Perils of the Sea

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Perils of the Sea Imagine sailing in a tiny boat in a vast sea while being pulled along by a giant fish. That’s the setup for Ernest Hemmingway’s novel “The Old Man and the Sea”. After not catching a fish for 84 days, Santiago, a old fisherman, sets off in the Cuban sea for what he originally thinks would be a quick, uneventful fishing trip. But it eventually becomes much more than what he bargained for as his skiff is pulled out to sea by a giant marlin simply known as the Great Fish. Ordinary fisherman would have most likely would have given up and went home. But Santiago is much more than that. He is successful in catching the Great Fish because of his persistence, determination, and great amount of patience. One of the reasons why Santiago is so skilled at what he does is simply a great amount of determination. First of all, he waits in the ocean until he can find the biggest fish that he possibly can. He catches a few tuna, which probably would have been plenty for him. But he still decides he could find something better. Also, after catching the Great Fish, he refuses to let go of it. “Fish, i’ll hold on to you until i die” he says, even when the fish begins to injure him by thrashing, he still remains firmly gripped onto his fishing rod. He even manages to find a way to stay held onto the fish as he sleeps. Santiago stops at nothing to catch this fish, and won’t be stopped by anything. Not even his own injuries. This is especially shown later on, when he has to get the fish back home. The trail of blood left by the marlin attracts many nearby sharks to Santiago’s skiff, and he manages to fight some of them off, but more keep appearing. By the time they finally leave him alone. The sharks have eaten most of the Great Fish’s meat. Most lesser fisherman would have simply just let the fish go and set sail for home, but Santiago put his own life on the line
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