Monday, March 8, 2010

OMS Obstacle essay

Obstacles can be the most annoying part of anyone's life. From small ones such as a detour to larger ones like a disease. Everyday people either overcome these obstacles or they fall victim to them. This has no exception in The Old Man and the Sea where Santiago faces many difficult obstacles he has to over come.

In The Old Man and the Sea Santiago faces many challenges such as the size of his boat. In the story he only has a 12 foot long "skiff" to fish in. After reeling in his colossal marlin he faces a huge obstacle; the fact that the fish is bigger than the boat.“He had seen many that weighed more than a thousand pounds and he had caught two of that size in his life, but never alone,” (63). If Santiago had gone fishing in a larger boat ex. a battleship then the size of the fish would not have mattered. He could have hooked onto Moby Dick and not had to worry but anyway. Santiago uses his resources to overcome this obstacle and ties the marlin to the side of the boat. This gets past the first obstacle but exposes him to the next.

After Santiago ties the marlin to the boat he faces his next obstacle, the sharks. “When the old man saw him coming he knew that this was a shark that had no fear at all and would do exactly what he wished,” (101.) Santiago had to spear the fish with his gaff to kill it, the resulting wound started to bleed and attracted all of the sharks in the surrounding area. Santiago only had a harpoon, a knife and a broken oar to defend his catch with. He kills 2 sharks with his harpoon, another 2 with his knife and finally wards off a few more with the paddle. Again if Santiago had been more prepared ex. RPH(Rocket Propelled Harpoon) he could have easily defended his catch without even breaking a sweat. Because Santiago did not have an RPH he used his available resources and his wit the overcome obstacle number two.

Santiago faces his final obstacle after he wards off the sharks. He is now faced with the daunting task of returning from 150 miles out at sea with a 1,500 lbs. marlin dragging from his tiny boat. If Santiago had a motor on his boat then he would have gotten back to shore in a fraction of the time saving time and effort. Because Santiago has to row all the way back he actually passes out in his boat miles from the main land. If it wasn't for other fishermen he would have never been found. This is the one obstacle that Santiago can't overcome in the story.

Santiago overcame 2 of the 3 biggest obstacles in the story. His boat was much too small, there were sharks that tried to eat his marlin and he had to row 150 miles back to shore. By using his resources he was successfully able to overcome most of these obstacles. If Santiago wasn't so resourceful or he wasn't as determined and just gave up he probably wouldn't be alive in the end of the book.

13 comments:

  1. 1. The essay's thesis is that the old man had to overcome many different obstacles in the story, though he could have easily overcame them. It doesn't really engage so much for the fact that's it not much of an analytical essay, but rather just a summary of what happened.
    2. The essay used no quotations and the best example would be talking about the battle ship because if Santiago had a battle ship, he could over come all the challenges easy.
    3. The story seemed to just repeat itself. Of course there are many challenges with fishing far out into sea with a withered raft, and there are things that could be done to overcome them, but how would he be able to get all those things? Though he did proficient on his writing style on how he explained things with clear examples on how they could have helped overcome his obstacles.
    4. You might want to think of more logical and more realistic ways on how Santiago could have overcame his obstacles rather than things that he could most likely never get his hands on.

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  2. 1. The essays thesis was that Santiago had faced many obstacles. Also he had been extremely resourceful. It stood out pretty strongly. Throughout the essay it mentions how resourceful Santiago was.
    2. There werent any quotes.... might wanna get on the rob :P
    3. "Again if Santiago had been more prepared ex. RPH(Rocket Propelled Harpoon) he could have easily defended his catch without even breaking a sweat." i liked this part because it was funny and pretty random. This added some color to the story.
    4. There could be a bit more analysis in the story. Also there were no quotes throughout the entire thing. Thats kind of a problem

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  3. 1. The essays thesis is throughout the story, Santiago had many obstacles. Santiago could've been more prepared but he was resourceful.
    2.The essay had no quotes but Rob had some good examples and they were funny. LOl he could've caught moby dick.
    3.The strongest part of the story was definitely all of Robs examples. Like Nate said, the RPH definitely made the story funnier.
    4.There could be more quotes because you dont have any. But other then that good job!

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  4. 1. The thesis of this essay is that the old man faced many obstacles. It gives a good explanation of what the essay is about but it's not very engaging. There should be more about obstacles in lives to stress the importance of the idea.
    2. I like the way that the shark quote was put into the essay, It's strong and introduces the idea of the paragraph. It stood out because it was a good quote and showed how difficult the sharks would be to overcome.
    3. Something good about this essay is the examples the author uses to show how the old man could have overcome the obstacles. The author shows how the old man wasn't prepared for most of them. "He is now faced with the daunting task of returning from 150 miles out at sea with a 1,500 lbs. marlin dragging from his tiny boat" was my favorite quote because of the word choice.
    4. One thing that could be improved is the introduction. There should be more examples about obstacles in other lives to make the essay seem more interesting. There are also only 2 quotes in the essay, there needs to be more. Also one sentence confused me, "He could have hooked onto Moby Dick and not had to worry but anyway." I don't understand what the author is trying to say.

