Monday, March 8, 2010

Life or Death



What's the difference between life and death, the thing that can make you or break you? An obstacle. These obstacles could be a minor bump along the way, or they can be more straightforward and hit like an earthquake, and change your life forever. More important than the actual obstacle is how you choose to overcome the obstacle. You can be calm about it, and handle the situation, whatever it may be, as calm and collective as possible or you can chose to completely tweak out over the situation and just get lost in the rumble. The reaction an individual has over their obstacle is based on not only the person, but the obstacle itself. If an obstacle is more challenging, the person that faces the obstacle may choose to take a different route than they may usually take.

In the book, The Old Man and The Sea, Santiago faces multiple obstacles that he has to overcome. Some were minuscule, such as the pain he faced in his hands, while some were life-threatening, like surviving with only one bottle of water and limited food that he had to catch himself and eat raw, which left the reader feeling suspenseful throughout the book, not knowing if Santiago would live. Even though Santiago was forced to face these harsh obstacles, he handled them well and in a way, came out victorious. Even though his fish got destroyed, he got the joy, excitement, and accomplishment of know that he, by himself, caught a ginormous marlin.

What is pain? The correct definition states that pain is "physical suffering or distress" (Dictionary.com). I, however, don't agree with this. Pain is an obstacle; a life or death situation. In the book, Santiago suffers extreme pain in many places.

Catching a Marlin today isn't easy or without pain even if you have all of the proper tools. All that Santiago had was his physical being, bait, and string. Obviously, this couldn't have been enough. Failure was almost guaranteed. The book quotes, "...and his left [hand] was taking all the strain and cutting badly" (82). This quote shows what exactly was happening to Santiago's hands.

As the rope got pulled out by the marlin, he tried to hold on with all of his might but it didn't work as planned. The rope dug into his head, like a paper cut, but worse. Almost to the point where skin is beginning to detach from the rest of the hands. The way this quote describes the situation, I picture large, deep cuts that slash right through every inch of Santiago's hands. This just describes one of these numerous situations that occurred throughout the book.

An obstacle that each one of us faces everyday is one that we cannot see, and it's questionable whether or not we can feel it. It's on the inside, in our minds. Your mindset controls your everyday life. If you tell yourself that anything is possible, you are correct. Your mind is one of your biggest obstacles, you can't be pessimistic.

In The Old Man and The Sea, Santiago has to face his mind, and his endurance. If he didn't believe and have faith in himself, he never would have achieved catching the Marlin. He needed to convince himself that he could, so he would. For example, one quote that describes mindset perfectly is: "Mine does not matter [pain]. I can control mine." The most important part of this quote is the sentence, "I can control mine"(88). Referring to his pain, Santiago knows that is he convinces himself that there isn't any pain and that he can catch the marlin, he will and this showed with the success that Santiago had while catching the fish. I believe that if Santiago kept this faith throughout the attacks of the multiple sharks, he could have salvaged his fish, and ended up elated in the end of the book instead of disappointed. If he told himself over and over that he could achieve success in bringing home his well-deserved marlin, he could have arrive at shore with a marlin strung to the side of his skiff.

Being the only one around can get lonely. Especially if you're in the middle of the ocean, with no one but yourself. You can begin to act fretful and nervous knowing that if anything were to happen, there is no help for miles and miles.

Santiago was alone out in the ocean while catching he Marlin. He was lonely and helpless and admitted to it many times. "I wish i had the boy" (45). Santiago knew that if Manolin was there to help him, he would have had a better chance of coming out victorious. Manolin was admiring of Santiago and would have been anxious to help, and Santiago would have been approving of Manolin's work because Santiago taught him everything that he knew. Also, since Manolin was a young boy, he would have been more energetic, which would have helped Santiago when he became tired and tense in the hands. Help would have made everything easier for Santiago, but that wasn't an option. He had to do it all on his own.

Do you like when you're about to score a goal and out of nowhere comes a defender who slide tackles the ball away? No one does. It's the feeling of success that is taken away. You think something is yours, within reach, and out of nowhere, it's gone.

Santiago faced a similar situation in the book. He caught his fish, but deep down inside, he knew that it was too good to be true. The second he harpooned the marlin and the blood seeped out of its torn flesh, Santiago knew that sharks were to come. It was natural instinct. Blood equals sharks.

Another obstacle that the Old Man had to face was the numerous sharks that wanted his gold. "One came, finally, against the head itself and he knew it was over" (118). This quote was the turning point for Santiago. This one obstacle, beat him. He didn't let his pain win, he didn't let his mind give up, but he couldn't beat the sharks. The destroyed him, and his fish.For a while, Santiago was tolerant of the sharks by killing them, or hurting them to a point where the wouldn't come back.When darkness came, he was became carelfree and became uninvolved is the saving of his marlin. Santiago knew that if a shark, or more, was to attack in the darkness, he didn't have a weapon or any light. There was nothing the he could do. All odds were against him. He had to let it be, and deal with the fact that he did let one obstacle overcome him.

Whether you are Santiago, Manolin, or whom ever you may be, you face obstacles. The Old Man and The Sea had so many obstacles. Pain, mindset, and sharks were just a few. Life, however, is a never ending line of obstacles. They never go away and the only thing you can do is to learn how to cope with them. This can be the difference of life and death; win and loose; success and failure. There's nothing you can do to get rid of these obstacles, but those that will come out victorious are those who will stand up tall, and face the obstacle. Those who strive for success, knowing at anytime, failure can be lurking.

