Comprehensive Study Guide to The Old Man and the Sea

Literary Background and Editions

• Published in $1952$, The Old Man and the Sea is an acclaimed work of twentieth-century world literature written by American author Ernest Hemingway.
• Translations across international editions include:
  • Spanish: El viejo y el mar (available via InfoLibros.org)
  • Portuguese: O Velho e o Mar (available via InfoLivros.org)
  • French: Le vieil homme et la mer (available via InfoLivres.org)

Character Profile and Physical Description of Santiago

• Setting and Profession: Santiago is an aged Cuban fisherman who operates alone in a skiff on the Gulf Stream.
• The Drought: Santiago has gone eighty-four ($84$) consecutive days without capturing a single fish.
• Physical Appearance and Aging:
  • He is characterized as thin, gaunt, and heavily weathered, with deep wrinkles across the back of his neck.
  • His cheeks are marked by the brown blotches of benevolent skin cancer caused by the reflection of the tropical sun off the surface of the sea.
  • These brown blotches run well down the sides of his face, and his hands bear deep-creased scars formed from handling heavy fish on fishing cords.
  • None of his scars are fresh; they are compared to ancient erosions in a fishless desert.
  • Every aspect of his body is visibly aged, with the sole exception of his eyes, which remain the exact color of the sea, cheerful, and undefeated.
• Attire and Gear:
  • His shirt is patched repeatedly with pieces of fabric that have faded to varied shades under the sun, resembling his patched sail.
  • The skiff's sail is patched with flour sacks; when furled around the mast, it resembles the flag of permanent defeat.

Relationship Between Santiago and Manolin

• Mentorship and History:
  • Santiago taught the boy Manolin how to fish when the boy was five ($5$) years old.
  • On their first voyage, Manolin was nearly killed when Santiago hauled in an unexhausted ("too green") fish that thrashed violently, breaking a thwart, shivering the skiff, and prompting Santiago to club it like chopping down a tree while throwing the boy into the bow amid wet lines and sweet-smelling fish blood.
• Separation Due to Bad Luck:
  • Manolin accompanied Santiago during the initial forty ($40$) days of the drought.
  • After forty fishless days, Manolin's parents declared Santiago to be definitively and finally salao (the worst form of bad luck) and ordered the boy onto another vessel, which caught three ($3$) good fish during its first week.
  • Manolin obeys his parents out of duty as a young boy, but harbors absolute faith in Santiago and feels deep sorrow seeing him return every day with an empty skiff.
  • Santiago and Manolin previously endured a dry spell lasting eighty-seven ($87$) days, after which they caught large fish every single day for three ($3$) weeks.
• Devotion and Daily Care:
  • Manolin greets Santiago every evening to assist in carrying the coiled lines, gaff, harpoon, and mast.
  • Manolin purchases drinks and food for Santiago, procures fresh bait, and pledges to ensure the old man has proper blankets, clothing, soap, water, and shoes.

The Harbor Community and Fishermen's Customs

• The Terrace:
  • At the Terrace café, younger fishermen openly mock Santiago, which the old man receives without anger.
  • The older fishermen look upon Santiago with sadness, disguising their pity by speaking politely of the currents, the depths at which they set their lines, the steady weather, and what they saw at sea.
• Local Fishing Operations:
  • Successful fishermen unload their marlin by laying them full length across two wooden planks, with two men staggering at each end, carrying them to the fish house where ice trucks transport the catch to market in Havana.
  • Fishermen catching sharks transport them to the shark factory located across the cove.
  • At the shark factory, sharks are hoisted on block and tackle, their livers excised, their fins cut off, their hides skinned, and their flesh sliced into strips for salting.
  • When the wind blows from the east, an offensive odor drifts across the harbor from the shark factory; when the wind shifts north, the odor subsides.

