The main problem Santiago faces is he can't catch a fish. Santiago does not give up and goes out to sea everyday and looks for fish. He feels its good luck because once he did not catch anything for 84 days then he caught a giant fish every day for two weeks. He feels that he is just waiting for the perfect time where a fish will come. Another problem he faces is he is a old man and he has no help. He used to have Manolin but he was forced to leave and now he is all alone. He has many problems because of his old age but still goes out and fishes. He used to remember how easy it was fishing when he was younger. Santiago has many problems but never gives up and always looks at the positives in life. He feels those 84 days are leading up to a very large fish that could even be his biggest fish. Therefore Santiago has the problem of not finding fish be he will not give up because he feels that one day he will find the fish of fishes.