How Does Santiago Kill The Marlin

“The Old Man and the Sea” made me think of many ideas about struggle, death, defeat, and pride. Both Santiago and Marlin have qualities of pride, honor, and bravery. They only have the choice to kill or to get killed. That’s because there is honor in the struggle they went though. Santiago thinks, “You are killing me fish, but you have a right to.” (Hemingway, 67). His thought shows that he accepts the death of anyone. Through the struggle with the marlin, Santiago accepts that either he will die or the marlin will die; both of which would be honorable.

I like the part when Santiago regrets killing the marlin. First, he wonders, “Perhaps it was a sin to kill the fish.” (Hemingway, 76). Then, he decides, “…everything kills everything else in some way.” (Hemingway, 77). But again, at last, he wishes that he hadn’t killed the marlin. I think this is interesting because he is being paradoxical. He is actually fighting against the fish but feels sorry for the marlin. This part is one of the most important struggles he goes through. This scene is important because it shows that he is also struggling mentally, not only physically. This kind of suffering is a

At last, the old man did catch the fish but only the bones were left. Santiago went through pain for a long time but he didn’t receive any trophy. When I read the story, I expected Santiago to catch the marlin successfully. However, the sharks ended up eating all of the marlin’s flesh. If I was the writer, I would change the ending. I would rather have Santiago successfully catch the marlin. A tourist asked, “ ‘What’s that?’ she asked a waiter and pointed to the long backbone of the great fish that was now just garbage waiting to go out with the tide.” (Hemingway, 92). Then the waiter answered, “ ‘Shark.’ ” (Hemingway, 92). After this, Santiago’s pain and struggle became meaningless. I have negative feelings about the fact that what the old man truly did was not