About the Book

The Old Man and the Sea

By ernest hemingway.

Hemingway’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, 'The Old Man and the Sea', opens with the main character, Santiago returning from his eighty-fourth day with catching a fish.

Emma Baldwin

Written by Emma Baldwin

B.A. in English, B.F.A. in Fine Art, and B.A. in Art Histories from East Carolina University.

It is a short, moving novel that tells the story of an old, Cuban fisherman’s three-day struggle in the Gulf of Mexico as he tries to catch a large marlin. 

‘Spoiler Free’ Summary  

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway tells the story of an old Cuban fisherman, Santiago , and his quest to break his eighty-four-day streak of unsuccessful fishing. He spends time with a young boy he used to fish with, Manolin, and the two speak about baseball. Manolin cares deeply for Santiago and does what he can to improve his life. Santiago, the man to whom the title refers, heads out the next day in an attempt to change his luck.

Before sunrise the next day Santiago is on the water again, his eyes focused on a new, distant fishing spot. When a fish takes his line, and Santiago realizes how large it is, his struggle begins. Through miles of water and hours and days of struggle, Santiago suffers for what he hopes will be a success, all the while being reminded of what it means to be human.  

The Old Man and the Sea Summary

Spoiler alert – important details of the novel are revealed below.

The Old Man and the Sea starts with the main character, Santiago, returning from a fishing trip, 84 days long, without catching a fish. Although downtrodden, the old man maintains hope his luck is going to change. His attitude is bolstered by the boy with whom he used to fish, Manolin. Unfortunately, by his parent’s orders, Manolin is no longer allowed to accompany Santiago out onto the water. They want their son to fish and learn from someone who is not struggling as the old man is at this time. The boat he’s moved to is much more prosperous, but the new fisherman does not inspire Manolin’s allegiance as Santiago has.

Manolin is devoted to the old man. He cares for him when he gets back from fishing, helps him carry in gear, and finds food for the two to eat together. The old man is desperately poor and is more than often unable to feed himself without Manolin’s help. The boy’s kindness shines through as he berates himself for not thinking of other ways he could better Santiago’s life. A passion the two share is baseball. They discuss upcoming games and their favorite player, Joe DiMaggio.

The next day, the old man wakes “as old men do” and walks to Manolin’s hut to wake him. Together they prepare Santiago’s skiff and he sails out into the waters. He determined the night before that he was going to sail farther than usual. Santiago sails so far as to enter into the Gulf Stream. As he moves through the water, he takes note of the wildlife around him, showing a clear appreciation for the natural world and all the creatures in it. Throughout the novel, the reader is told the story through Santiago’s thoughts. They often flit to his past, when he worked on a turtle boat and saw lions on a beach in Africa , and then return to his present moment. Santiago continues to remind himself to stay focused on the task at hand.

The Struggle

At noon that day, a fish takes the bait on one of his lines. The old man is very cautious, using all his knowledge, gained through decades of experience on the water, to know what to do with the line and when. The line was one hundred fathoms deep and the fish he hooked a marlin. Santiago knows immediately that he’s got a very large fish on his line but he isn’t sure how large. One hint of its size is the fact that the old man can’t get it pulled in. Rather, it starts to pull the boat out to sea. While this might frighten some sailors, the old man is nonplussed. He knows that no matter where he ends up he’ll be able to navigate back to the island. It’s a “long” island he states, and the lights are bright.

Over the next hours, and eventually days, the old man is pulled by the fish out into the sea. He does not tie the line off for fear that it will snap from the tension. Rather, he wraps it around his shoulders and back. His back begins to ache, but he knows he can bear it. He speaks out loud to himself, a habit that began after Manolin left his skiff. Santiago speaks on life, death and the brotherhood he feels with the fish on his line. Although he knows they are connected, and that the fish is a majestic creature he is determined to kill it. He wants to show the fish what man can do and he desperately needs something to sell.

One of the reoccurring themes in The Old Man and the Sea is that of the human body and it limitations. Santiago’s hands, the left, in particular, fail him. The left cramps up and he struggles for a time to get it to relax. But, he never panics. He knows he can bring the fish in. The struggle lasts for three days. Santiago manages to catch a fish and then a dolphin that had two flying fish in its belly, to eat.

Before the struggle has progressed for too many miles or days, the old man expresses his longing for the fish to jump. He just wants to see what “he’s up against”. It finally does and he is baffled by its size. So much so that he almost can’t believe what he’s seeing.

On the third day, Santiago is on the verge of giving up. His body is failing him, his mind is slipping and he starts to doubt his abilities. But, the fish is circling. He tries, again and again, to kill the marlin with his harpoon, and finally succeeds. A part of him mourns, as the fish was his brother. But he’s also proud of himself. He continues to wish, as he had since the struggle began, that Manolin was at his side.

Returning Home

The old man ties the marlin to the side of his skiff, as it’s too big to haul on board, and sets off home. For a time, he’s unable to take his eyes off the fish at his side. It’s incredibly large and beautiful and he worries over the reaction in the market. He doesn’t want this creature to be consumed frivolously, but he knows he has to sell it so he can feed himself.

In a grueling turn of events, but one that is not unpredictable, sharks begin to attack the boat. They follow the trail of blood the marlin is leaving in the water. In the first few Santiago is able to kill with the harpoon, but eventually, he loses it. He creates a makeshift weapon by attaching his knife to the end of an oar. With this, he kills more sharks but is unable to keep them from taking more and more of his fish. He stops looking at the fish, unable to bear its sight.

It takes a great deal of time for Santiago to make it back to the village, but when he does it’s clear that the entire fish has been devoured. All that’s left is a skeleton, the head, sword, and tail. He spends the next hours sleeping and wakes to find Manolin who is once again taking care of him. The villagers marvel at Santiago’s fish’s skeleton, no one has ever seen a fish that large. It was around 1500 pounds, if not more when Santiago caught it.

The Old Man and the Sea  ends with Santiago sleeping peacefully, having read over the baseball scores, and dreaming about the lions playing on the African beaches.

Emma Baldwin

About Emma Baldwin

Emma Baldwin, a graduate of East Carolina University, has a deep-rooted passion for literature. She serves as a key contributor to the Book Analysis team with years of experience.

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Ernest Hemingway

  • Literature Notes
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  • Summary and Analysis
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For 84 days, the old fisherman Santiago has caught nothing. Alone, impoverished, and facing his own mortality, Santiago is now considered unlucky. So Manolin (Santiago's fishing partner until recently and the young man Santiago has taught since the age of five) has been constrained by his parents to fish in another, more productive boat. Every evening, though, when Santiago again returns empty-handed, Manolin helps carry home the old man's equipment, keeps him company, and brings him food.