Santiago’s Domestic Routine and Baseball Discussions

• The Shack:
  • Santiago's shack is constructed from guano, the sturdy, tough budshields of the royal palm.
  • Inside the one-room shack, the furniture comprises a bed, a table, a single chair, and a cooking area on the dirt floor utilizing charcoal.
  • The mast of the skiff is nearly as long as the shack's single room.
  • Relics of his deceased wife decorate the brown walls: colored pictures of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Virgin of Cobre.
  • A tinted photograph of his late wife previously hung on the wall, but Santiago moved it to a corner shelf under his clean shirt because seeing it made him feel excessively lonely.
• The Daily Fictions:
  • Santiago and Manolin engage in daily polite fictions to preserve Santiago's dignity.
  • Santiago claims to have a pot of yellow rice and fish to share, though no food is present.
  • Santiago claims to possess a cast net that the boy pretends to borrow, although both know the net was sold long before.
• Dinner from Martin:
  • Manolin brings a two-decker metal container containing black beans, rice, fried bananas, stew, and two bottles of Hatuey beer, gifted by Martin, the proprietor of the Terrace.
  • Santiago promises to repay Martin's generosity by gifting him the choice belly meat of a large fish.
• Baseball and Managerial Debates:
  • Santiago avidly follows Major League Baseball (the Gran Ligas) through yesterday's newspaper provided by Perico from the bodega.
  • Santiago maintains supreme faith in the New York Yankees and their star player, the "great DiMaggio," whose performance he admires even through the pain of a bone spur (espuela de hueso) in his heel.
  • Manolin voices anxiety over the Cleveland Indians and the Detroit Tigers; Santiago cautions him against fearing even the Cincinnati Reds or the Chicago White Sox.
  • In the National League, Santiago favors the Brooklyn Dodgers over the Philadelphia Phillies, recalling Dick Sisler's immense drives at the old park and Sisler's past visits to the Terrace.
  • Santiago notes DiMaggio's father was a fisherman and would understand their poverty.
  • They debate managerial figures: John J. McGraw (remembered as harsh-spoken, drinking heavily, and carrying horse racing lists in his pockets), Leo Durocher, Adolfo Luque, and Mike Gonzalez.
• Lottery Numbers:
  • Santiago identifies eighty-five ($85$) as his lucky number for the upcoming eighty-fifth day of fishing, hoping to catch a fish dressing out over one thousand pounds ($1{,}000\text{ lb}$).
  • Purchasing an eighty-five terminal sheet costs two dollars and a half ($\$2.50$); Santiago avoids borrowing money, maintaining the philosophy: "First you borrow. Then you beg."

Memory, Dreams, and Past Adventures

• Bedtime Setup: Santiago sleeps in his clothes, rolling his trousers with newspapers inside to serve as a pillow, resting on newspapers laid over the springs of his bed, covered by an old army blanket.
• The Dreams of Africa:
  • In his youth, Santiago worked before the mast on a square-rigged sailing ship running along the African coast.
  • In his old age, Santiago no longer dreams of storms, women, great occurrences, giant fish, fights, contests of strength, or his deceased wife.
  • His recurring dreams consist entirely of African landscapes: long golden and blindingly white beaches, high capes, great brown mountains, native boats riding through the surf, the scent of tar and oakum on deck, the morning land breeze, the Canary Islands roadsteads, and young lions playing like kittens on the beaches at dusk.
• The Casablanca Arm-Wrestling Match:
  • To summon confidence, Santiago recalls an epic arm-wrestling match in a tavern at Casablanca against the strongest man on the docks, a powerful Negro from Cienfuegos.
  • The match lasted a full day and night (Sunday morning to Monday morning), with both men's elbows resting on a chalk line on a wooden table, illuminated by kerosene lamps against bright blue walls.
  • Referees were substituted every four ($4$) hours after the first eight ($8$) hours so they could sleep.
  • Blood forced its way out from beneath the fingernails of both men.
  • After the Negro drank rum, he mounted an immense effort that pushed Santiago nearly three ($3$) inches off balance, but Santiago fought back to dead even.
  • At daybreak, as bettors demanded a draw so they could report to work loading sugar sacks or laboring for the Havana Coal Company, Santiago unleashed a final effort, forcing the Negro's arm down to the table.
  • The triumph earned Santiago the moniker El Campeon; after winning an easy rematch the following spring, he abandoned the game, deciding it strained the right hand he needed for fishing and noting that his left hand had always been unreliable.

