Conflict

The main conflict in The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway is very simple and straightforward. It is external, man vs. man- the old man vs. the giant marlin. The conflict is carried over a period of several days, and then after the falling action, the reader can almost feel the effects that the conflict has had on the old man.

The old man has not caught a fish in eighty four days, and he is starting to become a disgrace. He used to be so skilled and competent, and now it seems that he is not. But things start to look up for the old man when he goes out to sea alone one day and finally manages to snag a giant fish on his line. It is a marlin, longer than the old man's boat and purple in color. The old man knows that he needs to catch this fish- his reputation depends on it and he can finally feel like a successful fishermen again.

But even after he has captured the fish, the conflict is not over. Now he has to fight the fish. Man and fish are both holding on tight, neither wanting to let go and lose. And this carries on for hours and hours and hours. Neither of them are willing to give up, and both the old man and the marlin seem willing to hold on until death.

Finally after a lot of pain and trouble and weakening, the old man manages to kill the marlin with a harpoon. But still, the conflict is not over. The old man still has to bring the fish back to land, and when he starts to do so, a shark is attracted to the marlin. The old man has no choice other than to kill the shark, but the blood in the water attracts even more sharks and there is nothing the old man can do as the sharks devour the entire marlin and he has to go back to his fishing village with nothing at all to show for his great conflict. It is resolved, but definitely does not have a happy ending for either of the two involved.