The next morning, the old man wakes up early. Like every morning, he goes to Manolins house to wake up the young boy. They head back to the old man's shack to carry his gear to his boat. After they get everything ready, they drink their morning coffee. After they finish, they part on the beach to go begin their day of fishing, as they wish each other good luck. The old man feels extra confident today and well slept. As the old man rows away from the beach, he thinks of the flying fish, jumping out of the water. He feels bad for all the birds trying to catch them. As he rows farther and farther, he drops the lines with bait to officially start the fishing day. As Santiago continues to go farther out to sea, the sun comes up. He follows a seabird, hunting for fish, to use as his guide. Soon enough, one of the old man's lines goes down. It is the first catch of the day, a ten pound tuna. The old man speaks out loud that the fish will make great bait. The old man had made a habit of talking to himself when he was alone at sea. He can not remember when he began doing this habit. He thinks about how if other people, like other fishermen, saw him talking to himself, they would probably think that he had gone insane from being out at sea alone too much. He knows that he is not really crazy though, he just enjoys talking to himself. As the old man is thinking about this, he realizes that he has sailed very far out and can not see land anymore. The old man continues to drift out farther and farther, until suddenly, the stick that marks the one hundred fathom line goes quickly under the water. The old man knows that this means that the fish on the other end of the line is probably quite large. He prays and prays that the fish will take the bait. It plays with the bait a while longer and finally takes it.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.
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