On the morning of the 85th day, Santiago sets out before dawn on a three-day odyssey that takes him far out to sea. In search of an epic catch, he eventually does snag a marlin of epic proportions, enduring tremendous hardship to land the great fish. He straps the marlin along the length of his skiff and heads for home, hardly believing his own victory. Within an hour, a mako shark attacks the marlin, tearing away a great hunk of its flesh and mutilating Santiago's prize. Santiago fights the mako, enduring great suffering, and eventually kills it with his harpoon, which he loses in the struggle.

The great tear in the marlin's flesh releases the fish's blood and scent into the water, attracting packs of shovel-nosed sharks. With whatever equipment remains on board, Santiago repeatedly fights off the packs of these scavengers, enduring exhaustion and great physical pain, even tearing something in his chest. Eventually, the sharks pick the marlin clean. Defeated, Santiago reaches shore and beaches the skiff. Alone in the dark, he looks back at the marlin's skeleton in the reflection from a street light and then stumbles home to his shack, falling face down onto his cot in exhaustion.

The next morning, Manolin finds Santiago in his hut and cries over the old man's injuries. Manolin fetches coffee and hears from the other fisherman what he had already seen — that the marlin's skeleton lashed to the skiff is eighteen feet long, the greatest fish the village has known. Manolin sits with Santiago until he awakes and then gives the old man some coffee. The old man tells Manolin that he was beaten. But Manolin reassures him that the great fish didn't beat him and that they will fish together again, that luck doesn't matter, and that the old man still has much to teach him.

That afternoon, some tourists see the marlin's skeleton waiting to go out with the tide and ask a waiter what it is. Trying to explain what happened to the marlin, the waiter replies, "Eshark." But the tourists misunderstand and assume that's what the skeleton is.

Back in his shack, with Manolin sitting beside him, Santiago sleeps again and dreams of the young lions he had seen along the coast of Africa when he was a young man.

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  • The Old Man and the Sea

Read our complete notes on the novel The Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemingway. Our notes cover The Old Man and the Sea summary and analysis.

Introduction

The Old Man and the sea, published in 1952 is a novella written by renowned novelist Ernest Hemingway. The novel wins the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for fiction. This novel was Hemingway’s last major work of fiction. The plot of the novel revolves around an old fisherman who engages himself in a heroic encounter to hook a giant fish, marlin.

The central character of the novel is an old fisherman, named Santiago, who fishes alone in the sea. Initially, he was joined by a young boy who comes to him to learn fishing. Being unable to catch the fish, Santiago asks him to join the lucky boat. The old man went eight-four days without catching a single fish. The plot of the story moves with the old man catching a great marlin and his heroic encounter with sharks. His strong determination and sportsman spirit never allow him to move to other remote places.

The Old Man and the Sea Summary

The Novel, The Old man and the Sea open with an old fisherman named Santiago, who for eighty-four days has not trapped a single fish. A young boy, Manolin, at first shared with him the bad fortune, however, after forty days the boy’s father asks his son to join another boat. Since then, Santiago sails alone. On daily basis, Santiago clamors his net in the stream of big fishes but is unable to catch single and returns empty-handed every evening.

Manolin loves Santiago and pities his state. When the boy has no money with him, he either begs or snips just that Santiago has sufficient to eat. Though the old man has accepted his kindness but misinterprets it with his humility that illustrates his pride nature. During their dinner, they either talk about the luckier time during which they would catch the fish or about the American baseball plus the great Joe DiMaggio. Alone in his hut, at night, the old man dreams of beaches of Africa, where he had sailed ships a few years back and lions over there. His dead wife no longer comes in his dreams.

On the eighty-fifth day, Santiago clamors out of the port in the calm and cool dark before dawning. When parting the aroma of land after him, he arranges his lines. He has two fresh tunas of his baits that was given by the young boy. Along with it, he has sardines as well to cover his hooks. Into the deep dark water, the lines descend straight down. Towards the only low green line on the sea, Santiago sees other boats soon as the sun rises. A flying man-of-war bird signals him the location of the dolphins chasing the school of fish, however, the school is far away and is too fast. The birds encircle again and the old man sees tuna jumping in the sunlight. A trifling one grosses the knob on his harsh line. Carrying the trembling fish onboard, the old man contemplates it a good portent.

A marlin begins gnawing at the bait toward noon, which is almost one hundred measures down. The old man slightly plays the fish that is a really big one, as known through the weight in the line. Finally, he attacks to settle down the hook. However, the fish does not come on the surface, instead starts hauling towards the northwest. Santiago stretches the line across his shoulder and supports himself. He, being a skilled fisherman and knows many tricks, waits patiently so that the fish exhaust.

After the sunset, the cold increases and the old man starts shivering. He suddenly feels that something has taken one of the remaining baits with him and immediately cuts the line with his sheath knife. The fish suddenly starts motions due to which Santiago is pushed towards it, and his check is cut. His left hand becomes rigid and cramped by down. The fish again starts motion towards northward and now his right hand is cut by the strong pull online. He is now hungry and cut some strips from the tuna and gnaws them, waiting to get warmed by the sun relax his cut fingers.

In the morning, the fish jumps. Santiago, seeing it jump, acknowledges that he has captured the biggest fish ever. The fish goes inside water and turns in the east direction. In the hot afternoon, he sparingly drinks water from the bottle. Meanwhile, an airplane buzzes above his head on the way to Miami. In order to forget his cut hand and hurting back, he tries to remember the scene when men mischievously called him El Campeón and he started a fight with them at Cienfuegos in the tavern.

Santiago rebated the hook and close to nightfall, a dolphin took the hook. He carefully lifts the fish on board so that he does not jolt the line. After taking some rest, he slices the dolphin and cut its bone. He also keeps the two fishes that he discovers in its jaws. He sleeps that night, however, is awakened by the movement of lines in his fingers as the dolphin moves. He tries to fatigue the dolphin by feeding the line slowly. Soon when fish slows down its movement, Santiago washes his hands and eats one on the flying fish that he caught in the dolphin’s jaw. He is very tired and gets faint while bringing the big fish nearer. When he is completely exhausted, he drives his harpoon. The fish is almost two feet longer than his boat. In Havana harbor, no one has ever experienced such a big catch. While setting his course towards the southwest, he thinks of the fortune that the fish will make.

