The Old Man and the Sea is a novel by Ernest Hemingway about an old man named Santiago and his struggles with a great marlin out at sea. The novel begins with Santiago and a buy named Manolin. Manolin was Santiago’s partner is fishing before he parents forced him to fish on a more successful boat. Santiago is called “unlucky” by all of the other fishermen of the pier. The other fishermen mock Santiago for his horrible luck at sea, and his long streaks of never catching a fish. For a while, Manolin and the old man caught a large fish everyday for three weeks. But that did not last, and it started an eighty-seven day streak of not catching anything. Because of that streak, Manolin and Santiago had to become separated, and Santiago never made any money. In the beginning of the book, Santiago sets out fishing alone the morning after him and Manolin are together. The old man keeps his lines straight down so he knows how far down they are. He gets the occasional bite from smaller fish, but after a couple hours something really big takes his line. Santiago is an old, skilled fisherman and he handles the fishing line with care. Santiago realizes how large the fish he has caught is when his boat begins to be towed by the fish. He is careful to not put too much tension on the line because he does not want it to snap and have to only large fish he’s caught in months escape from him. For days Santiago and the marlin battled at sea. Santiago is brave and stubborn, refusing to let the marlin go even though he longs for sleep and food. Every time the old man gains a little bit of line, the marlin dives deeper into the ocean, pulling more line with him. This cycle is endless until the marlin decides to surface. Santiago finally catches the giant marlin, but then he is faced with sharks. He fights them off as well as he can, but eventually he has no choice other than to let the sharks have his marlin. Santiago returns to the shore with only a huge marlin skeleton tied to the side of his boat.
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