In the novel The Old Man and The Sea the main character, Santiago, faces several internal and external struggles. As the novel progresses we see more and more challenges thrown at Santiago that he must overcome and get through. Some of these challenges include continuously fighting the fish, keeping his mental stability, dealing with injuries, and many more. We learn that Santiago is not only a strong minded man, but he is also a determined fisherman. On days one and two the author gives the readers enough information to inform us that Santiago is a strong- willed man that will never give up. As the readers continue to learn about Santiago, they are told that he hasn’t caught a fish in eighty- four days. The eighty- fifth day is his “lucky day” and he is determined to catch a fish. Santiago benefits from the young boys, his best friend, encouraging spirit. The other fisherman look down on Santiago and think that he is bad luck, but Santiago doesn’t let them take away his passion to fish. Santiago also faces the issue of never having enough money or food. On the second day the old man awakes and gets coffee with the young boy before he departs on his fishing adventure. He is unable to look into the sun because of his old and sensitive eyes. Throughout the day uses the circling birds to locate the fish, but he still has not caught anything. As nighttime falls he is discouraged that he still has not caught anything, but it is the eighty- fifth day and he will fish well. Just then, one of the stick breaks and the old man knows that he has caught a big fish. The fish is too strong and the old man can physically do nothing. As the sun goes down, the man becomes cold. “It was cold after the sun went down and the old man’s sweat dried cold on his back and his arms.” (pg.47) He tries to keep warm, but it’s too cold out. As the night goes on, the old man is saddened that the boy isn’t with him. He doesn’t think anyone should be alone at such an old age. “No one should be alone in his old age, he thought.” (pg.48) During the night Santiago starts to pity the fish because he’s never had such a strong fish before. The last thing that Santiago wants the fish to know is that there is one old man against him. He wants the fish to believe there is a group of young, strong fishermen. Santiago then begins to question whether or not he should be a fishermen. “Perhaps I should not have been a fisherman, he though.” (pg.50) He is down on himself and ashamed that he can’t catch the fish in his old age. His back is also starting to worry and hurt him. The second day of his fishing trip is now over and Santiago is questioning his fishing career. “He looked around for the bird now because he would have liked him for company. The bird was gone.” (pg.56) On the third day Santiago is feeling more lonely than ever is searching for company. He loves the fish, but he wants him dead by the end of the day. The fish lurches forward and the line cuts Santiagos’ hands. This worries him and hopes that it won’t effect his fishing. He holds his hand to the sun to help heal it and he soon realizes that he is very hungry. He doesn’t have much food so eating is also a major struggle. Since Santiago hasn’t eaten in a day and a half, he is very weak and his left hand begins to cramp. He decides that he must eat the tuna to keep strong and help un-cramp his hand. Just as he finishes his tuna, the magnificent fish jumps out of the water. The old man uses all his strength and knowledge to make sure that the line doesn’t break. He soon begins to suffer from pain and agony. He conserves his energy because he knows that the fish is much stronger then he is. Santiago gives himself confidence by thinking of the arm wrestling match in Casablanca with the great negro. The match lasted a day long and Santiago defeated the strong man. As he is reminiscing he realizes that he is hungry again, but he has no food. He catches a dolphin and eats it raw. He doesn’t like the