Just an hour later, Santiago witness the first sharks that violently comes towards the dead dolphin with its raking teeth. Fearing his failing fortune, the old man hits the shark with his harpoon. Leaving the dolphin bloody and injured, the sharks roll down and sinks in the water taking the harpoon with it. The old man knows that the smell with spread inviting may predators. He soon watches two sharks approaching towards the dolphin. He hits one with the knife while the other sinks down into the deep water. One after the other shark attacks the dolphin. The old man, fighting with all, is now very tired and fears that sharks will eat all the dolphin, leaving a skeleton for him.

When the old man goes in a boat to the coast, all the lights are gone. In the dark, Santiago only manages to understand the backbone and the tail of the fish. He starts pushing the fish and the boat. Once he falls down due the weight, however, lays tolerantly till he can collect some courage and strength. In the shelter, he immediately goes to sleep after falling in his bed.

Later that morning, the boy discovers him while the other fishermen are gathered around the skiff wondering at the giant dolphin that is eighteen foot long. Manolin brings Santiago a hot coffee while he wakes up. Santiago offers the boy the spear in the fish. Manolin asks him to have some rest so that he can make himself appropriate for the coming days in which they will sail together. While the old man sleeps all that afternoon, dreaming of lions, the boy sits beside him.

The Old Man and the Sea Characters Analysis

He is an old fisherman, the protagonist of the novel, belongs to Cuban. He is a humble, modest man who adores and respect the sea and spent all his life near the sea. Initially, a young boy accompanies him in his search for the great marlin, dolphin. But after forty days, he fishes alone in the sea.

The old man patience is rewarded after a long eight-four days without catching a single fish. He catches a huge marlin of eighteen foot long from head to tail but then again engages in a three-day struggle to place it in a right place.

In his encounter with the marlin, the old man starts recognizing himself and identify himself with the fish. He feels a sense of brotherhood with it and guilty for the idea of killing it. The action of the story suffuses through this feeling of unity and interdependence between the fish and the old man. Through the novel, the heroic individualism of the old and his love for the other creatures around him is quite evident.

He after catching it completely, attaches it with his boat, however, the sharks, one after another, attacks it. The old man’s next encounter the sharks proves to be impossible to win and Santiago is only left with the skeleton of the marlin that is insignificant but a sign or his victory. Santiago forces himself to both the physical and mental survival in a struggle with the great dolphin. Santiago, a man having innate intelligence and a sturdy will for survival, accepts tragedy with great self-effacement and dignity.

He is a young boy, who lives in Cuban. He learns to fish from Santiago, the old man. He would fish with the Santiago and became his fishing partner till his father stops him. With the passage of time, the young boy becomes the closest and the most devoted friend of the old man and the old man turns out to be his ancillary father.

Manolin is so attached and devoted to Santiago that he often steals and begs for the old man food. Moreover, for the old man, he also discovers the fresh bait. The old man and the young boy talks about fishing, American baseball, and many other things when they are together. In their discussions, the old man, Santiago, often wishes to teach Manolin mental and physical survival, about the sportsman spirit and about being a victor.

It is the eighteen-foot long fish that weighs more than a thousand pounds. It is the largest fish that is ever caught in the Gulf Stream. Marlin, to Santiago, is a mixture of unbelievable beauty and lethal strength. Both Santiago and the marlin are identical in the war against nature and both of them emerges as heroes.

He is the processor of the Terrace who gives food to the young boy, Manolin, to give it to Santiago.

He is a fisherman to whom the old man, Santiago, gives the big fish’s head so that he can use it in his fishing for trapping.

He is a young little boy who on one occasion facilitated Santiago with his fish nets.

Themes in The Old Man and the Sea

From the start novel, Santiago, the central character of the novel and the protagonist, is characterized by someone who is struggling against his fortune. Initially, he is struggling against his defeat: he hasn’t caught a single fish since eighty-four days and soon is going to pass his own personal best of eighty-seven days.

Moreover, the sail of his boat identifies the “flag” of enduring defeat. However, the old man, having a strong will, at every turn rejects defeat. He decides to sail in that part where the largest fish are found. He hooked the marlin and encounters sharks for the next three days before landing the fish. He wards off sharks from his hooked marlin, although he knows that it is worthless.

  As Santiago sympathizes against the sea creature, various readers also read the novel form as an account of an old man’s battle against the natural world. However, more accurately, the story of the novel is “the place of man in nature”. Santiago and marlin, both, presents the characteristics of honor, pride, and bravery.

Both of them are subjected to everlasting law: kill or be killed. Santiago reflects the idea of predators when he watches the exhausted tired warbler’s fly towards shore, where he will fall prey to the hawk and will be killed. He illustrates the idea of the world filled with predators that will one day lead to death despite the inevitable struggle. Hemingway, through Santiago, reflects the idea of the unconquerable will of the man. According to him, a man can be devastated but not overwhelmed. Death, to him, is inevitable, however, the best of man lies in his refusal to give into its power.

The novel proposes that it is conceivable to exceed this expected regulation. Indeed, the actual certainty of obliteration generates the standings that permit a well-intentioned man or beast to exceed it. It is indeed over the determination to fight the unavoidable that a man is able to attest himself. In fact, the worthiness of the opponent that a man chooses can attest his determination to fight over and over again.

Marlin, to Santiago, is worthy to fight with. The way he admires and adores his opponents brings respect into a reckoning with death. Even if they are destroyed, they are not humiliated, but their destruction brings honor and courage that proves and assures the old man’s heroic characteristics. The protagonist of the novel, though is destroyed, at the end of the novel, however, is not defeated. His struggle doesn’t make him change the place is worth, rather provide him a more honorable fortune.

Pride: the Source of Greatness and Determination:

The novel,  The Old Man and the Sea , resembles mostly to the classical tragedies. Many characteristics parallels between the protagonist and the classical heroes.

Many resembling qualities occur among  Santiago and the classic heroes of the ancient world. Besides displaying enormous power, valor, and ethical conviction, they also have a tragic flaw. Though this quality is usually admirable, however, leads to the downfall of the character. Santiago is strongly aware of his tragic flaw-pride. The old man, time and again, apologizes from the marlin, when sharks destroyed it. He concedes that he ruined both, the marlin and himself, sailing beyond his limit.

Being a skillful fisherman, though it is true that it is an insult to the pride of the old man to live eighty-four days without a single catch. The novelist, Hemingway, doesn’t convict his protagonist for his flaw, however, he presents him the evidence that pride inspires greatness in men. Since Santiago recognizes that he murder the enormous marlin mainly out of pride plus as his detention of the marlin hints in a chance to his valiant perfection of downfall, pride turn out to be the foundation of Santiago’s utmost asset. Deprived of a vicious intellect of pride, that combat would never have tussled, or further, it would have been reckless before the end.

