THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA
SUMMARY
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Santiago is an old man in Cuba who is on an unlucky 84-day streak of not catching any fish. Because he’s gone on many unlucky streaks before, the boy who he used to fish with (Manolin) switched to a “luckier” boat. Manolin made this switch due to pressure from his family, not because he wanted to. In fact, Santiago and Manolin have a great friendship, and Manolin believes that there are many fishing skills that he can learn from Santiago’s experience.
On the 85th day of Santiago’s unlucky streak, he ventures deep into the gulf in hopes of catching a big fish. Eventually his line hooks into the mouth of a 18 ft-long fish who is so powerful that Santiago doesn’t want to try to force it out of the water (in fear that the fish will break the line as it fights back). So for two days, Santiago’s boat gets pulled by the powerful fish until it finally tires out.
Even though Santiago’s determination allowed him to get that fish aboard, he now has an even bigger challenge: Getting that fish back home.
A shark smells the fresh catch and takes a bite of it before Santiago kills the shark. Unfortunately, the mauled fish now gives off a stronger scent, attracting more sharks. Each time there is a shark attack, Santiago must use his resources and perseverance to fight off the sharks as the sharks devour more and more of the fish.
Because Santiago had ventured so far out, he had a long way to travel home. By the time he gets back to town, he is completely worn out and his fish that he worked so hard to capture was eaten by sharks. So Santiago takes a long rest before having to venture out again.
TAKEAWAYS
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Fishing is a benefit and a detriment.
“Fishing kills as it keeps me alive” (106).
Fishing is quite hard for Santiago at his old age, and his warrior wounds include deeply cut hands (from the fishing line), eyes that are damaged from the sun, and brown spots on his skin that signal skin cancer.
However, fishing is his means of a livelihood.
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Sometimes you have to venture to get big rewards, but with big rewards come big challenges.
“But man is not made for defeat… A man can be destroyed but not defeated” (103).
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We need to look at things with a glass-half-full perspective.
“‘Think of something cheerful, old man,’ he said. ‘Every minute now you are closer to home. You are lighter for the loss of forty pounds’” (104).
‘“I wish I had a stone for the knife,’ the old man said after he had checked the lashing on the oar butt. ‘I should have brought a stone.’ You should have brought many things, he thought. But now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is” (110).
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We need the company of others to remain sane and drive out loneliness.
During Santiago’s long trip, he repeatedly mentions how much he wishes the boy was with him. Santiago has to talk to himself as he keeps himself company (since he can’t even afford to have a radio to listen to).
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Role models can help us persevere.
As Santiago fights off sharks with his cut hands, he thinks about his hero baseball player, DiMaggio, who had bone spurs in his heel.
“I wonder how the great DiMaggio would have liked the way I hit him in the brain? It was no great thing, he thought. Any man would do it. But do you think my hands were as great a handicap as the bone spurs? I cannot know. I never had anything wrong with my heel except the time the sting ray stung it when I stepped on him when swimming and paralyzed the lower leg and made the unbearable pain” (103-104).
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