The Old Man and The Sea question #2

There are many causes, gains, and losses dealt with in "The Old Man and the Sea". The overall conflict of this story is the main character, Santiago's, attempt to reel in the biggest catch of his life and then trying to make it home with the huge fish in one piece. The cause of this conflict is first off because Santiago is a fisherman. Santiago has made his living off fishing for a long time and was not expecting such an epic adventure to come out of this particular trip. The cause of finding the great marlin is from his decision to sail out farther than he usually would. Some other causes that led to the conflict is that he was able to finally kill the marlin because he was so patient and determined. One last cause that happened was the loss of the marlin to the sharks because he was unable to protect his prize after losing more and more sources for weapons after each shark encounter. "Now it is over, he thought. They will probably hit me again. But what can a man do against them in the dark without a weapon?" (Hemingway, 117). There were few physical gains in "The Old Man and the Sea",but there were some psychological gains I suppose. The main physical gain was the huge marlin he spent three days trying to kill. He gained mental strength as well. When his physical strength failed him, his mental strength pushed him through and kept him going. Santiago also gained a respect for the massive fish and when he came home, respect and amazement from the spectators who saw the skeleton of his marlin. I feel like Santiago went through a lot more losses than gains through out the book. I suppose one of the first things he loses is time since he was pulled by the marlin for three days. He obviously thought it was worth it though. Another thing Santiago loss was his physical strength. He had few resources out there and suffered many injuries during his struggle with the fish. The last and main loss was of course, the marlin. He did not go out without a fight though. He fought for his once in a life time catch until there was nothing left to fight for.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print