The Old Man and the Sea - Day 3

On the old man's first morning at sea with the marlin, he has a lot of new concerns. The fish is still steadily swimming, not slowing a bit. One good thing that has happened is that the fish has begun swimming in shallower waters. Also, a small weed has become attached to the line, which has slowed the fish down a bit. The old man is concerned that if he increases the tension on the line too much, it will become too taut and it will snap, releasing the fish. He is not willing to take any chances on losing this fish, because he has not had a single catch in eighty five days now. He can not afford to lose this giant marlin. He also fears that if the hook pulls on the fish too much, it will cut the fish's mouth too much and the fish will get loose. He can not afford to make any mistakes or he could kill the fish. He still has not seen the whole fish yet or how big it is in size, so he is hoping that the fish will jump out of the water soon. He also hopes for this to happen so that the fish's air sacs might fill up with air, which will keep it from going too deep into the ocean. He does not want the fish to go deeper into the ocean because it is much easier for the old man to pull the fish out of shallow water than deep water. At this point, all Santiago can do is hold on to the fish and hope. Hope that everything will go his way and that he will be lucky and catch this fish to prove to everyone that he is not unlucky. Santiago begins to feel a great respect for the fish and he pledges his love and respect for the fish, but he also promises that he will kill him by the end of the day.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.

The Old Man and the Sea - Day 2 continued

After the fish finally took the bait, it continued swimming. The fish was so large and strong that it dragged the boat. The old man pulled on the line as strongly as he could, with no result. He tried again and again but he was not strong enough. The fish continued pulling the boat farther and farther away from land. Now when the old man looks, no land is visible to him at all. The fish pulled the boat farther away from land all day, seeming to not lose any strength at all. The old man gives up trying to pull the fish in. He holds the line tight in his hands with part of it braced against his back. He holds the rope all day and gives the fish more if necessary, afraid that the line might break ruining his chances of catching the fish. The struggle between the old man and the fish goes on all night as the fish continues pulling the boat away from shore, and now when the old man looks, the light from the havana begins to fade. He knows that this means that his boat is farther out from land than ever before, which worries him a bit. As the old man thinks, he wishes that the young boy could be with him. He knows that having the young boy would make the situation a lot easier. He does not like being alone. While he battles the fish, the old man has a flashback to a time when he was trying to catch a different marlin. There were a pair of them, a male and a female. The male marlin let the female marlin take the bait, and after the old man caught the female, the male fish stayed right next to the boat, mourning the loss of the female marlin. Thinking of this memory makes the old man sad, but he stays determined to catch this new giant marlin.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.

The Old Man and the Sea - Day 2

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.

The Old Man and the Sea - Day 1

In the book 'The Old Man and the Sea', the old man, or Santiago, goes through a journey of trying to catch a fish. On the first day, he has already gone out to sea eighty four times. On these eighty four days, the old man has not caught a single fish. He has not quite lost his faith, though. For the first forty days of his journey, he had his young apprentice, Manolin, with him to help him fish. Manolin was forced by his father to leave for a different ship after forty days with no catch. His father believed the old man to be "salao" or "unlucky". Manolin still helps the old man by supplying bait to him, which the old man reluctantly accepted. The old man carried all of his fishing gear back to his shack with the help of the young boy. When they arrived back at the old man's shack with all of their gear, the young boy asks the old man what he was going to eat for dinner. Like every night, the old man replied by saying that he would be eating yellow rice and fish for dinner. He offered the young boy some food, knowing that he would not accept. The boy then offered to start the fire for the old man to cook his dinner on and like every night, the old man refused. They both knew that the old man did not really have any food to eat that night. Next, the old man excitedly grabbed the newspaper that was given to him by Perico. He reads about his favorite player "the great Dimaggio" while Manolin goes out to get him the bait he promised him and dinner which was a gift from Martin, the man who owns the cafe. As they eat the dinner, the old man and the boy discuss baseball. After eating dinner, the boy leaves and the old man goes to sleep. While he sleeps he has his favorite reoccurring dream of the lions playing on a beach.



Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.