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  5. 1. the essays tesis is that everyone overcomes obstacles in life. they can be really annoying. this thesis is very clear.
    2. the essay had no quotes but the RPH was halirious.
    3. the best part was the humor. this made it interesting.
    4. rob should have added quotes to make this better but other than that it was great.

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  6. The thesis is that many people face problems through out their life. The may be big or small. The person must overcome these obstacles or they will fall. The thesis is very concise

    The most convincing argument was about the marlin and the boat. It just gives you the sense of how massive the creature was, and what a struggle it might have been. It seems almost impossible to people like us today. It is the greatest obstacle in the book

    I thought that the arguments were very persuasive. I especially liked the part about the boat. “Santiago had gone fishing in a larger boat ex. a battleship then the size of the fish would not have mattered. He could have hooked onto Moby Dick and not had to worry but anyway”. I think that this was very persuasive

    I thought that the word choice was a little weak. It could have been more descriptive. Also some of the points made are a little far fetched. A rocket propelled harpoon? Really? Maybe it could be more realistic

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  7. 1. The thesis is all about the obstacles and the overcoming the old man had to do in order to defeat the obstacles. The thesis is clear, focused, and engaging, all factors that a reader looks for in an interesting piece.
    2. My favorite quote of your would have to be “When the old man saw him coming he knew that this was a shark that had no fear at all and would do exactly what he wished,” because it shows exactly what the old man is thinking. Admittedly, you do not have the numerical criteria of quotes. Adding quotes will improve you essay greatly.
    3. I love your creative examples and ideas, such as the infamous Rocket Propelled Harpoon. It was ideas like this that fueled your essay and provided necessary humor that kept the reader wanting more.
    4. As fun as writing creatively may be, you may want to incorporate more logical ways Santiago can overcome his obstacles. After all, he is an old Cuban man… not a superhero or rich tycoon.

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  8. the thesis of the essay is that the old man is facing many obtacles and that he should have been more prepared with rocket propelled harpoons and what not. O and also battle ships.
    I dont recall seing any quotes in the story but the examples he used were rather funny and the essay was worth reading.
    One thing the essay does well is to incorporate humor in to it. It is a good essay in that sense.
    One thing rob forgot to add was quotes wich will probably bring down his grade but it ws still a good story.

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  9. 1. Robs thesis is that people can overcome obstacles or fall short of success. He states his thesis clearly and in a single sentence that makes sense.
    2. “When the old man saw him coming he knew that this was a shark that had no fear at all and would do exactly what he wished,” (101.) This quote is best integrated into the story. It shows the example of what the author meant to describe.
    3. Robs introduction is strong. it introduces his thesis and gives background on what he thinks obstacles are.
    4. This essay is missing comments. Rob needs to add more comments to reach the criteria. Also I think he should remember that the old man is poor and buying RPH is out of his price range.

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  10. The thesis of this essay is about the obstacles that the old man had to overcome. It was very concise, and I was well engaged. Quote: “When the old man saw him coming he knew that this was a shark that had no fear at all and would do exactly what he wished,” (101.) I really liked this quote, the structure was strong and developed. This essay would be by far the best by far. Rob was creative and put his own twist to it. It turned out very humerous for my liking. The weakest part of this essay would be the the lack of quotes. if I had written something as creative as this essay I would have a hard time fitting in quotes. However, for the few Rob included in the essay, it was well done.
    ~Great Essay!

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  11. I. (I like your introduction). Your thesis is that Santiago face many obstacles.

    II. You only have two quotes, and they both need some work. Gramatically they are fine, but they seem out of place, I t doesn't seem like you wrote them, or that they belong in the story.

    III. I like how even though the essay is supposed to be completely serious and formal you through in some of your own ideas in there (like the battleship from the seminar).

    IV. I think that you could do a little better separating the paragraphs and diving a little more into the reasons why he did some of things he did when he waas face with those obsatcles.

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  12. The thesis of the essay is that if you dont overcome you obstacles you will come victim to them and it is clear because it is clearly said in the first paragraph.

    .“He had seen many that weighed more than a thousand pounds and he had caught two of that size in his life, but never alone,” (63). This emphasized the enormous task of bringing "marlin gigantor" back home.

    I think that the strongest part of the essay was humor because the author used references from Council Epic such as the "RPH" and the "Battleship".

    The weakest part of the essay was analyzing because a lot of the essay was just restating what happened in the book.

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  13. 1.the thesis is that throughout life people everyday face challenges and obsticles. these obsticles could be very small or they could be world wide problems that multiple people everywhere are facing.
    2.My favorite quote that rob has put in this essay is in the third paragraph with the shark doing what santiago says. this shows that santiago is going to overcome one of those obsticles that he has faced on his journey out to sea.
    3.something that rob did well in this essay was good quotes. he used really good and informative quotes that went along with what he was writing and telling about.
    4.something he could work on it expanding on his first paragraph. it is very short and has a lot of room for improvment.

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