Marine Philosophy and Departure on the Eighty-Fifth Day

• Morning Departure:
  • Santiago wakes Manolin by gently grasping his foot in the darkness.
  • They drink coffee served out of condensed milk cans at an early morning fishermen's station on credit.
  • Santiago carries his mast while the boy carries the basket of lines, gaff, and harpoon down the pebbled sand.
  • Santiago packs no food, as eating has long bored him, bringing only a single bottle of water in the bow.
• Perceptions of the Ocean:
  • Santiago always conceives of the sea in the feminine as la mar, the name used in Spanish by people who love her.
  • He views her as a generous or withholding woman affected by the moon, whose wild or cruel deeds occur because she cannot help them.
  • In contrast, younger fishermen with motorboats and buoy-rigged lines refer to the sea in the masculine as el mar, viewing the ocean as an adversary, a contestant, or an enemy.
• Marine Ecology and Creatures:
  • Santiago rows over "the great well," an ocean trench plunging to seven hundred fathoms ($700\text{ fathoms}$), where swirling currents against submarine walls trap shrimp, bait fish, and deep-water squid that rise to the surface at night.
  • Flying fish are regarded by Santiago as his principal oceanic companions.
  • He pities delicate dark terns (sea swallows), remarking on how their fragile nature makes survival difficult over an ocean that can turn suddenly cruel.
  • He curses the Portuguese man-of-war as agua mala ("You whore"), noting its deceptive beauty, its floating iridescent bubble, and its trailing purple poisonous filaments that strike like whiplashes, causing painful welts on fishermen's arms.
  • He loves watching sea turtles consume the agua mala; loggerheads approach them with closed eyes to shield themselves, eating the creatures filaments and all.
  • Santiago possesses a strong affinity for green turtles and hawksbills, while viewing loggerheads with friendly contempt; he pities giant trunkback turtles that weigh a ton and equal the skiff in length.
  • Santiago drinks a cup of shark liver oil daily from a communal drum kept in the gear shack to ward off colds and enhance eyesight, and he consumes white turtle eggs throughout May to build physical strength for September and October.
• Precision in Line Setting:
  • Santiago positions his lines with unmatched precision:
  • First bait: forty fathoms ($40\text{ fathoms}$).
  • Second bait: seventy-five fathoms ($75\text{ fathoms}$).
  • Third bait: one hundred fathoms ($100\text{ fathoms}$).
  • Fourth bait: one hundred twenty-five fathoms ($125\text{ fathoms}$).
  • Bait preparation: Baits hang head down, the shank of the hook sewn securely inside the bait fish, with the exposed curve and point disguised by fresh sardines hooked through both eyes to create a half-garland.
  • Two fresh tunas (albacores) provided by Manolin serve as sinker plummets on the deepest lines, supplemented by a blue runner and a yellow jack.
  • Each pencil-thick line connects to a green-sapped stick that dips upon contact, linked to reserve coils providing a potential running capacity exceeding three hundred fathoms ($300\text{ fathoms}$).
  • Santiago's core technical maxim: "It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready."
• Catching Fresh Bait:
  • Following a man-of-war bird diving after flying fish pursued by a school of dolphin, Santiago deploys a stern line with a wire leader, hooking a ten-pound ($10\text{ lb}$) albacore.
  • He subdues the albacore with a club to preserve it for future bait.
  • Santiago reflects on his habit of speaking aloud to himself at sea, a behavior that began after Manolin departed, which he accepts because he knows he is not insane.

The Strike and the Great Marlin’s Tow

• The Initial Bite:
  • At noon on the eighty-fifth day, a green stick dips sharply over the one hundred fathom line ($100\text{ fathoms}$, or $600\text{ feet}$).
  • Santiago holds the cord delicately between his right thumb and forefinger, detecting a tentative, delicate nibble as a massive marlin consumes the sardines masking the hook.
  • The fish moves off with the bait held crosswise in its mouth, then swallows it, increasing the downward weight.
• Setting the Hook:
  • Santiago lets the line run freely while splicing three reserve coils together.
  • He strikes the line with full arm power and body weight multiple times to bury the hand-forged hook.
  • The marlin does not surface; instead, it begins swimming steadily northwest, towing the skiff into deep water.
• The Extended Ordeal:
  • Santiago acts as the towing bitt, bracing the cord across his back with an old sack acting as a protective cushion.
  • The pull is so extreme that beads of water jump from the vibrating line.
  • Four hours after the hook is set, the fish continues towing the skiff out of sight of land; Santiago navigates by the distant glow of Havana's city lights.
  • Santiago repeatedly voices the longing: "I wish I had the boy."
• Night Operations:
  • Porpoises roll and blow near the boat; Santiago distinguishes the blowing sound of the male from the sighing blow of the female, calling them brothers.
  • Santiago reflects on the saddest sight he ever witnessed: hooking a female marlin while her male mate stayed beside her, crossing the line, leaping beside the skiff to look for her, and remaining alongside until she was butchered.
  • In the pitch dark, another fish strikes a trailing bait; Santiago cuts the line with his sheath knife to avoid distraction, splicing the spare coils together to establish six ($6$) connected reserve coils, sacrificing two hundred fathoms ($200\text{ fathoms}$) of Catalan cardel.
  • A sudden lurch by the marlin throws Santiago onto his face, cutting him beneath the eye.

