The final obstacle that Santiago has no control over is when the devious sharks follow the smell of blood to the Marlin he caught. “The shark was not an accident. He had come up from the deep down in the water as the dark cloud of blood had settled and dispersed in the mile deep sea.”(110) In the end, these conniving sharks devoured the large Marlin that he recently caught, no matter how much he fought against them. This situation could have ultimately been avoided if the fish hadn’t pulled his skiff out so far. So the sharks were also an obstacle that in the end are impossible to overcome. There is no way that Santiago could have fended off all those sharks in his current health and condition. So no matter how much he fought, there was no way he could save his prized catch.
Santiago although faced with many opposing forces throughout his battle to catch the fish, he attempted to push through them all with the utmost perserverence. He did this despite the fact that most of this obstacle were impossible to overcome. He didn't let this fact stop him. He worked through the pain of cutting his hand, he took the risk of going out deep with the fish, and he battled with the sharks to the best of his ability. He did this all just for the fact the he wouldn't let the fish overcome him, "Fish," he said softly, aloud, " I will stay with you until I am dead."(52) Everyone can take something from this story and that is, even when it seems you can't push past an obstacle, you can try as hard as you possibly can to go against all odds.