Conflicts - The Old Man and The Sea

In the book, The Old Man and The Sea, the conflict is in now way hard to figure out.  It reveals itself right away.  "He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish." (Hemingway, 9).  On the first page of the book you start feeling bad for the old man, Santiago.  It is a constant struggle between the old man and his unfortunate luck of not catching any fish. 
Another conflict comes when Santiago finally hooks a fish.  "He started to work his way back to the stern on his hands and knees, being careful not to jerk against the fish.  He may be half asleep himself, he thought.  But I do not want him to rest.  He must pull until he dies. (Hemingway, 78).  He has to real in and kill the fish and the conflict is that the fish is not wanting to give up, therfore, Santiago must struggle through the pain, hunger, and loneliness to reel in the huge marlin.  The battle goes on for three days, until finally, Santiago musters up the strength to slowly gain slack and then spear the huge marlin.  With this conflict comes another huge conflict.  If you are in the ocean and you just have speared a fish, what is going to happen.  Blood is going to go astray, and sharks are going to smell the blood and come to feast.  Santiago does not have many weapons to yield off many sharks, and he has to go a long way to get back home.  Everything was good until the sharks came and took all of the fish.  It seemed like one conflict led to another conflict, and another.  Everything went wrong for Santiago, but even though Santiago came up against many conflicts, you could say that he beat each conflict that came up against him.  It may not have been the way most people think of winning, but he definitely conquered each one.

Bibliography

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1996. Print.