The Old Man And The Sea

Title: The Old Man And The Sea
Author: Ernest Hemingway
Paperback: 126 pages
Publisher: Charles Scribner's & Sons (October 1, 1979)
Dedication: To Charlie Scribner And To Max Perkins


Summary:Santiago is an old, Cuban fisherman who hasn't caught a fish in 84 days. His apprentice, a boy named "Manolin," is no longer allowed to go fishing with him because his parents -and most of the town folk, consider Santiago "salao," which translates as "unlucky" in Spanish. Even though the boy is forced to go fish on a more "prosperous" boat, he continues to help the old man upon his return from sea. He takes the old man's gear, makes sure the old man eats, and discusses baseball and "The Great Joe DiMaggio."

The old man decides to take his skiff further out on his 85th day, and leaves the island's shallow coastal waters venturing out into the Gulf Stream. He places his bait one hundred fathoms deep and, at noon, he hooks the biggest catch that he or anyone else on his island has ever seen. He's sure he's got a Marlin, but it is too big for his little skiff to reel in. He is unable to fasten the line to his boat for fear the taut line would snap, so the old man bears the strain of the line on his shoulders, back, and hands to be ready to catch any slack should the Marlin take off fast. So in this way, he allows the great fish to pull his skiff along.
They steadily head northwest for two days until the Marlin finally tires out and swims east with the current. Santiago has to endure the constant pain from his fishing line that is cutting his back, shoulders, and arms every time the Marlin dashes or leaps. Santiago wishes he had the boy there with him to help. Yet, despite his own physical agony caused by age, and the pain caused by the Marlin, the Old Man feels a deep connection with the great fish's suffering, strength, and resolve. In this, the fisherman considers the fish his "brother."
On the third day, the fisherman is sleep-deprived, aching, and tired; and yet manages to pull the Marlin close enough to harpoon it in one thrust. It is the largest Marlin he's ever seen. It's so big, that he is forced to tie the dead Marlin to the side of his skiff and sail home. As he's sailing, he's thinking about how unworthy the islanders at the Market are of the fish's greatness.

The old man knows it would bring a great amount of much needed money, but he realizes that getting it home is going to be a huge challenge since the Marlin is leaving a huge trail of blood that would leave him vulnerable to sharks. And as he sails along, he first fights off two sharks by stabbing them with his spear, which he loses. He is then forced to tie a knife to an oar, stabbing another shark in this way, and then clubbing another shark with the oar; and eventually uses the boat's tiller against them. Each time, a shark takes a chunk of meat off the Marlin. When night falls, Santiago is upset that he ventured "out too far," and chastises himself for sacrificing such a great and worthy opponent to those scavengers.
At daybreak, he arrives and stumbles to his shack where he falls exhausted into a deep, deep sleep. The next morning, the town folk and tourists gather around the dead Marlin's skeleton. Many are confusing the Marlin for a shark. The boy, who had been worried about the old man, is moved to tears when he discovered Santiago still sleeping in his shack. He fetches coffee for the Old Man and a newspaper with baseball scores, and watches him sleep. The old man wakes and agrees to go fishing once again with Manolin. He then goes back to sleep and dreams of African beaches and lions.

Review:Hemingway uses a third party narrator in this very short novella he wrote in Cuba in 1951. The story takes place in the 1940's in an old fishing village near Havana, Cuba, near the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. An anonymous third-party narrator, who seems sympathetic to the old man and his struggle, creates a Heroic character out of the old man and makes this novella a tragic parable.

The old man suffers for 84 days without a catch with the resolve to change his luck. And when his luck does change, he suffers again during the catch of his life. This book is an epic story about a fisherman's and a fish's grueling struggle. The fisherman's trophy, the Marlin, is destroyed by sharks, but out of that destruction and great suffering, the Old Man's life is renewed. He goes from being "unlucky" to very lucky, and so his outlook and that of the islanders, with respect to his performance at sea, is now renewed. So from his defeat he is triumphant. And though the man is physically ailing, and his life here on earth almost over; he will live through Manolin, who is learning from the old man's teachings.

His determination to change his luck causes him to venture out further out to sea. He chastises himself later, when his prize is lost, for ruining himself physically and the Marlin. This is his Hubris. However, it is this venturing out that causes him to use all of his skills, thus completing himself as the fisherman that he is; and it allows him to gain the respect of the villagers once again.

An amazing book. Man and nature. The sea. What more could you want? Awesome! I read this book in 6th grade because I was forced to. Now I'm kicking myself in my behind for not appreciating it for what it is. A great story that puts you in the middle of a man's inner struggle: Do I consent to defeat or do I endure? I could even feel his hands cramping up from holding the taut fishing wire!

I love this story so much, I was urging my boyfriend to read it. Of course, the next day, we both watched a hilarious episode of South Park where Cartman pays Mexican day laborers to read Old Man and the Sea, to summarize it for them, and "write essays." So they summarize it all right. They also tell Cartman they wrote their "eses" in California, in Mexico, etc... Nice. But my boyfriend's still going to read it. That South Park skit can't summarize the honor found in the old man's struggle and defeat and in the death of the Marlin. It can't summarize the old man's pride that sustains his determination or how that pride is the very source of the old man's greatness.

This book must be read to be appreciated. It's one of those books that changes the way you look at your own life and your personal struggles because you are embodying that fisherman vicariously as a reader. Yeah. That's how good Hemingway is! This book gave me insight into what it must be like to fight the elements and nature for sustenance. It made me appreciate fishermen and sea creatures and the sea itself. I swear, at one point, I could even taste seasalt on my lips. (I pray it wasn't a booger). It made me want to visit Florida (because Marlins make me think of Florida for some reason). It made me want to get a fishing license for a whole year this time. Woo hoo! It made me want to be Hemingway back in the 50's in Cuba. (sigh). But that would mean I would have a Hairy Chest and I would have to call myself Harry and be a man's man. And I like dresses because I am a woman's woman? Argh.

Opening Line: "He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish."

Closing Line: "The old man was dreaming about the lions."

Rating: A. Great!

Started: Sunday, July 27, 2008 at Approx. 11 a.m.

Finished: Sunday, July 27, 2008 at Approx. 2 p.m.

Interruptions: Yes! (Man!!!!)

Comments: Aim was 100 pgs per hour, but kept being interrupted. :)