What I liked about The Old Man and the Sea

'The Old Man and the Sea' was a good book, in my opinion. Unlike a lot of the books that we are forced to read for school, I actually enjoyed this book. It was about fishing, which is something that I do not do a lot of. Even though it was about fishing and I do not know a lot about fishing, I actually could follow along with the things the author was describing. It used some fishing terms, but not too much that it confused me. I liked how the book was about fishing, but it was more about the struggle between the old man and the fish. It described all of the old man's struggles and challenges and it was an interesting book. Even though the book was not packed with adventure and a bunch of crazy stuff, it was still interesting and it still kept me entertained. I liked the characters in the book. It focused mostly on the old man and the fish. The book kind of gave the fish a personality. It described the fish so that it didn't seem like any ordinary fish. The old man respected the fish. My favorite part of 'The Old Man and the Sea' was the ending. It did not end the way you would have expected it to end. I expected the old man to get really lucky and catch the fish and bring it home in one piece and to get a bunch of money from the fish, but it turned out that the sharks ate the fish's meat. All they left was the skeleton of the fish. I liked how even though the old man did not get the money off the fish like he wanted, it was still a happy ending because he still got the respect he deserved and he got the young boy to fish with him again. 'The Old Man and the Sea' turned out to be a pretty interesting book that I enjoyed.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.

the old man and the sea- why we still read this book

The book 'The Old Man and the Sea' contains a timeless message. The message in this book is that patience is rewarded and that if you really want something, you must work for it. In the book, the old man had to work very hard and be very patient in order to catch his fish. He knew that if he did pull off catching this giant marlin fish, it would be worth it. That is why he was so determined and that is why he was willing to work so hard in order to catch it. He went through a lot of hard work to catch the marlin. He had to endure the heat while he was out on the sea. He also had to deal with his own body betraying him. He became very tired from lack of sleep while he was out on the sea and this lack of sleep made him weaker and weaker. His tiredness threatened the chance of him catching the fish. He also had to endure his hands cramping up and turning into "claws". This made it more difficult for him to catch his fish because he is used to using both of his hands to hold the rope, but when his hand is all cramped up, he cannot use it and so he has to figure out how to hold on to the rope with only one hand. When the old man caught a dolphin, he had to deal with his nausea from the smell of the raw meat. All of these challenges made the old man have to work that much harder, but in the end, it was worth it for him. The old man had to be very patient in this book, but in the end, his patience was rewarded when he caught the eighteen foot long marlin fish. Even though the fish's body was attacked and eaten by sharks, the old man still brought the skeleton home, and this is what made everyone stop mocking him and calling him unlucky. It earned him the respect that he deserved and also the companionship of the young boy, making all the hard work worth it. The message that we can learn from the book 'The Old Man and the Sea' is that patience is rewarded and that if you really want something, you have to work hard for it.


Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.

the old man and the sea- abstract ideas

In the book 'The Old Man And the Sea', the old man represents some abstract ideas. There are many abstract ideas that he represents, but the two main ones are patience and perseverance. The old man is very patient in the book. He is patient while he is waiting for himself to catch a fish. He goes out to sea for eighty four days without catching a single fish. He also has to persevere everyday and keep his head up and keep trying to catch a fish. He probably felt like giving up after a while of not catching anything, but he persevered and kept going out everyday and finally it paid off for him. Another way that the old man represented the abstract idea of patience was when he was very patient with the young boy and all the fishermen who lived in his small town. Everyone judged him for not catching many fish and they all believed that he was unlucky. The old man knew he wasn't unlucky and even though being called unlucky every day was probably very annoying, he ignored them and kept trying to prove them wrong. Another abstract idea that the old man represented in the book is strength. He was very strong in the book. He endured a lot of difficult challenges and pain while he was out at sea trying to catch his fish. He endured the pain when his body was betraying him. When his hand got cramped up and turned into a claw and when he was beginning to feel nauseous from the smell of the raw dolphin meat, he had no choice but to just try to get through it. He also had to endure all the cuts he got on his hands from holding on to the rope that the fish was on. Every time the fish would make sudden movements, The old man's hands would get cut. He had to endure hunger and being extremely tired too. In this story, the old man was very strong and had to endure a lot more than other fishermen in order to catch his marlin.


Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.