The Old Man and the Sea Compared to the “Shipwrecked Sailor”In the stories The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway and “The Shipwrecked Sailor” by Gabriel Garcia Marques, there are so many similarities, like their losses and their love for sea creatures, that it's uncanny. While there are many similarities, there are also some differences, such as the main characters' love for sea creatures. There are more similarities in these stories than differences, in my opinion. A difference between Santiago from The Old Man and the sea and the sailor from "The Shipwrecked Sailor" lies in their knowledge of the sea. Santiago expresses himself well as a fecund and resourceful old fisherman of the sea. This is expressed prodigiously when Santiago: “Hooked a piece of yellow Gulf grass with the gaff as they passed and shook it so that the little shrimps that were there fell onto the side of the skiff” (Hemmingway p.98). This is the act of a very intellectual and experienced fisherman. Unlike Santiago, the sailor in “Shipwrecked Sailor” is rather ignorant. However, this is excused because the man did not have Santiago's sea experience. His imbecility is manifested when he “lies down on the edge of the raft and takes a few sips of sea water” (Marques p. 45). This was a pretty stupid action, because salt dries the body and retains water. This action proves that he is not seaworthy. Thus, Santiago is the more experienced sailor of the two. A similarity between The Old Man and the Sea and “The Shipwrecked Sailor” lies in their losses. In the “Shipwrecked Sailor”, “The sharks had escaped with my prey” (Marques p.44). This event marked the loss of man's food reserves. This was not a very crucial part of the story, as the man had already devoured raw meat, which had made him feel full. In The Old Man and the Sea, “He didn’t want to look at the fish. He knew that half of him had been destroyed” (Hemmingway p.144). This was a very similar method of loss that the shipwrecked sailor had faced. It was a tragic loss and a humiliation for both Santiago and his pride. He was tenacious and worked so hard to get the fish, but the sharks took him away. The old man lost the fish, although he fought valiantly to repel the shark attackers..