difficult as facing a terminal disease. In cases such as that, there may be no way to get past that obstacle, and you cannot to anything in your power to push past it. But in most cases, these outside forces may seem difficult or even unstoppable at first, but it is our choices, and our actions that decide whether or not we overcome these obstacles.
An old man named Santiago faced various difficult obstacles in Ernest Hemmingway’s book “The Old Man and the Sea.” Santiago is a fisherman for a living, but faces poverty when he can’t catch single fish throughout several months. And when Santiago faces possible the biggest catch in his life, He is forced to push past seemingly hopeless situations. Some of these horrific obstacles are: he has to push through an injury, face dangerous conditions, and fight off predators that are coming after his catch.
One thing that harms his chances of catching this massive marlin is when he cuts his hands on the line. Although it wasn’t a bad wound, it still made it hard to work the line, since a fisherman’s hands are very important to him. “It is not bad,” He said. “And pain does not matter to a man.”(84) Although, Santiago chooses not to be pessimistic about this disdainful situation. Instead Santiago chooses to overcome this obstacle by working through the pain, and constantly telling himself that if he shows pain, than he is weak. He is absorbed in the though of catching this great fish. The old man is devoted, and pushed through this obstacle with determination.
Another powerful force that goes against the old man Santiago is the fact the Marlin he hooked continuously pulled him deeper and deeper into open water. This was dangerous to the man because this matter-of-fact, meant that it would take him a longer time for him to make it back to the island, and this meant the longer his catch would be exposed to scavengers.” I shouldn’t have gone so out so far, fish,” he said. “Neither for you nor for me. I’m sorry, fish.”(110) the old man only fully realizes this fretful factor on the way back after catching the fish. There was no chance of the man being able to catch the fish if he hadn’t held it as long as he did, so there was no real way of overcoming or going around this obstacle. Because of this factor he went through all the working and the struggling to lose it all in the end. This regretful obstacle could not have been avoided, Santiago was so devoted to catching the fish , he just figured the Marlin would wear itself out. And this factor initially leads to his downfall.
The final obstacle that Santiago has no control over is when the devious sharks follow the smell of blood to the Marlin he caught. “The shark was not an accident. He had come up from the deep down in the water as the dark cloud of blood had settled and dispersed in the mile deep sea.”(110) In the end, these conniving sharks devoured the large Marlin that he recently caught, no matter how much he fought against them. This situation could have ultimately been avoided if the fish hadn’t pulled his skiff out so far. So the sharks were also an obstacle that in the end are impossible to overcome. There is no way that Santiago could have fended off all those sharks in his current health and condition. So no matter how much he fought, there was no way he could save his prized catch.
Santiago although faced with many opposing forces throughout his battle to catch the fish, he attempted to push through them all with the utmost perserverence. He did this despite the fact that most of this obstacle were impossible to overcome. He didn't let this fact stop him. He worked through the pain of cutting his hand, he took the risk of going out deep with the fish, and he battled with the sharks to the best of his ability. He did this all just for the fact the he wouldn't let the fish overcome him, "Fish," he said softly, aloud, " I will stay with you until I am dead."(52) Everyone can take something from this story and that is, even when it seems you can't push past an obstacle, you can try as hard as you possibly can to go against all odds.