Question

“The old man's head was clear and good now and he was full of resolution but he had little hope. It was too good to last, he thought.”
What is Santiago referring to in this passage as the shark approaches?

A. the enormity of the marlin
B. his injured hand is hurting again
C. his conquest was short-lived
D. the loss of Santiago's fishing gear

Answer 1

The correct answer is option letter C (his conquest was short-lived). Taken from the novel “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway (1952), the excerpt presented above narrates the moment when a shark arrives to the boat where the old man was. Santiago, the old man, has just fished a marlin and the shark arrives having smelled the marlin’s blood. What Santiago is referring to in this passage presented above is that his conquest of the marlin has lasted for a short period of time (It was too good to last), since he foresees the shark taking the marlin away. Santiago feels that the struggle that implied the conquest was all for nothing. Finally, the shark takes the marlin and goes down slowly as the old man watches. After his loss, the old man says, “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”.