11 comments:

  1. I.The thesis of this story is that decisions can effect your life and they are very important. I thought the thesis was very clear and focused. I think the thesis engaged me in the writing.
    II.I think the example about pain and how he can control his i thought it stood out because of the determination.
    III. I think the examples in the story worked well and the analytical responses to them were well. "Do you like when you're about to score a goal and out of nowhere comes a defender who slide tackles the ball away? No one does."
    IV.I think the weakest part of the essay was the conclusion i thought it could have used some more oomph. I think rereading it and maybe using some better word choice.

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  2. the thesis states that life is full of dangerous obstacles. It is very clear and well put.
    The quote in which the old mans hand is badly injured because it tells you what he had to go through.
    "Whether you are Santiago, Manolin, or whom ever you may be, you face obstacles. The Old Man and The Sea had so many obstacles. Pain, mindset, and sharks were just a few." It sums it up very well with their sentences and wise words.
    Very good essay but you forgot page numbers on some quotes i think.

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  3. The thesis in the story states that life is full of decisions that can effect your life. i think that the thesis was very clear and stated well.

    I think the example about pain and how he can control his i thought it stood out because of the determination.

    "Do you like when you're about to score a goal and out of nowhere comes a defender who slide tackles the ball away? No one does." this story is clear and works well with the story.

    I think that word choice and grammar could be helpful.

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  4. The essays thesis is that the obstacles Santiago had to face were his cut had, and the lack of food and water. It was very clear and concise.
    My favorite example was the one about going to shoot a goal, and the success is taken away.
    My favorite part of this essay is the conclusion and the intro. I also really like the body paragraphs. I like your whole essay.
    I would check some of your word choice and grammar.

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  5. 1.) The author’s thesis of this paper is dealing with obstacles. There are all kinds of obstacles and it shows what kind of person you are with how you handle them. The thesis is very clear and I loved he first sentence. It did engage me, because it was intense with life and death.
    2.) I think the best quote is in the second body paragraph. She is talking about Santiago loosing hope and having to convince himself that he could catch the marlin. I don’t think there could have been a better quote.
    3.)I think that it is cool that she compares events that happened in the book with real life situations. “Do you like when you're about to score a goal and out of nowhere comes a defender who slide tackles the ball away? No one does. It’s the feeling of success that is taken away” (Amanda’s story).
    4.) Yes, Chris was right you did forget to put in some page numbers after your quotes. I always like your essays they are always super good!! (4 bonus points…?)

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  6. I. The thesis is that Santiago has many obstacles to overcome. It is clear and concise. It is pretty focused, I think it starts to get a little off track though because it starts to sound a bit like summarizing when she talks about the outcome of the book. It does engage me though because the introduction talked about obstacles so now I want to read about his.

    II. I thought her second body paragraph, about mindset, was the strongest. The way she explains it, she completely persuades me. I also like the quote she used. It backed up her opinion well.

    III. I thought her writing style and conclusion stood out. Her conclusion stood out because it ended on a general note, and it left the reader with meaning. It left me thinking about how life is full of obstacles but Santiago didn't let that stop him.

    IV. One think is that there is a little bit of summary or parts where it gets a little off topic. I think sometimes you explain your opinion well, but then you keep talking about the book and you don't necessarily have to. Other than that, I liked it lots!

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  7. 1. The thesis of this essay is that santiago has to oversome obstacles like lack of food, his hand, and his mind. It is clear.
    2. The strongest part of this essay is its 4th paragraph about how the things you cherish can be taken away. Its strong because its opening sentence intrigues me to keep going and its reasons are backed up well.
    3. I think the author's organization and quotes are chosen and written very well. I like how you incorporated the dictionary definition into one of the paragraphs.
    4. I think this essay was writen very welll and doesnt need to change anything..but you can just read over for some conventions.

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  8. I. The thesis of this essay is- In the book, The Old Man and The Sea, Santiago faces multiple obstacles that he has to overcome. I think that this thesis is clear, because it is short and to the point about what you are saying.

    II. I think that the best quotation used was in the second paragraph where you used - "...and his left [hand] was taking all the strain and cutting badly" I think that this was really good because it showed the severity that you were explaining anf you analyzed it well.

    III. I think the authors creativity and word choice were the best aspects of the essay. You made the essay really engaging and easy to read, so I wasnt bored and I actually cared about what you were saying. I think that this is really important in your essay because it helped you a lot by the way you delivered your thoughts.

    IV. I really dont think you could change anything other than you used a lot of phrases that aren't original to you. I liked how you used them and where you used them in your paper, I just think that you used them a little to much.

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  9. 1. The thesis is that there are many obstacles in life and Santiago also faces many obstacles in the story.

    2. I think the second quote is the best because it really shows the struggle he was facing, and it was not too long. It was very clear to the point you were trying to make.

    3. I think that your word choice was really good and it really helped to make your essay engaging.

    4. The only thing is there are some mistakes with conventions, but otherwise, it is really awesome!!! great job!

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  10. I. The thesis in Amanda's essay is "In the book, The Old Man and The Sea, Santiago faces multiple obstacles that he has to overcome."
    II. I think that the best body paragraph is the second. I think that the quote you used is very strong and is analyzed very well.
    III. The best aspect of Amanda's story is her analytical word choice and creativeness.
    IV. The one thing that Amanda could work on is her conventions: spelling, grammar, etc.

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  11. The essays thesis is that the obstacles Santiago had to face were his cut had, and the lack of food and water. It was very clear and concise.
    My favorite example was the one about going to shoot a goal, and the success is taken away. I thought that was a very nice way of explaining it!
    My favorite part of this essay is the conclusion and the intro. I also really like the body paragraphs. I like your whole essay. :) I also liked how you included that reference from the dictionary about what pain really is.
    I would check some of your word choice and grammar. Overall i think your essay is very well-written.

    ReplyDelete