Conflict

Santiago struggled for eighty-four days without catching any fish. Hoping that the eighty-fifth day would bring him luck, like it had before, he set out sail once again determined to catch something worth bringing home. When he hooked the giant marlin he probably thought things would get easier from there, but they just got worse. “If I were him I would put in everything now and go until something broke. But, thank God, they are not as intelligent as we who kill them; although they are more noble and more able.” He struggled back and forth with the marlin for two days, causing cramps, cuts, and dehydration. "You are killing me, fish, the old man thought.” He had a hard time killing the fish, and when he finally did, and was on his way home the marlin was attacked by sharks, no matter how hard he tried to fend them off, they eventually ate it all to the point there was nothing good left to sell. By the end Santiago realized that he had gone out too far and he wished he never hooked the marlin.