The old man’s pride also encourages his craving to excel in the damaging forces of nature. The old man, throughout the novel, struggles and determines to bring the great marlin to the shore. He encounters the sharks, however, was only left with the skeleton. He even didn’t abandon the skeleton, but bring it with him to his shelter as an award or trophy. The splendor and integrity the old man accumulates originate not from his fight itself yet from his pride and willpower to combat.

The Old Man and the Sea Literary Analysis

The Old Man and the Sea  is a short novel and unlike other novels, it is not divided into chapters. Nevertheless, it is not suitable to call it a short story with 27,500 words approximately. Determinations to fragment it into identifiably distinct portions are disorganized at greatest since its action transfers laterally a timeline of sunrise, midday, dusk, nighttime, and dawning that is then and there reiterated, plus through slight recollecting by the character and no interruptions by the novelist.

The action of the novel is subjective, however, it is divided into various parts: the introduction, three melodramatic segments, denouement, and coda. The readers, in the introductory part, learn about the first forty days of the old man’s fishing aided by the young boy in the Gulf Stream.

After forty days, the old man fished alone. He went fishing for eighty-four day without catching a single fish. In the first, the real action of the story begins on the eighty-fifth day when he hooked a giant male marlin. Part two of the novel deals with the efforts of Santiago with the strong fish that tows him northwest into night and more.

The subsequent afternoon, Santiago first sees his victim when the fish unexpectedly surfaces. It tows the old him through the second night. The old man hands are cut and back is stressed, still, he efforts to catch the fish completely. Part three of the novel deal with Santiago’s encounter with sharks.

A number of sharks attacks and devour parts of the marlin. Santiago fights with all the sharks however, at the end left with the skeleton of the marlin that he brings to the shore. He was very tired and fell asleep soon after falling into his bed. In the last part, the coda Manolin brings him coffee and both of them resolute to fish again.

In the novel, Santiago is the only central character of the novel whose words and thoughts are often recorded. His words are often put into quotation marks when he speaks loudly with himself, and sometimes, Santiago’s thoughts are recorded without the use of quotation marks. The pronouns “I” and “he” are used without obvious discrepancy.

The novel  The Old Man and the Sea  shows faithfulness to the classical unity of time, place, and action that is with a discrete start, extended middle, and termination. The plot includes three days and nights that mostly occurs on the sea and illustrates one series of events. The events are interwoven with clever prophecy, mainly done through Santiago’s recurrent exhortation of going out too distant, his often calling his excavation his “brother,” his views about baseball and his envisaging about spirited lions that he saw years before on African seashores.

We see Manolin in the first part of the novel and in the last part. Hence, the novel or novella has a masterpiece form, with Manolin founding the little first and third subjects and an old man pitted in contrast to the sea and its mortals as the further extravagant subsequent subject.

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  • The Old Man and the Sea Summary

There is an old fisherman in Cuba, Santiago , who has gone eighty-four days without a catch. He is "thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck,...and his hands had deep-creased scars from handling heavy fish on the cords. But none of these scars were fresh. They were as old as erosions in a fishless desert" (10). Santiago's lack of success, though, does not destroy his spirit, as his "cheerful and undefeated" eyes show (10). He has a single friend, a boy named Manolin , who helped him during the first forty days of his dryspell. After forty days, though, Manolin's parents decided the old man was unlucky and ordered their son to join another boat. Despite this, the boy helps the old man to bring in his empty boat every day.

Santiago tells Manolin that tomorrow he will go out far in the Gulf to fish. The two gather Santiago's things from his boat and go to the old man's house. His house is very simple with a bed, table, and chair on a dirt floor. The two friends speak for a while, then Manolin leaves briefly to get food. Santiago falls asleep.

When Manolin returns, he wakes Santiago. The two eat the food the boy has brought. During the course of the meal, the boy realizes the squalor in which the old man lives and reminds himself to bring the old man a shirt, shoes, a jacket, and a blanket for the coming winter. Manolin and Santiago talk baseball for a while, and the boy then leaves to be woken in the morning by the old man. Santiago sleeps.

Santiago dreams of Africa, where he traveled as a shipmate in his youth. "He lived along that coast now every night and in his dreams he heard the surf roar and saw the native boats come riding through it....He dreamed of places now and lions on the beach" (24). The old man wakes and retrieves the boy from his house. The two take the old man's supplies from his shack to his boat and enjoy coffee at an early morning place that serves fisherman. The boy leaves to fetch the sardines for the old man. When he returns, he wishes the old man luck, and Santiago goes out to sea.

Santiago leaves shore early in the morning, before sunrise. "He knew he was going far out and he left the smell of the land behind and rowed out into the clean early morning smell of the ocean" (28). Soon, Santiago rows over the "great well," a sudden drop of seven hundred fathoms where shrimp, bait fish, and squid congregate. Moving along, Santiago spots flying fish and birds, expressing great sympathy for the latter. As he queries, "Why did they make birds so delicate and fine as those sea swallows when the ocean can be so cruel? She is kind and very beautiful. But she can be so cruel...." (29).

Santiago keeps pressing out, past the great well where he has been recently unsuccessful. Santiago sees a man-of-war bird overhead and notices that the bird has spied something in the water. The old man follows near the bird, and drops his own lines into the area, hoping to capture the fish the bird has seen. There is a large school of dolphin traveling fast, too fast for either the bird or Santiago to capture. Santiago moves on, hoping to catch a stray or perhaps even discover a marlin tracking the school. He catches a small tuna after not too long and then feels a bite on one of his deeper lines.

The first bite is hard, and the stick to which the line is connected drops sharply. The next tug is more tentative, but Santiago knows exactly what it is. "One hundred fathoms down a marlin was eating the sardines that covered the point and the shank of the hook where the hand-forged hook projected from the head of the small tuna" (41). Encouraged by a bite at so deep a depth so far out in the Gulf, Santiago reasons that the fish much be very large.

The marlin nibbles around the hook for some time, refusing to take the bait fully. Santiago speaks aloud, as if to cajole the fish into accepting the bait. He says, "Come on....Make another turn. Just smell them. Aren't they lovely? Eat them good now and then there is the tuna. Hard and cold and lovely. Don't be shy fish. Eat them" (42). After many false bites, the marlin finally takes the tuna and pulls out a great length of line.

