The
Old Man And The Sea - Ernest Hemingway
Plot Overview-
The
Old Man and the Sea is
the story of an epic struggle between an old, seasoned fisherman and the
greatest catch of his life. For eighty-four days, Santiago, an
aged Cuban fisherman, has set out to sea and returned empty-handed. So
conspicuously unlucky is he that the parents of his young, devoted apprentice
and friend, Manolin, have forced
the boy to leave the old man in order to fish in a more prosperous boat.
Nevertheless, the boy continues to care for the old man upon his return each
night. He helps the old man tote his gear to his ramshackle hut, secures food
for him, and discusses the latest developments in American baseball, especially
the trials of the old man’s hero, Joe DiMaggio. Santiago is confident that his
unproductive streak will soon come to an end, and he resolves to sail out
farther than usual the following day.
On the
eighty-fifth day of his unlucky streak, Santiago does as promised, sailing his
skiff far beyond the island’s shallow coastal waters and venturing into the
Gulf Stream. He prepares his lines and drops them. At noon, a big fish, which
he knows is a marlin, takes the bait that Santiago has placed one hundred
fathoms deep in the waters. The old man expertly hooks the fish, but he cannot
pull it in. Instead, the fish begins to pull the boat.
Unable
to tie the line fast to the boat for fear the fish would snap a taut line, the
old man bears the strain of the line with his shoulders, back, and hands, ready
to give slack should the marlin make a run. The fish pulls the boat all through
the day, through the night, through another day, and through another night. It
swims steadily northwest until at last it tires and swims east with the
current. The entire time, Santiago endures constant pain from the fishing line.
Whenever the fish lunges, leaps, or makes a dash for freedom, the cord cuts
Santiago badly. Although wounded and weary, the old man feels a deep empathy
and admiration for the marlin, his brother in suffering, strength, and resolve.
On
the third day the fish tires, and Santiago, sleep-deprived, aching, and nearly
delirious, manages to pull the marlin in close enough to kill it with a harpoon
thrust. Dead beside the skiff, the marlin is the largest Santiago has ever
seen. He lashes it to his boat, raises the small mast, and sets sail for home.
While Santiago is excited by the price that the marlin will bring at market, he
is more concerned that the people who will eat the fish are unworthy of its
greatness.
As
Santiago sails on with the fish, the marlin’s blood leaves a trail in the water
and attracts sharks. The first to attack is a great mako shark, which Santiago
manages to slay with the harpoon. In the struggle, the old man loses the
harpoon and lengths of valuable rope, which leaves him vulnerable to other
shark attacks. The old man fights off the successive vicious predators as best
he can, stabbing at them with a crude spear he makes by lashing a knife to an
oar, and even clubbing them with the boat’s tiller. Although he kills several
sharks, more and more appear, and by the time night falls, Santiago’s continued
fight against the scavengers is useless. They devour the marlin’s precious
meat, leaving only skeleton, head, and tail. Santiago chastises himself for
going “out too far,” and for sacrificing his great and worthy opponent. He
arrives home before daybreak, stumbles back to his shack, and sleeps very
deeply.
The
next morning, a crowd of amazed fishermen gathers around the skeletal carcass
of the fish, which is still lashed to the boat. Knowing nothing of the old
man’s struggle, tourists at a nearby café observe the remains of the giant
marlin and mistake it for a shark. Manolin, who has been worried sick over the
old man’s absence, is moved to tears when he finds Santiago safe in his bed.
The boy fetches the old man some coffee and the daily papers with the baseball
scores, and watches him sleep. When the old man wakes, the two agree to fish as
partners once more. The old man returns to sleep and dreams his usual dream of
lions at play on the beaches of Africa.
Reference-
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