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.
(See Important Quotations Explained)
Santiago, an old fisherman, has gone eighty-four days
without catching a fish. For the first forty days, a boy named Manolin
had fished with him, but Manolin’s parents, who call Santiago salao, or “the
worst form of unlucky,” forced Manolin to leave him in order to
work in a more prosperous boat. The old man is wrinkled, splotched,
and scarred from handling heavy fish on cords, but his eyes, which
are the color of the sea, remain “cheerful and undefeated.”
Having made some money with the successful fishermen,
the boy offers to return to Santiago’s skiff, reminding him of their
previous eighty-seven-day run of bad luck, which culminated in their
catching big fish every day for three weeks. He talks with the old
man as they haul in Santiago’s fishing gear and laments that he
was forced to obey his father, who lacks faith and, as a result,
made him switch boats. The pair stops for a beer at a terrace café,
where fishermen make fun of Santiago. The old man does not mind.
Santiago and Manolin reminisce about the many years the two of them
fished together, and the boy begs the old man to let him provide
fresh bait fish for him. The old man accepts the gift with humility.
Santiago announces his plans to go “far out” in the sea the following
day.
Manolin and Santiago haul the gear to the old man’s shack, which
is furnished with nothing more than the barest necessities: a bed,
a table and chair, and a place to cook. On the wall are two pictures:
one of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and one of the Virgin of Cobre,
the patroness of Cuba. The old man has taken down the photograph
of his wife, which made him feel “too lonely.” The two go through their
usual dinner ritual, in which the boy asks Santiago what he is going
to eat, and the old man replies, “yellow rice with fish,” and then
offers some to the boy. The boy declines, and his offer to start
the old man’s fire is rejected. In reality, there is no food.
Excited to read the baseball scores, Santiago pulls out
a newspaper, which he says was given to him by Perico at the bodega.
Manolin goes to get the bait fish and returns with some dinner as
well, a gift from Martin, the café owner. The old man is moved by
Martin’s thoughtfulness and promises to repay the kindness. Manolin
and Santiago discuss baseball. Santiago is a huge admirer of “the
great DiMaggio,” whose father was a fisherman. After discussing
with Santiago the greatest ballplayers and the greatest baseball
managers, the boy declares that Santiago is the greatest fisherman:
“There are many good fishermen and some great ones. But there is
only you.” Finally, the boy leaves, and the old man goes to sleep.
He dreams his sweet, recurring dream, of lions playing on the white beaches
of Africa, a scene he saw from his ship when he was a very young
man.
Analysis
The opening pages of the book establish Santiago’s character
and set the scene for the action to follow. Even though he loves
Manolin and is loved dearly by the boy, the old man lives as an
outsider. The greeting he receives from the fishermen, most of whom
mock him for his fruitless voyages to sea, shows Santiago to be
an alienated, almost ostracized figure. Such an alienated position
is characteristic of Hemingway’s heroes, whose greatest achievements
depend, in large part, upon their isolation. In Hemingway’s works,
it is only once a man is removed from the numbing and false confines
of modern society that he can confront the larger, universal truths
that govern him. In A Farewell to Arms, for instance,
only after Frederic Henry abandons his post in the army and lives
in seclusion is he able to learn the dismal lesson that death renders
meaningless such notions as honor, glory, and love. Yet, although
Hemingway’s message in The Old Man and the Sea is
tragic in many respects, the story of Santiago and the destruction
of his greatest catch is far from dismal. Unlike Frederic, Santiago
is not defeated by his enlightenment. The narrator emphasizes Santiago’s
perseverance in the opening pages, mentioning that the old man’s
eyes are still “cheerful and undefeated” after suffering nearly
three months without a single catch. And, although Santiago’s struggle
will bring about defeat—the great marlin will be devoured by sharks—Santiago
will emerge as a victor. As he tells the boy, in order for this
to happen, he must venture far out, farther than the other fishermen
are willing to go.
In Hemingway’s narrative, Santiago is elevated above the
normal stature of a protagonist, assuming near-mythical proportions.
He belongs to a tradition of literary heroes whose superior qualities necessitate
their distance from ordinary humans and endeavors. Because Manolin
constantly expresses his devotion to, reverence for, and trust of
Santiago, he establishes his mentor as a figure of significant moral
and professional stature, despite the difficulties of the past eighty-four
days. While other young fishermen make fun of the old man, Manolin
knows Santiago’s true worth and the extent of Santiago’s knowledge.
In the old man, Hemingway provides the reader with a model of good,
simple living: Santiago transcends the evils of the world—hunger,
poverty, the contempt of his fellow men—by enduring them.