Santiago waits a bit for the marlin to swallow the hook and then pulls hard on the line to bring the marlin up to the surface. The fish is strong, though, and does not come up. Instead, he swims away, dragging the old man and his skiff along behind. Santiago wishes he had Manolin with him to help.

As the sun goes down, the marlin continues on in the same direction, and Santiago loses sight of land altogether. Expressing his resolve, Santiago says, "Fish,...I'll stay with you until I am dead" (52). He expresses ambivalence over whether he wants the fish to jump, wanting to end the struggle as quickly as possible but worrying that the hook might slip out of the fish's mouth. Echoing his former resolve though with less certainty, Santiago says, "Fish,...I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends" (54).

A small bird land on the boat, and while Santiago is speaking to the bird, the marlin lurches forward and pulls the old man down, cutting his hand. Lowering his hand to water to clean it, Santiago notices that the marlin has slowed down. He decides to eat a tuna he has caught in order to give him strength for his ordeal. As he is cutting the fish, though, his left hand cramps. "What kind of hand is that," Santiago says, "Cramp then if you want. Make yourself into a claw. It will do you no good" (58). The old man eats the tuna, hoping it will renew his strength and help release his hand.

Just then, the marlin comes out of the water quickly and descends into the water again. Santiago is amazed by its size, two feet longer than the skiff. He realizes that the marlin could destroy the boat if he wanted to and says, "...[T]hank God, they are not as intelligent as we who kill them; although they are more noble and more able" (63). Santiago says prayers to assuage his worried heart, and settles into the chase once again.

As the sun sets, Santiago thinks back to triumphs of his past in order to give himself more confidence in the present. He remembers a great arm-wrestling match he had at a tavern in Casablanca. It had lasted a full day and a night, but Santiago, El Campeon (The Champion) as he was known then, eventually won. "He decided that he could beat anyone if he wanted to badly enough and he decided that it was bad for his right hand for fishing" (70). He tried to wrestle with his left hand but it was a traitor then as it had been now.

Recalling his exhaustion, Santiago decides that he must sleep some if he is to kill the marlin. He cuts up the dolphin he has caught to prevent spoiling, and eats some of it before contriving a way to sleep. Santiago wraps the line around himself and leans against the bow to anchor himself, leaving his left hand on the rope to wake him if the marlin lurches. Soon, the old man is asleep, dreaming of a school of porpoises, his village house, and finally of the lions of his youth on the African beach.

Santiago is awoken by the line rushing furiously through his right hand. The marlin leaps out of the water and it is all the old man can do to hold onto the line, now cutting his hand badly and dragging him down to the bottom of the skiff. Santiago finds his balance, though, and realizes that the marlin has filled the air sacks on his back and cannot go deep to die. The marlin will circle and then the endgame will begin.

At sunrise, the marlin begins a large circle. Santiago holds the line strongly, pulling it in slowly as the marlin goes round. At the third turn, Santiago sees the fish and is amazed by its size. He readies the harpoon and pulls the line in more. The marlin tries desperately to pull away. Santiago, no longer able to speak for lack of water, thinks, "You are killing me, fish....But you have a right to. Never have I seen a greater, or more beautiful, or a calmer or more noble thing than you, brother. Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills you" (92). This marlin continues to circle, coming closer and pulling out. At last it is next to the skiff, and Santiago drove his harpoon into the marlin's chest.

"Then the fish came alive, with his death in him, and rose high out of the water showing all his great length and width and all his power and his beauty" (94). It crashed into the sea, blinding Santiago with a shower of sea spray. With the glimpse of vision he had, Santiago saw the slain beast laying on its back, crimson blood disseminating into the azure water. Seeing his prize, Santiago says, "I am a tired old man. But I have killed this fish which is my brother and now I must do the slave work" (95).

Having killed the Marlin, Santiago lashes its body alongside his skiff. He pulls a line through the marlin's gills and out its mouth, keeping its head near the bow. "I want to see him, he thought, and to touch and to feel him. He is my fortune, he thought" (95). Having secured the marlin to the skiff, Santiago draws the sail and lets the trade wind push him toward the southwest.

An hour after Santiago killed the marlin, a mako shark appears. It had followed the trail of blood the slain marlin left in its wake. As the shark approaches the boat, Santiago prepares his harpoon, hoping to kill the shark before it tears apart the marlin. "The shark's head was out of water and his back was coming out and the old man could hear the noise of skin and flesh ripping on the big fish when he rammed the harpoon down onto the shark's head" (102). The dead shark slowly sinks into the deep ocean water.

Two hours later, two shovel-nosed sharks arrive at the skiff. After losing his harpoon to the mako, Santiago fastens his knife to the end of the oar and now wields this against the sharks. He kills the first shark easily, but while he does this, the other shark is ripping at the marlin underneath the boat. Santiago lets go of the sheet to swing broadside and reveal the shark underneath. After some struggle, he kills this shark as well.

Santiago apologizes to the fish for the mutilation he has suffered. He admits, "I shouldn't have gone out so far, fish....Neither for you nor for me. I am sorry, fish" (110). Tired and losing hope, Santiago sits and waits for the next attacker, a single shovel-nosed shark. The old man succeeds in killing the fish but breaks his knife blade in the process.

More sharks appear at sunset and Santiago only has a club with which to beat them away. He does not kill the sharks, but damages them enough to prevent their return. Santiago then looks forward to nightfall as he will be able to see the lights of Havana, guiding him back to land. He regrets not having cleaved off the marlin's sword to use as a weapon when he had the knife and apologizes again to the fish. At around ten o'clock, he sees the light of Havana and steers toward it.

In the night, the sharks return. "[B]y midnight he fought and this time he knew the fight was useless. They came in a pack and he could only see the lines in the water their fins made and their phosphorescence as they threw themselves on the fish" (118). He clubs desperately at the fish, but the club was soon taken away by a shark. Santiago grabs the tiller and attacks the sharks until the tiller breaks. "That was the last shark of the pack that came. There was nothing more for them to eat" (119).

Santiago "sailed lightly now and he had no thoughts nor any feelings of any kind" (119). He concentrates purely on steering homewards and ignores the sharks that came to gnaw on the marlin's bones. When he arrives at the harbor, everyone is asleep. Santiago steps out of the boat, carrying the mast back to his shack. "He started to climb again and at the top he fell and lay for some time with the mast across his shoulder. He tried to get up. But it was too difficult and he sat there with the mast on his shoulder and looked at the road" (121). When he finally arose, he had to sit five times before reaching home. Arriving at his shack, Santiago collapsed on his bed and fell asleep.

