Perseverance is the will to bear through hardship and do so without complaining. Perseverance is the commitment, hard work and endurance of someone to achieve a goal that is hard to reach. The hardships and rewards of perseverance is a central lesson of Old Man and the Sea.
After going 84 days with a catch, Santiago decides to head of into the Gulf to fish. On the first day, the great marlin took the bait and gave the Old man a fight but ultimately escaped. The next few days he faced the same result. The old adage, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” goes very well with the Old Man’s perseverance for catching the marlin. In the beginning it was tough for Santiago but he didn’t give up, he kept trying.
While trying to catch the great marlin, Santiago endured many hardships; the line he used was cutting into his hands, the struggle caused his old body much pain, and sleeping in a skiff caused him to be tired and not in best health. The Old Man’s endurance and determination to catch the great marlin was amazing. After enduring all those hardships he still kept trying and trying to catch the great marlin.Santiago had great respect for the marlin and often referred to great fish as his brother. Even after being very injured and made sick trying to catch the great marlin, he still thought that no one was worthy of eating it.The fish was a great trophy for Santiago and he greatly valued it because of the perseverance it showed during the fight to catch it.
On the third day the Old Man was out at sea, the marlin showed that it was getting tired of the fight by circling the boat. Using the harpoon, the Old Man was able to spear and catch the marlin. On the journey, home the trail of blood attracted some sharks. Santiago had persevere against a new hardships to protect his prize. Using the harpoon he was able to kill one shark but lost his weapon. The Old Man was able to make a new harpoon but by the time he reached shore the sharks had eaten almost the entire marlin. Injured and very weaken from the fight with the marlin but with enough energy and strength to fight off some of the sharks, the Old Man still had his prize, or at least part of it.
When he arrived at shore the Old Man jumped out of his boat, went to his shack, and immediately fell into a deep sleep. Exhausted, he left the marlin on his boat. Some fishermen measured it and inspected it. In a nearby cafe, tourists looked at the skeleton and thought it was a shark. Everybody didn’t really know they were looking at a great marlin. Nobody gave the Old man any credit for catching more just a shark. Despite all the work and perseverance of the Old Man, he didn’t really get credit.
The Old Man showed great courage in going out on the sea all alone at his age. Alone and old, he was still able to catch the great marlin, I certainly wouldn’t have been able to go out onto the sea alone and have been able to catch that huge fish. The journey home would have been terrible, having to fight off sharks and protect my prize. I simply wouldn’t have left land. The Old Man was brave, strong, committed, and most importantly, he persevered.
