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THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA:
A Novella By Ernest Hemingway
(Published First In 1952 CE)
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Santiago is an aging, experienced fisherman who has
gone eighty-four days without catching a fish. He is
now seen as "salao," the worst form of unlucky.
Manolin, a young man whom Santiago has trained
since childhood, has been forced by his parents to work
on a luckier boat. Manolin remains dedicated to
Santiago, visiting his shack each night, hauling his
fishing gear, preparing food, and talking about
American baseball and Santiago's favorite player, Joe
DiMaggio. Santiago says that tomorrow, he will venture
far out into the Gulf Stream, north of Cuba in the Straits
of Florida to fish, confident that his unlucky streak is
near its end.
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On the eighty-fifth day of his unlucky streak, Santiago
takes his skiff out early. By noon, he has hooked a big
fish that he is sure is a marlin, but he is unable to haul it
in. He is unwilling to tie the line to the boat for fear that
a sudden jerk from the fish would break the line. With
his back, shoulders, and hands, he holds the line for
two days and nights. He gives slack as needed while
the marlin pulls him far from land. He uses his other
hooks to catch fish and a dolphinfish to eat. The line
cuts his hands, his body is sore, and he sleeps little.
Despite this, he expresses compassion and
appreciation for the marlin, often referring to him as a
brother. He determines that no one is worthy enough to
eat the marlin.
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On the third day, the fatigued marlin begins to circle the
skiff. Santiago, almost delirious, draws the line inward,
bringing the marlin towards the boat. He pulls the
marlin onto its side and stabs it with a harpoon, killing
it. Seeing that the fish is too large to fit in the skiff,
Santiago lashes it to the side of his boat. He sets sail
for home, thinking of the high price the fish will bring
him at the market and how many people he will feed.
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The trail of blood from the dead marlin attracts sharks.
Santiago berates himself for having gone out too far. He
kills a great mako shark with his harpoon but loses the
weapon. He makes a spear by strapping his knife to the
end of an oar. He kills three more sharks before the
blade of the knife snaps, and he clubs two more sharks
into submission. But each shark has bitten the great
marlin, increasing the flow of blood. That night, an
entire school of sharks arrives. Santiago attempts to
beat them back. When the oar breaks, Santiago rips out
the skiff's tiller and continues fighting. Upon seeing a
shark attempt to eat the marlin's head, Santiago
realizes the fish has been completely devoured. He
tells the sharks they have killed his dreams.
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Santiago reaches shore before dawn the next day. He
struggles to his shack, leaving the fish head and
skeleton with his boat. Once home, he falls into a deep
sleep. In the morning, Manolin finds Santiago. As he
leaves to get coffee for Santiago, he cries. A group of
fishermen have gathered around the remains of the
marlin. One of them measures it at 18 feet (5.5 m) from
nose to tail. The fishermen tell Manolin to tell Santiago
how sorry they are. A pair of tourists at a nearby café
mistake the dead fish for a shark. When Santiago
wakes, he donates the head of the fish to Pedrico. He
and Manolin promise to fish together once again.
Santiago returns to sleep, and he dreams of his youth
and of lions on an African beach.
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