Monday, March 8, 2010

Santiago's Hindrances ~ Draft


As well as the fictitious characters of books and stories, real people have to deal with obstacles every day of their lives. Whether it be paying back some bills on time, or slaying the metaphorical dragon that stands in your way, you will always come across some sort of obstruction.

Santiago, the star of The Old Man and the Sea fights obstacles that most people couldn’t even comprehend in their lives. He battled carnivorous sharks and a demonic marlin, as well as competing with old age and his loneliness without Manolin. Somehow, the old man won, and he now has a story for the ages to tell.

The great marlin is Santiago’s primary objective in the story, and in that sense, his greatest obstacle. “Now alone, and out of sight of land, he was fast to see the biggest fish he had ever seen and the biggest fish he had ever heard of” (63).

For three days, the old man and the fish fought for the victory, and after many hours of reeling and hoping, Santiago finally slew his adversary. It was not an easy task, however. When the old man returned home, he was physically and emotionally stricken, despite the fact that he beat the fish.

If Santiago thought the battle was over after simply killing the marlin, he was sadly mistaken. As he thought “The shark was no accident” (100), his boat is attacked by several unremorseful sharks attracted to the flesh of the bleeding marlin.

Somehow, the elderly fisherman drives away the carnivores, but not before they strip the fish down to the bone and leave Santiago with nothing but a glorified skeleton. The sharks crushed Santiago’s spirit when they stole what was rightfully his.

Though the old man had to deal with numerous external conflicts, he had to deal with his own mental demons. In this case, the demon came in the form of loneliness. As Santiago speaks “’No, you’re with a lucky boat now. Stay with them’” (10), and in doing so he is urging Manolin to not be with him, though the boy is one of the only things that make the old man happy. In saving Manolin from his own “bad luck”, the old man is creating his biggest obstruction of all.

Several times throughout the story, Santiago longs for the boy, whether it is to assist him in something or simply to provide conversation to. Like the delirious sociopath he may have became, Santiago talks to himself and the surrounding animals to fill the void of solitude the world has granted him.

Lest anyone forget, Santiago is an old man. Catching small fish is probably difficult for the wizened fisherman. It must’ve taken an extraordinary amount of strength and willpower to even contend with the great marlin. And after time, even his body starts to break down, as he states “I hate a cramp. It is a treachery of one’s own body” (61-62).

This leads to several questions regarding the old man and the state of his body and age. If he were younger, would that have necessarily made the oceanic battle easier? If Santiago’s hand was healthier, could he have fended off the sharks better? Sometimes, the biggest obstacle in our lives is simply one of chronology.

Though the odds were tremendously pitted against him, Santiago somehow came out on top of his adventure with the great marlin. He clashed with sharks, brawled with old age, and wrestled with seclusion.

How many others could have survived against those threats, let alone defeat them? Even though he was ensnared in a bleak realm of restrictions, the old man carved his own path with his abilities that contradicted his many weaknesses and obstacles.

9 comments:

  1. Apologies for the small font... the publisher was acting strange and I had to make some HTML adjustments (I don't even fully know what that means x_x). Gimme feedback please!!

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  2. I. i think that the thesis of this essay is "He battled carnivorous sharks and a demonic marlin, as well as competing with old age and his loneliness without Manolin." it is very clear and is engaging because it introduces the rest of the essay to come.
    II. “Now alone, and out of sight of land, he was fast to see the biggest fish he had ever seen and the biggest fish he had ever heard of” is the strongest quote in my opinoin because it shows how big, valuable, and powerful the marlin is which was one of the obstacles.
    III. i think that the strongest part of this essay is the conclusion. it ends the entire essay nicely and shows how Santiago ended up defeating all of his obstacles.
    IV. one thing that the author could do to make this essay better would be to add some more of the vocabulary words from the list to help describe certain things about the book like tone, mood, and others! but good job.

