The Old Man and The Sea - 2

2) What are the causes, gains, and losses of the conflict dealt with in this book?

The central conflict in The Old Man and The Sea is the constant battle between the fish and the old man, but the overall conflict is that the old man just wants to catch one acceptable fish.  Santiago goes a total of eighty-four days before finally hooking a magnificent beauty (Hemingway 25).  You begin to feel some relief when this is announced because the man has his fish at last.  The original conflict is resolved, until another arises.  The man still has the problem of catching the fish.  Because this is the the conflict discussed through the majority of the book, I believe this to be the central conflict.  
I suppose you could say that the main cause of the conflict was not by any one person, if anything it was caused by the determination of the old man.  He wanted so badly to catch a fish that he has found himself waiting eighty-four days and battling a massive fish for three days (Hemingway 24) .  If he had not been so determined, he would not have wasted so much time and enthusiasm.  He was drained completely of his positive energy, although one cannot help but admire such dedication to his dreams.  
He gained no material possession through this struggle.  His losses outweighed his gains by a landslide, but I think that he really did gain something mentally.  He fought hard, and he lost.  He has always fought hard, and always lost.  I think it may have finally hit him that he could be doing something wrong.  His many trials and failures have finally shown him that he cannot do everything, and sometimes, even if it may be difficult, you have to give up.
His losses were high.  He had nothing when he came back to land after his trip.  All he had were his clothes and a skeleton of a huge fish (Hemingway 58).  After everything he went through, he failed, which was depressing to both the character and the reader.  Everyone was rooting for the old man, but it just did not work the way he wanted.  Although he may have lost a little fanaticism, he still has his loyal friend, Manolin. 

Hemingway, E. The Old Man and The Sea. New York, NY: Scribner, 1980