Manolin arrives at the shack while Santiago is still asleep. The boy leaves quickly to get some coffee for Santiago, crying on his way to the Terrace. Manolin sees fisherman gathered around the skiff, measuring the marlin at eighteen feet long. When Manolin returns to the shack, Santiago is awake. The two speak for a while, and Manolin says, "Now we will fish together again," To which Santiago replies, "No. I am not lucky. I am not lucky anymore" (125). Manolin objects, "The hell with luck....I'll bring the luck with me" (125). Santiago acquiesces and Manolin leaves to fetch food and a shirt.

That afternoon there are tourists on the Terrace. A female tourist sees the skeleton of the marlin moving in the tide. Not recognizing the skeleton, she asks the waiter what it is. He responds in broken English "eshark," thinking she wants to know what happened. She comments to her partner that she didn't know sharks had such beautiful tails. Meanwhile, back in Santiago's shack, the old man "was still sleeping on his face and the boy was sitting by him watching him. The old man was dreaming about lions" (127).

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The Old Man and the Sea Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Old Man and the Sea is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

The Old Man and the Sea, Part 2

Worthiness is an important themes in the second part of the story, Being heroic and manly are not merely qualities of character which one possesses or does not. One must constantly demonstrate one's heroism and manliness through actions conducted...

Describe santiago

Santiago is the protagonist of the novella. He is an old fisherman in Cuba who, at the beginning of the book, has not caught anything for eighty-four days. The novella follows Santiago's quest for the great catch that will save his career....

Who is manolin

Manolin is Santiago's only friend and companion. Santiago taught Manolin to fish, and the boy used to go out to sea with the old man until his parents objected to Santiago's bad luck. Manolin still helps Santiago pull in his boat in the evenings...

Study Guide for The Old Man and the Sea

The Old Man and the Sea study guide contains a biography of Ernest Hemingway, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

  • About The Old Man and the Sea
  • Character List

Essays for The Old Man and the Sea

The Old Man and the Sea essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway.

  • Hemingway’s Fight with Old Age
  • A Different Outlook on Christian Symbolism in Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea
  • Santiago: Transcending Heroism
  • Chasing Fish: Comparing The Ultimate Goals Found in "The Old Man and The Sea" And "Dances with Wolves"
  • Hemingway the Absurdist

Lesson Plan for The Old Man and the Sea

  • About the Author
  • Study Objectives
  • Common Core Standards
  • Introduction to The Old Man and the Sea
  • Relationship to Other Books
  • Bringing in Technology
  • Notes to the Teacher
  • Related Links
  • The Old Man and the Sea Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for The Old Man and the Sea

  • Introduction
  • Background and publication
  • Reception and legacy
  • Critical analysis

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The Old Man and the Sea

Ernest hemingway, everything you need for every book you read..

Resistance to Defeat Theme Icon

Resistance to Defeat

As a fisherman who has caught nothing for the last 84 days, Santiago is a man fighting against defeat. Yet Santiago never gives in to defeat: he sails further into the ocean than he ever has before in hopes of landing a fish, struggles with the marlin for three days and nights despite immense physical pain and exhaustion, and, after catching the marlin, fights off the sharks even when it's clear that the battle against…

Resistance to Defeat Theme Icon

Pride is often depicted as negative attribute that causes people to reach for too much and, as a result, suffer a terrible fall. After he kills the first shark , Santiago , who knows he killed the marlin "for pride," wonders if the sin of pride was responsible for the shark attack because pride caused him to go out into the ocean beyond the usual boundaries that fishermen observe. Santiago immediately dismisses the idea, however…

Pride Theme Icon

The friendship between Santiago and Manolin plays a critical part in Santiago's victory over the marlin . In return for Santiago's mentorship and company, Manolin provides physical support to Santiago in the village, bringing him food and clothing and helping him load his skiff. He also provides emotional support, encouraging Santiago throughout his unlucky streak. Although Santiago's "hope and confidence had never gone," when Manolin was present, "they were freshening as when the breeze rises."…

Friendship Theme Icon

Youth and Age

The title of the novella, The Old Man and the Sea , suggests the critical thematic role that age plays in the story. The book's two principal characters, Santiago and Manolin , represent the old and the young, and a beautiful harmony develops between them. What one lacks, the other provides. Manolin, for example, has energy and enthusiasm. He finds food and clothing for Santiago, and encourages him despite his bad luck. Santiago, in turn…

Youth and Age Theme Icon

Man and Nature

Since The Old Man and the Sea is the story of a man's struggle against a marlin , it is tempting to see the novella as depicting man's struggle against nature. In fact, through Santiago , the novella explores man's relationship with nature. He thinks of the flying fish as his friends, and speaks with a warbler to pass the time. The sea is dangerous, with its sharks and potentially treacherous weather, but it also…

Man and Nature Theme Icon

Christian Allegory

The Old Man and the Sea is full of Christian imagery. Over the course of his struggles at sea, Santiago emerges as a Christ figure. For instance: Santiago's injured hands recall Christ's stigmata (the wounds in his palms); when the sharks attack, Santiago makes a sound like a man being crucified; when Santiago returns to shore he carries his mast up to his shack on his shoulder, just as Christ was forced to bear his…

Christian Allegory Theme Icon

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The Old Man and the Sea Summary

Emir Zecovic | Posted on May 14, 2018 |

7 min read ⌚ 

The Old Man and the Sea PDF Summary

And if you know Ernest Hemingway – that’s more than a recommendation.

Read our summary to find out why.

Who Should Read “The Old Man and the Sea”? And Why?

“The Old Man and the Sea” won Ernest Hemingway both a Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and a Nobel Prize a year later.

It also won the hearts of millions of people, becoming a bestseller and bringing the somewhat forgotten Hemingway back into the spotlight.

It’s a great story about man’s strength and determination in the face of defeat. It’s also an allegory which may function on at least two levels.

So, people who like fable-like stories such as William Faulkner’s “The Bear” or Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” will certainly like “The Old Man and the Sea.”

And those who like just a good old story about a fisherman and his fish will never read a better book in their lives.

Read it here in full !

Ernest Hemingway Biography

Ernest Hemingway

Described by “Time” magazine as “a globe-trotting expert on bullfights, booze, women, wars, big game hunting, deep sea fishing, and courage,” Hemingway is one of the few novelists Nassim Nicholas Taleb would approve : he rarely wrote about something he hadn’t experienced himself.