Physical Hardships and the Marlin Breaches

• A Warbler’s Visit:
  • At daybreak on the second day, a tired warbler rests on the stern and then on the taut line; Santiago speaks gently to the bird, warning it of predatory hawks offshore.
  • The marlin suddenly lurches, pulling Santiago down and causing the line to cut into the working flesh of his right hand, frightening the warbler away.
  • Santiago submerges his bleeding hand in salt water for over a minute to clean it.
• The Cramped Hand and Raw Sustenance:
  • Santiago uses his gaff to retrieve the ten-pound albacore from the stern, cutting six ($6$) longitudinal, wedge-shaped strips of red meat from head to tail.
  • His left hand seizes up into an intractable cramp (calambre), clenching into a rigid claw resembling rigor mortis.
  • Santiago rebukes the hand as a traitor, forcing himself to conscientiously chew and consume the raw albacore strips to restore blood flow and muscular function.
  • By noon on the second day, the sun and digestion relieve the cramp.
• The Marlin's Grand Leap:
  • The marlin breaches the ocean surface unendingly:
  • It is measured visually as two feet ($2\text{ ft}$) longer than the skiff.
  • Its coloration includes a dark purple head and back, with wide, light lavender stripes along its sides.
  • Its bill/sword is as long as a baseball bat and tapered like a rapier.
  • Its tail is shaped like a great scythe blade, breaking the surface before it dives back like a diver.
  • Santiago estimates the fish's weight at well over one thousand pounds ($1{,}000\text{ lb}$), noting he has caught two such fish in his past, but never entirely alone.
• Vows and Cultural Musings:
  • Though professing not to be religious, Santiago promises to recite ten ($10$) Our Fathers and ten ($10$) Hail Marys, and pledges a pilgrimage to the Virgin of Cobre if he captures the marlin.
  • He meditates on Joe DiMaggio playing through bone spurs, wondering if bone spurs hurt as much as the spur of a fighting cock driven into a man's heel.
• Catching a Dolphin:
  • Before sunset, a golden dolphin (dorado) strikes a small stern line; Santiago pulls it aboard, clubs it, and leaves it in the stern.
  • At night, Santiago guts the dolphin, discovering two fresh, hard flying fish inside its stomach.
  • He consumes one flying fish and half of the raw dolphin meat, lamenting the absence of salt and limes.
• Rest and Night Dreams:
  • Santiago devises a method to sleep for thirty minutes by wedging his body against the line and bow.
  • He dreams of an immense school of mating porpoises leaping eight to ten miles, followed by a dream of freezing weather in his village, and finally returns to dreaming of lions resting on the golden African beach.

