#2 The Old Man and the Sea

The conflict in the story The Old Man and the Sea is between Santiago and a huge marlin that is very powerful. The old spends most of the story trying to catch this huge fish and that is the conflict of this story. It all started when Santiago went out at sea, like he always does. When suddenly there was a tug on the line. The great fish at the other end dragged him around the sea for quite some time. The old man knew that he was going to catch this great fish. He was determined. This is where all of his troubles start. After following the fish for hours and hours the fish started to grow weaker and began to swim slower. The old man was growing closer to his goal. He could feel that the fish growing weaker. Finally he killed the fish and tied it too his boat. He then had to make the long journey back to Havana. This is where his losses occur. On the way back to his home he runs into a lot of hungry sharks. The sharks take huge bites out of the fish he caught all on his own. It was his prized possesion and with ever bite that came out of the fish his heart sank a little more. After some time the old man could not even look at the fish. He was worried how bad it looked and did not want to have to bare with the pain. After working so hard to catch the fish it was becoming less and less. Eventually all the man had left was just the skeleton of his beloved fish. He became close to the fish and understood how the fish felt throughout their battle with each other. Finally he arrived back at his home. This is where the story turns once again. The people look at the huge skeleton and gain respect for Santiago because he was the man who caught it. So basically he gained more than he lost in the story. He caught the fish and gained respect from the people of Havana. He only lost the flesh of the fish. I believe that he achieved a lot and should have been proud of himself.