The Old Man And The Skiff

This book is about an old unlucky Cuban fisherman named Santiago who's alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream. He had been trying to catch a fish for eighty-four days but didn't succeed. The first forty days a boy named Manolin had been with him but his parents made him leave once they realized that Santiago was unlucky. Santiago is described as wrinkled, scratched, and scarred from handling heavy fish, but his eyes were the color of the sea. At that time Manolin was forced by his parents to leave and go to another boat but later returned because he had hope in Santiago.Manolin stops at a cafй and buys himself and Santiago a beer while there other fisherman made fun of and laughed at Santiago, but Santiago ignored them and paid them no attention.Manolin then offers sardines to Santiago but Santiago refuses to take it. After a while of manolins begging Santiago finally accepts the sardines but feels humiliated after. As they eat Santiago tells manolin how he plans to go far out in the sea the next morning to catch a fish. They both then take all the fishing utilities back to Santiago's shack; once they get there they start talking about baseball. DiMaggio was Santiago's favorite player because his father was a fisherman. Finally they get tired and Manolin leaves and Santiago goes to sleep. Whenever Santiago sleeps, he always dream of lions playing on the white beaches of Africa.He saw this when he was younger and ever since then he had dreams of it. The next morning Santiago goes to wake up manolin to help him carry his gear to the boat. Once they get on the beach they both separate from each other and wishes one another good luck. Santiago explains how he loves the sea and how he sees it as a woman whose behavior is out of control. Santiago follows a seabird who is also looking for fish, he gets under the bird and soon his line taut and he pulls up a 10 pound tuna which he thinks will make a great bait. Santiago puts the bait in the water and a marlin catches hold of it. The marlin was so strong it started to move the boat. Santiago struggled with the marlin night and day. The morning comes and the fish still isn't tired. Santiago makes a promise to himself that by the end of the day he's going to get that fish. Santiago then wishes manolin were with him after he sees how difficult the fish is. The marlin begins to pull harder and pulls so hard that it makes the line cut Santiago left hand. Santiago needs strength so he makes himself eat the tuna. A while after the same hand he cuts begins to cramp up and Santiago gets mad at himself because his body is so weak. He then again wishes manolin had stayed with him. Later on Santiago finds himself numb with pain. A dolphin soon grabs hold of the second bait Santiago dropped earlier, and Santiago pulls it in. Santiago thinks of DiMaggio and how he wouldn't give up no matter how much pain

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