The Old man and the Sea by Earnest Hemmingway

The Old man and the Sea

 The story of “The Old man and the Sea”

 “The Old man and the Sea”, written by Earnest Hemmingway, is the story of an old fisherman Santiago. He has not caught any fish for eighty five days

. His only companion is a boy named Manolin but he is forced by his father to leave the unlucky Santiago and serve under other master.

            Hoping that the eighty fifth day would prove lucky, Santiago sails out into the sea early in the morning. Rowing in the dark, he hears the sound of flying fish jumping out of water. When the sun rises, he sees a man-of –war bird trying to catch the flying fish. He also sees a big dolphin cutting through water below the flying fish. He catches a tuna and hopes to use it as bait. He is happy that it weighs ten pounds.

            As there is nobody to talk to, Santiago talks to himself. One of the three lines thrown by him is now being pulled gently. The gentle pull is followed by a harder one. He concludes that it must be a marlin and that it has the bait stuck up crosswise in its mouth and that it is moving off with it. The fish now drags the skiff with it. Santiago wishes for Manolin’s company as it is difficult for him to pull the fish.

            Santiago falls down twice when marlin pulls hard suddenly. A cut is made before his eye and it starts bleeding. The taut line cuts the old man’s right hand and it starts bleeding. He eats the tuna to strength himself.

            Soon the marlin comes out of the water. Santiago notes that it is two feet longer than the skiff. It jumps several times and begins to circle. By pulling in the line steadily, Santiago narrows down the marlin’s circle. When the fish comes close to the skiff, he kills it with his harpoon. He then ties the dead marlin to the skiff.

            Santiago starts sailing back home, and on the way, the marlin is attacked by a stream of sharks. Santiago tries to drive them away using his harpoon, knife, oar, club, and tiller as weapons. He has a great struggle with them, and is very tired. The sharks have eaten up all the flesh of the marlin. At night he reaches home and with great difficulty he carries the mast to his shack.

            The next morning Manolin finds Santiago sleeping on his bed face down and arms stretched and palms turned up. The boy feels pity on him and says that he would come with Santiago to fish. He assures that his own luck would compensate for the old man’s lack of it.  Santiago is fast asleep dreaming about the lions which shows that his courage and adventures spirit are still alive. Man may be destroyed but not defeated.