Fights....Wedgies...and The Struggles of Life.

Bullies are one of the worst possible things that you can face in your life. They give you wedgies, they steal your lunch money, and they always beat you up. People face challenges and struggles like this every single day. Sometimes it’s too much for a person to handle and they just quit and stop fighting. THAT’S BAD!! You have to fight the challenges that life throws at you every day. It will make you stronger and it will change you into a completely different person that you never saw yourself being. When you are struggling with something you have to not quit and you have to keep fighting. You might loose at first, but in the end you will shine through with victory. Santiago in the old man and sea deal with some of these struggles that people face every day. Lifes bullies.

Getting beat up is the worst. You hurt all over the place afterward, and when you try to fight back, you never have confidence in yourself to fight good enough. In the Old Man at Sea, Santiago struggles with some challenges in which he needs to fight. He doesn’t want to give up and he is determined to win the fight and have confidence in himself. Santiago is a fisherman who can never seem to catch any fish. He has no friends, except a boy that always comes to visit him named Mandolin. Mandolin is a curious, outgoing, anxious boy, who wants to fish with the fisherman. Santiago is a poor, old, lonely man who is just trying to find his place in his lifetime and trying to fight this struggle. Santiago would talk to anything. Fish, birds, himself! He just didn’t have anybody. “Fish, I love you and I respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends” (Santiago 54) His love and respect for the fish shows that, he cares about the fish and he counts the fish as a friend. But, he is so weak and he is so hungry that he must kill it to survive. Sometimes, you might not feel good after doing something, but when you find out it’s the right thing and that it was the best thing to do, you tend to feel better. Sometimes when a bully picks on you, you loose all your friends and nobody likes you, so you tell on him and he gets mad and beats you up before he gets detention. It might have not seemed like a good choice when you first did it, but in the end, you were glad that you turned that bully in. Santiago was glad when he caught his tuna. He hated to kill it, but in the end he was glad he did.


Wedgies hurt! Who knew that underwear could ride up your butt that high? They make you so tense, and there so unsympathetic. Well, in the old man at sea, Santiago struggles with some pain as well, only his doesn’t ride up his butt. Santiago wants to catch a Marlin. He is so devoted to catching one, that he would risk his life just to get a Marlin. “He woke with a jerk of his right fist coming up against his face and the line burning out through his right hand. He had no feeling of his left hand, but he braked all he could with his right and the line rushed out. Finally, his left hand found the line and now it burned his back and his left hand, and his left hand was taking all the strain and cutting badly”. ( Santiago 82) This aggressive fight for the rope ended up hurting Santiago badly. He got wedgied. He didn’t even care though. All that matters is he caught something big and he had it on the line which lay in his hand. This had to of been a very taunting moment to Santiago.


The last thing that stinks about bullies, is that they steal your lunch money! When a bully tries to steal your lunch money, their not cautious or respectful. They just rip it out of your hand!!!! They fight you for your money! Their so threatening! Santiago gets lunch money almost stolen from him as well, but he stops the bully. It was a very haunting experience from him. “The shark closed fast astern and when he hit the fish, the old man saw his mouth open and his strange eyes and the clicking chop of the teeth, as he drove forward in the meat just above the tail. The shark’s head was out of water and his back was coming out and the old man could hear the noise of skin and flesh ripping on the big fish when he rammed the harpoon the harpoon down onto the shark’s head at a spot where the line between his eyes intersected with the line that ran straight back from his nose.” (Santiago 102) This once in a lifetime experience was planted into Santiago’s head for the rest of his life. The shark tried to steal Santiago’s lunch money (the fish), but Santiago stood up to his bully and fought to keep his lunch money. All you have to do is put your mind to something, and if it means that much to you, and you really want it, that’s all you need is some self encouragement.


As you can see, life is full of bullies. There all around us. We deal with struggles every day. They come in all shapes, sizes, and species. Santiago faced many struggles in his life and as you can see, he got through all of them. He got through them because he believed in himself. You can accomplish anything in life, if you just put your mind to it. There are plenty of new challenges and struggles out there that are just waiting for us. We need to find them and take them on. We can work ourselves through everything. Santiago didn’t let his problems slow him down. He just sucked it up, thought of what he was struggling with, got confidence in himself, and went for it. He succeeded. I think it’s time you started thinking about the struggles you’re facing in like and how you’re going to take them on. “You may have lost the battle... But you didn’t loose the war”