Describe Santiago's struggle against the sharks BA English

The old man and the sea is a novel written by Hemingway. The central character, the old man, had a fierce struggle against the sharks. This post also addresses the following questions:

1. Describe the Oldman's struggle against the sharks 

OR

Describe the fight between the old man and the sharks

Ans: The Old man tied the fish alongside the boat and set sail for home. The Old Man saw a shark coming towards him. It was Mako shark. It had teeth like a man's fingers. When they were clung together like claws. They were as long as the gingers of the Old Man. The shark began to cut off the meat from the body of the big fish. The Old Man hit the brain of the shark with his harpoon. The shark was fatally wounded. There was no life in the eye of the shark. The shark took about forty pounds of the meat of the big fish. He had sailed for two hours and rested in the back part of the boat. He saw two sharks coming towards hi. He watched the sharks coming. They were detestable sharks. He drove the knife again ii1C0 the spinal cord of one of the sharks. The sharks swallowed the best part of the fish and it died soon.

Now the other shark began to shake the boat. He was eating the big fish. The Old Man thrust the knife into his hide. It wounded his hands and shoulders. The Old Man stabbed him in his left eyes. The shark would not admit his fault. The Old Man drove the knife between the spinal cord and brain of the shark. It also took one-fourth of the best meat of his big fish, before he died.

Then another shark came. His rose was like a shovel. He came with his mouth wide open. The Old Man left him with the fish. He drove the knife of the oar down into shark's brain.

At midnight, the sharks came in a pack and attacked the fish. The sharks threw themselves on the fish. He struck them on their head with his club. One of the sharks seized the club and it was gone. The Old Man pulled the tiller from the rudder and beat the sharks with it. The sharks tore off the pieces of meat of the big fish. The tiller too was gone. The man stood defeated. He let the sharks eat the fish. There was left nothing of the fish expert the skeleton. He thought only of steering the boat.

Q.2. How does Santiago prove the truth of his remark "Man is not made for defeat"?

OR

Man is not made of defeat. Justify in the context of the novel.

Ans:  Santiago, the hero, is a man of invincible courage and unconquerable will. He refuses to be called 'unlucky'. He decides to go far beyond the customary fishing area. He is ready to expose himself to greater danger. He says that his big fish must be somewhere in the sea. He fails to hunt any fish for the last eighty four days, but he is not despaired or discouraged at it. He decides to try his luck on the eighty fifth day.

The Old Man goes on his expedition. He faces the great trial, he is all alone. When the great trial comes, he is alone. The Old Man succeeds in hooking a big marlin. It is very 'beautiful and strange'. It is bigger than his skiff. This powerful fish tows the boat and drags the Old Man with it The Old Man remains in the boat for three days and three nights without any rest or sleep. There is great strain on his mind and body. But he does not care for his life and decides to fight with him till his death. He addresses the fish and says, "Fish, I will stay with you until I am dead". His whole body is under great stress.

He does not sleep or rest for two days and two nights. His back is sore. His hands have been lacerated. He is utterly exhausted but does not give up the fight. He is determined to show the Marlin what sort of man he is. He must kill the marlin in all its greatness and glory. But I will show him what a man can do and what a man endure?, he says. "You are killing me, fish" he says, "come on and kill me. It do not care who kills who". His act in killing the Marlin comes as a climax to his ordeaL The marlin is fifteen hundred pounds in weight_ He shows the same dynamic quality and capacity for action in dealing with the sharks.

The first to attack his marlin is a very big Mako shark. He hits the shark in the brain "without hope but with resolution and complete malignancy". The shark dies but it takes away the harpoon. 'But man is not made for defeat', Santiago says. 'A man can be destroyed but cannot be defeated' . It is in his spirits that he gets ready to fight against more sharks.

Important Topics from the novel the old man and the sea

1. The old man and the sea short Summary
2. The Oldman (Santiago) is an experienced fisherman. Discuss.
3. Describe Santiago's struggle against the Marlin
4. Talk of the old man to himself and his loneliness
5. Dreams of the old man

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