The Third Day: Circling and Harpooning the Marlin

• The Violent Awakening:
  • In the darkness, the marlin makes a dozen explosive jumps, pulling Santiago down so violently that his face is pressed into the raw dolphin meat.
  • The line races out, burning and slicing his hands, but the jumps force the fish to fill the air sacks along its backbone with air, preventing it from sounding deep to die.
  • Santiago cleans the crushed dolphin flesh from his face to prevent nausea and washes his hands in seawater.
• Circling the Skiff:
  • At sunrise on the third day, the marlin begins swimming in broad circles.
  • Santiago retrieves line slowly using a rhythmic, pivoting motion of his body, legs, and shoulders.
  • Exhaustion causes Santiago to suffer from black spots in his vision, dizziness, and faintness; he splashes salt water on his head and neck to maintain consciousness.
  • The marlin strikes the wire leader repeatedly with its spear, generating sharp metallic bangs; Santiago yields line to avoid widening the hook wound.
  • Santiago promises to say one hundred ($100$) Our Fathers and one hundred ($100$) Hail Marys once the fish is subdued.
• The Kill:
  • On the third circle, the marlin passes thirty yards ($30\text{ yards}$) away, accompanied by two gray remoras (sucking fish) measuring over three feet ($3\text{ feet}$) in length.
  • Santiago repeatedly strains to haul the fish alongside; several times the marlin turns partially on its side but rights itself and pulls away.
  • Santiago gathers all his remaining strength, pain, and lost pride against the agony of the fish.
  • The marlin rolls onto its side, swimming gently along the skiff's planking.
  • Santiago pins the line beneath his foot, hoists the harpoon, and drives it downward behind the fish's large chest fin, leaning his entire body weight onto the shaft.
  • The marlin makes a final, monumental leap into the air, hanging momentarily above the skiff, before crashing back into the sea, covering Santiago and the boat with spray.
  • The marlin floats belly up, dead, staining the water with dark blood from its pierced heart.

Securing the Marlin and Shark Depredations

• Lashing the Catch:
  • The marlin weighs over fifteen hundred pounds ($1{,}500\text{ lb}$), making it impossible to hoist inside the small skiff.
  • Santiago ties the marlin alongside the boat: he runs the harpoon line through its gills and jaws, lashes the bill, secures the cord to the bow bitt, and fastens nooses around its middle and tail, binding the carcass tightly to the middle thwart and stern.
  • He ties the fish's lower jaw shut against its sword to minimize hydrodynamic drag.
  • Santiago steps the mast, hoists the flour-sack sail using the gaff as a boom, and sails southwest toward Cuba.
  • He gathers live miniature shrimp from drifting Sargasso weed, eating a dozen raw after pinching off their heads.
  • Santiago computes the catch's value: if the fish dresses out to two-thirds ($\frac{2}{3}$) of its weight at thirty cents ($\$0.30$) per pound, it represents an immense sum of money.
• Attack by the Mako Shark (Dentuso):
  • An hour into the sail, a huge Mako shark emerges from the deep, following the expanding scent of blood.
  • The Mako possesses a blue back, a silver belly, an agile build, and eight rows of inward-slanted teeth shaped like curled claws, as long as Santiago's fingers.
  • The Mako strikes the marlin near the tail, tearing away forty pounds ($40\text{ lb}$) of meat.
  • Santiago drives his harpoon squarely into the intersection of the shark's brain; the dying Mako rolls, wraps in the rope, thrashes on the surface, and sinks, taking the harpoon and the line with it.
  • Santiago voices his core defiance: "A man can be destroyed but not defeated."
  • To rearm himself, Santiago lashes his sheath knife to the butt of an oar with sail twine.
• Attack by the Shovel-Nosed Sharks (Galanos):
  • Two hours later, two brown, shovel-nosed scavenger sharks (galanos) approach the skiff.
  • Santiago stabs the first shark directly in the juncture between the brain and spinal cord, driving the knife into its yellow, cat-like eye.
  • The second shark ravages the underside of the fish; Santiago forces the skiff broadside and stabs the shark through the head, eyes, and spine, breaking its cartilage and severing the flesh.
  • The two galanos devour approximately one-quarter ($\frac{1}{4}$) of the marlin's prime meat.
  • A third shovelnose shark arrives; Santiago stabs it in the brain, but the shark jerks violently as it rolls, snapping the knife blade off the oar butt.
• Sunset Battles with the Club:
  • Santiago readies an old, sawed-off oar handle measuring two and a half feet ($2.5\text{ ft}$) in length to serve as a club.
  • Just before sunset, two more galanos attack side by side.
  • Santiago clubs the first shark repeatedly across its nose and head, feeling the rubbery bone give way; he batters the second shark across the base of its brain until both retreat badly injured.
  • By nightfall, half of the marlin has been completely stripped away.
• The Midnight Pack and Total Ruin:
  • Around ten o'clock ($10:00\text{ PM}$), Santiago sights the reflected glow of Havana's city lights across the water.
  • At midnight, a pack of sharks launches a concerted attack upon the remains.
  • Santiago clubs blindly in the dark until a shark seizes the club and rips it from his grip.
  • He unships the wooden tiller from the rudder, gripping it with both hands to chop and beat at the sharks.
  • When the tiller splinters across a shark's head, Santiago thrusts the jagged wooden point into the creature, driving it away.
  • The sharks strip every remaining shred of meat; there is nothing left of the marlin to eat.
  • Santiago tastes a strange, sweet, coppery taste in his mouth, spitting into the sea and telling the galanos to dream that they have killed a man.
  • He secures the broken tiller into the rudder slot, navigating easily now that the skiff is unburdened, concluding that nothing truly beat him except going out too far.