Meaning: he was severely wounded in World War I, worked as a journalist during the Spanish Civil War, was present at both D-Day and the liberation of Paris, went safari-hunting in Africa, survived two fatal plane crashes, and ended his life by shooting himself in the head in 1961.

In the meantime, he wrote numerous short stories, seven celebrated novels and a memoir considered one of the best in history .

He also won a Pulitzer and a Nobel Prize – both (mainly) for “The Old Man and the Sea.”

Boy, we like book titles that tell you what the book is about right off the bat!

Now, don’t get us wrong:

From time to time, we too would kit to read a title or two that make you think what a book could possibly be about even after finishing it.

(Here’s looking at you, Philip K. Dick!)

But isn’t it nice when some 20 th -century author cares less about the first page than about the pages after?

In other words: no ruses, no cheap marketing tricks ! Just saying it all from the cover – plain and straightforward!

The way the great ones in the old days did.

You don’t need to be an Einstein to know that “ Hamlet ” is a book about Hamlet, or that “ Don Quixote ” is a novel about Don Quixote.

Our point being:

Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea” is about nothing else but an old man and the sea.

But Hemingway was like that: he wanted to use neither fancy nor too many words to say something he could say with less and ordinary, everyday words.

He also didn’t like to say that much at all , inventing a way of writing he named “ The Iceberg Theory ” (yeah, he first proposed that comparison!) which is based on the idea that writing should be about not saying the most important things.

Or, in the words of Hemingway himself: “you could omit anything if you knew that you omitted and the omitted part would strengthen the story and make people feel something more than they understood.”

In a nutshell: stories are for humans , but symbols are for suckers!

But, wait a minute!

Aren’t symbols the whole point of literature? And, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t “The Old Man and the Sea” celebrated precisely because of what it symbolizes?

Well, not according to Hemingway, it isn’t!

“No good book has ever been written that has in it symbols arrived at beforehand and stuck in,” says Hemingway . “That kind of symbol sticks out like raisins in raisin bread. Raisin bread is all right, but plain bread is better.”

And he goes on, referencing the book of our interest:

“I tried to make a real old man, a real boy, a real sea and a real fish and real sharks. But if I made them good and true enough, they would mean many things. The hardest thing is to make something really true and sometimes truer than true.”

If you want that translated into a pop-culture reference, please think of our favorite libertarian Ron Swanson and his analysis of metaphors and “Moby Dick” !

Well, in that scenario, Hemingway is Ron (add a beard, and the similarity is uncanny) and literary critics reading him are Chris Traeger.

We’re not joking!

There’s so little literary fiction in Hemingway that even the old man of this story was an actual person.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Mr. Gregorio Fuentes – as a pretty old, old man:

the old man and the sea pdf

In Hemingway’s story Gregorio is called Santiago, and he is a “thin and gaunt” Cuban “with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck.”

Also, he hasn’t caught a fish for almost three months – 84 days to be exact.

Talking about unlucky streaks, ha!

Needless to point out, this doesn’t go down well with the community. Especially not with the parents of Manolin, the boy who is his apprentice.

At their order, about a month and a half ago, the boy has joined a boat which actually catches fish. But he is still endeared with Santiago, feeling sorry for him and his “salao, which is the worst form of unlucky.”

So, he visits him every night, hauling Santiago’s fishing gear and preparing him a meal or two.

In other news: Manolin may actually know where Joe DiMaggio has gone since that’s basically all he talks about with Santiago.

Now, at the beginning of our story, Santi – can we call him Santi? – informs Manolin that he intends to go far out into the Gulf Stream hoping to put an end to his streak.

Santiago notices that his bait is taken by a big fish.

How does he know it’s a big one?

Well, basically, because instead of him hauling it in, the fish is the one who pulls him out of his skiff.

Santiago is an experienced fisherman, so there’s no reason not to believe him that he’s fighting a marlin.

If you don’t know what a marlin is, it suffices to say that, on average, it’s about twice to three times as long as you and about five times as weighty.

(Notice how we don’t even care about how tall and weighty you are.)

If you can’t suppose what kind of an apocalyptic struggle happens during the next three days, please be our guest and watch at least parts of this wonderful, wonderful Academy Award-winning Russian (don’t worry: it’s in English) animated feature from 1999:

You’d expect Santiago to hate his enemy.

He calls the marlin his “brother” and he doesn’t even care if he loses:

You are killing me, fish, the old man thought. But you have a right to. Never have I seen a greater, or more beautiful, or a calmer or more noble thing than you, brother. Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who.

Fortunately for us – who have grown to adore Santi – it’s the marlin which loses in the end: on the third day of their struggle, Santiago stabs the fish with a harpoon.

Afterward, he straps it to the side of his boat and starts thinking about how many people such a beast will feed.

And also – about how much money the marlin would bring him.

The Old Man and the Sea Epilogue

But you know who doesn’t think in terms of money?

Sharks don’t.

Their currency is blood – and that’s exactly what the killed marlin oozes at this point.

So, Santiago now has to deal with the sharks trying to eat his marlin.

He kills one of them with his harpoon – but loses the weapon in the process.

Unbroken – ha, see what we did there? – he straps a knife to one of the oars and kills four more. But there are just too many sharks and too little Santiagos on this planet.

So, by the end of the day, bones are all that remain from the marlin, Santi’s catch.

Santiago reaches the shore, and he goes straight to his shack, leaving the fish skeleton behind him.

The next morning, a group of fishermen sees it. One of them measures the marlin to be 18 feet long from nose to tail. Others mistake the beast for a shark.

Manolin brings Santiago newspaper and a coffee and promises him to fish with him once again.

Santiago falls asleep and dreams about the lions from his youth.

But that’s another story by Hemingway altogether .

Wait a minute!

Could “The Old Man and the Sea,” Hemingway’s last work – just like Shakespeare’s “ The Tempest ” – be an allegorical account of his literary career in addition to being a story about life’s victories and defeats?

No, man – it’s a plain old story about a boy, a Cuban fisherman and a marlin.

And sharks.

Once again you’re thinking in terms of symbols, aren’t you?

Like this summary? We’d like to invite you to download our free 12 min app , for more amazing summaries and audiobooks.

“The Old Man and the Sea PDF Quotes”

summary of the old man and the sea pdf

Our Critical Review

Ernest Hemingway was one of the most celebrated novelists and short story writers of the 20 th century. And behind him, he left many great works which are considered classics to this day.

However, when he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954, the Committee referred explicitly to this, his last major work of fiction published in his lifetime, saying that it awards Hemingway the Nobel “for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in ‘The Old Man and the Sea,’ and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style.”