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  3. 1~ The thesis is “As well as the fictitious characters of books and stories, real people have to deal with obstacles every day of their lives.” It is clear and very true. It goes very well with what he is gonna say as well.
    2~ The quote I think is strongest is “The shark was no accident” (100). It goes very well with what he said and its very true. They way it is written makes it fit in great too.
    3~ What was done really well is the writing he used. Very great vocab and great voice. I think the way he thought about it and put it into words was great too.
    4~ The whole thing was really great just add some more feeling and those words. Other wise I think is great.

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  4. First, this is the best one I have read so far. Very nice bud!
    1. The thesis is the obstacles that people have to overcome in life. The author sticks to this topic very well throughout the story, there isn't really any divergence from said topic.
    2. “Now alone, and out of sight of land, he was fast to see the biggest fish he had ever seen and the biggest fish he had ever heard of” (63). That is my favorite quote, it really supports what he is trying to say with the paragraph and is very clear, it could be understood by someone who has never read the story.
    3. I think that the essay's best trait is word choice. VERY good use of vocabulary and theme words. It also has a certain flow to it, and is very interesting to read.
    4. There really isn't anything i would change in this essay, it's great the way it is.

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  5. 1. Ok first of all i agree with nate^^. This has to be one of the best ive read. I love the way you introduce the topic and just overall never surprise me. I really liked the intro it really set the stage for everything and you just managed to uphold that standard. Your thesis was many people face obstacles.
    2. I think your entire essay should be in the quote bubble this whole thing was just awesome. I especially like the part about the metaphorical dragon.
    3. HAHA one thing this essay did well? this whole thing was a masterpiece. I enojoyed this and it was very well written and more people should read it because this has to be the best one ive read. I really liked your writing style it really reflected your personality. Only thing i can say is Austen you would haha. "Whether it be paying back some bills on time, or slaying the metaphorical dragon that stands in your way, you will always come across some sort of obstruction."
    4. I did not see anything wrong with this essay. I enjoyed every little bit of it. It mixed so many things together and your writing style and word choice was just amazing.
    -Nice work bud rock on \m/

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  6. 1. This is an amazing essay. It has great word choice and it flows amazingly.The thesis is that people face many obstacles.

    2.“Now alone, and out of sight of land, he was fast to see the biggest fish he had ever seen and the biggest fish he had ever heard of” (63). This was the best quote used because it shows how big of a task bringing it in was.

    3.This essay did everything right. The writing style was probably one of the best things in this essay.

    4. The only improvement would be to fix the font. otherwise nothing else should be changed.

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  7. The thesis of Austen’s essay is no matter how old the person is; don’t give up on their hopes to finish or do something they wanted to do. The quotes were used in the right way. The strong point of the essay is the use of detailed words. An example of the use of detailed words is, “Somehow, the elderly fisherman drives away the carnivores, but not before they strip the fish down to the bone and leave Santiago with nothing but a glorified skeleton. The sharks crushed Santiago’s spirit when they stole what was rightfully his.” This essay doesn’t have a weak point. Everything is perfect.

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  8. The thesis of the essay is that people, fictious or real, need to fight obstacles every day

    “’No, you’re with a lucky boat now. Stay with them’”. This was the best quote because it showed that Santiago had to part with Manolin because of his bad luck

    I think that the strength of the essay is definitely description which helps capture the audience."Whether it be paying back some bills on time, or slaying the metaphorical dragon that stands in your way, you will always come across some sort of obstruction."

    I think that the author needs to work on analyzing more and that is about the only suggestion I have.

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  9. i thought the into was clear, concise, and to the point. it shows that everyone has to face obsticles, even if they are not real.

    Now alone, and out of sight of land, he was fast to see the biggest fish he had ever seen and the biggest fish he had ever heard of” (63) this just shows that santiago is a beast.

    the discription was really goot. you used a lot of metaphors which i thought was nice. i thought is was very good overall

    i think you could analyze a bit more. the esaay is pretty spot on though.

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