Answer: From the very first paragraph, Santiago is characterized as someone struggling against defeat. He has gone eighty-four days without catching a fish—he will soon pass his own record of eighty-seven days. Almost as a reminder of Santiago’s struggle, the sail of his skiff resembles “the flag of permanent defeat.” But the old man refuses defeat at every turn: he resolves to sail out beyond the other fishermen to where the biggest fish promise to be. He lands the marlin, tying his record of eighty-seven days after a brutal three-day fight, and he continues to ward off sharks from stealing his prey, even though he knows the battle is useless.
Because Santiago is pitted against the creatures of the sea, some readers choose to view the tale as a chronicle of man’s battle against the natural world, but the novella is, more accurately, the story of man’s place within nature. Both Santiago and the marlin display qualities of pride, honor, and bravery, and both are subject to the same eternal law: they must kill or be killed. As Santiago reflects when he watches the weary warbler fly toward shore, where it will inevitably meet the hawk, the world is filled with predators, and no living thing can escape the inevitable struggle that will lead to its death. Santiago lives according to his own observation: “man is not made for defeat . . . [a] man can be destroyed but not defeated.” In Hemingway’s portrait of the world, death is inevitable, but the best men (and animals) will nonetheless refuse to give in to its power. Accordingly, man and fish will struggle to the death, just as hungry sharks will lay waste to an old man’s trophy catch.
Explanation:
There'll be a wide variety of other vittles as well.
There are multiple ways of comparing and contrasting structures that each have different implications and dangers.
1. The back-and-forth method, in which every other sentence compares and contrasts. ie:
P1- theme
-p1 Book A is blah, whereas Book B is blah.
P2- theme
-p2 Book A is blah.... you get the point,
The danger of this method is sounding too redundant, although it does a good job of focusing on the themes.
2. The separate, mixed theme method, in which an entire paragraph is dedicated to each subject, but the themes are thus mixed up within those paragraphs. This method is less redundant but runs the risk of losing clarity of theme.
3. The compare vs. contrast method. This one is fairly straightforward: A paragraph comparing, a paragraph contrasting, and one of synthesis at the end. The pros: It's playing it safe, and it'll work. The cons: It's boring.
Combinations of these 3 methods work as well, it all depends on your personal writing style and the subjects you're comparing.
Good luck