Hemingway himself thought it was “the best [he could] write ever for all of [his] life.”

We humbly share the opinion.

Emir Zecovic

Emir is the Head of Marketing  at 12min . In his spare time, he loves to meditate and play soccer.

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The Old Man and the Sea

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  1. The Old Man and the Sea: Full Book Summary

    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.

  2. PDF The Old man and the Sea Summary and analysis

    DayOne (p 3 - 18) From Santiago's return from the eighty-fourth consecutive day without catching a fish to his dreams of lions on the beach Summary He only dreamed of places now and of the lions on the beach. They played like young cats in the dusk and he loved them as he loved the boy.

  3. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway Plot Summary

    Day One On the coast of Cuba near Havana, an old widowed fisherman named Santiago has been unable to catch a fish for 84 days. His apprentice, Manolin, has been forced by his parents to seek another "luckier" employer, although Manolin continues to help Santiago launch and retrieve his boat from the ocean each day.

  4. The Old Man and the Sea Summary

    Publication Date: 1952 Genre: Literary Fiction Rating: 4.0/5 Summary The Old Man and the Sea By Ernest Hemingway Hemingway's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, 'The Old Man and the Sea', opens with the main character, Santiago returning from his eighty-fourth day with catching a fish. Written by Emma Baldwin

  5. The Old Man and the Sea

    Ernest Hemingway Home Literature Notes The Old Man and the Sea Book Summary Book Summary For 84 days, the old fisherman Santiago has caught nothing. Alone, impoverished, and facing his own mortality, Santiago is now considered unlucky.

  6. The Old Man and the Sea

    The Old Man and the Sea, short heroic novel by Ernest Hemingway, published in 1952 and awarded the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It was his last major work of fiction. ... Summary. The central character is an old Cuban fisherman named Santiago, who has not caught a fish for 84 days. The family of his apprentice, Manolin, has forced the boy ...

  7. The Old Man and the Sea Study Guide

    Quotes Characters Symbols Theme Viz Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Old Man and the Sea makes teaching easy. Everything you need for every book you read. "Sooo much more helpful than SparkNotes. The way the content is organized and presented is seamlessly smooth, innovative, and comprehensive." Get LitCharts A +

  8. The Old Man and the Sea Summary and Study Guide

    In The Old Man and the Sea, a 1952 adventure novella by American author Ernest Hemingway, an aging fisherman pits his life and wits against a giant fish as he battles to catch it and then protect its flesh from ravenous sharks.

  9. The Old Man and the Sea Summary

    Overview The Old Man and the Sea is a short novel that tells the story of an aging fisherman named Santiago who catches an enormous marlin. Santiago takes his boat far out into the Gulf Stream,...

  10. The Old Man and the Sea: Study Guide

    The Old Man and the Sea is a classic novella by Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway, first published in 1952. Set in the Gulf Stream waters off the coast of Cuba, the story revolves around Santiago, an aging Cuban fisherman, and his epic battle with a giant marlin.

  11. The Old Man and the Sea Chapter Summaries

    Day 1 Summary. Santiago is an old man, worn and weathered by the sun and by life, but his eyes are still hopeful and spirited. He is a fisherman who has gone eighty-four days without catching a ...

  12. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway Summary & Analysis

    The Old Man and the sea, published in 1952 is a novella written by renowned novelist Ernest Hemingway. The novel wins the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for fiction. This novel was Hemingway's last major work of fiction. The plot of the novel revolves around an old fisherman who engages himself in a heroic encounter to hook a giant fish, marlin.

  13. The Old Man and the Sea Summary

    Buy Study Guide The Old Man and the Sea Summary There is an old fisherman in Cuba, Santiago, who has gone eighty-four days without a catch. He is "thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck,...and his hands had deep-creased scars from handling heavy fish on the cords. But none of these scars were fresh.

  14. The Old Man and the Sea : Ernest Hemingway

    The Old Man and the Sea is a short novel written by the American author Ernest Hemingway in 1951 in Cayo Blanco (Cuba), and published in 1952. It was the last major work of fiction written by Hemingway that was published during his lifetime.

  15. PDF Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea: Summary & Analysis

    The Old Man and the Sea: Summary & Analysis 1. Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man… In The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway describes an old fisherman and the unfortunate trials he faces as his "luck" runs out. Through the novel, the fisherman, Santiago, replicates Hemingway's ideal man, a noble hero. Hemingway had a Code of

  16. PDF The Old Man and the Sea

    Introduction When The Old Man and the Sea was published in 1952 to wide critical acclaim, it had been twelve years since Ernest Hemingway's previous critical success, For Whom the Bell Tolls.His major writing effort during the intervening period, Across the River and Into the Trees, published in 1950, had been widely dismissed as a near-parody of the author's usual style and themes.

  17. The Old Man and the Sea

    Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Old Man and the Sea written by the American author Ernest Hemingway. Written between December 1950 and February 1951, it tells the story of Santiago, an aging fisherman, and his long struggle to catch a giant .

  18. The Old Man and the Sea Day 3 Summary

    Day 3 Summary. As the sun rises, Santiago wishes the fish would surface, but he is still moving and strong. Perhaps he should put some pressure on the line so the fish will jump and fill his air ...

  19. The Old Man and the Sea Themes

    Intro Plot Summary & Analysis Themes Quotes Characters Symbols Theme Viz Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Old Man and the Sea makes teaching easy. Everything you need for every book you read. "Sooo much more helpful than SparkNotes. The way the content is organized and presented is seamlessly smooth, innovative, and comprehensive."

  20. The Old Man and the Sea PDF Summary

    The Old Man and the Sea Summary. There's something biblical and religious in " The Old Man and the Sea ," a story about a Cuban fisherman, a 5.5-meter-long marlin, and few hungry sharks. And if you know Ernest Hemingway - that's more than a recommendation. Read our summary to find out why.

  21. The Old Man and The Sea Summary

    The Old Man and the Sea, published in 1952, tells the story of an aging fisherman's struggle to catch a giant fish and his victory in defeat. It earned Hemingway the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature.

  22. PDF Hemingway, Ernest

    The Old Man and the Sea Asiaing.com - 2 - "I remember," the old man said. "I know you did not leave me because you doubted." "It was papa made me leave. I am a boy and I must obey him." "I know," the old man said. "It is quite normal." "He hasn't much faith."

  23. The Old Man and the Sea Discussion Questions

    37 pages • 1 hour read Ernest Hemingway The Old Man and the Sea Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1952 A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. Download PDF Access Full Guide Study Guide Summary