Arrival, Repercussions, and Community Measurements

• Return to Harbor:
  • Santiago sails into the harbor late at night after the lights of the Terrace have been extinguished.
  • He ties the skiff to a rock, unsteps the mast, ties the sail, and hoists the mast onto his shoulder.
  • Overwhelmed by exhaustion, he collapses and is forced to sit down five ($5$) times along the road before reaching his shack.
  • He drinks water, collapses on his bed, and sleeps face down upon newspapers with his arms extended straight and his palms facing upward.
• The Boy’s Return and Community Reaction:
  • Manolin discovers Santiago asleep the next morning, observes his battered, scarred hands, and weeps openly.
  • Fishermen gather around the skiff; one fisherman wades into the water with a measuring line, shouting that the marlin's skeleton measures eighteen feet ($18\text{ ft}$) from nose to tail.
  • Manolin goes to the Terrace to procure hot coffee with milk and sugar, instructing the proprietor to keep others from disturbing Santiago.
• Tourists at the Terrace:
  • That afternoon, a female tourist looks down from the Terrace and observes the massive white backbone and scythe-like tail drifting among empty beer cans and dead barracudas.
  • When she asks what it is, a waiter attempts to describe the battle by stating "Tiburon" (shark).
  • The tourist and her companion misunderstand, remarking that they never realized sharks possessed such handsome, beautifully formed tails.
• Final State of Santiago:
  • In his shack, Santiago remains asleep on his face with Manolin sitting beside him, dreaming of the lions on the beaches of Africa.

Questions & Discussion

• Manolin Offering to Return to Santiago's Skiff:

  • Manolin: "Santiago… I could go with you again. We’ve made some money."
  • Santiago: "No. You’re with a lucky boat. Stay with them."
  • Manolin: "But remember how you went eighty-seven days without fish and then we caught big ones every day for three weeks."
  • Santiago: "I remember. I know you did not leave me because you doubted."
  • Manolin: "It was papa made me leave. I am a boy and I must obey him."
  • Santiago: "I know. It is quite normal."
  • Manolin: "He hasn’t much faith."
  • Santiago: "No. But we have. Haven’t we?"
  • Manolin: "Yes. Can I offer you a beer on the Terrace and then we’ll take the stuff home."
  • Santiago: "Why not? Between fishermen."

• Recalling Manolin's First Voyage at Age Five:

  • Manolin: "How old was I when you first took me in a boat?"
  • Santiago: "Five and you nearly were killed when I brought the fish in too green and he nearly tore the boat to pieces. Can you remember?"
  • Manolin: "I can remember the tail slapping and banging and the thwart breaking and the noise of the clubbing. I can remember you throwing me into the bow where the wet coiled lines were and feeling the whole boat shiver and the noise of you clubbing him like chopping a tree down and the sweet blood smell all over me."
  • Santiago: "Can you really remember that or did I just tell it to you?"
  • Manolin: "I remember everything from when we first went together."

• Discussion of Strategy, Physical Capability, and Turtle-ing:

  • Manolin: "Where are you going?"
  • Santiago: "Far out to come in when the wind shifts. I want to be out before it is light."
  • Manolin: "I’ll try to get him to work far out. Then if you hook something truly big we can come to your aid."
  • Santiago: "He does not like to work too far out."
  • Manolin: "No. But I will see something that he cannot see such as a bird working and get him to come out after dolphin."
  • Santiago: "Are his eyes that bad?"
  • Manolin: "He is almost blind."
  • Santiago: "It is strange. He never went turtle-ing. That is what kills the eyes."
  • Manolin: "But you went turtle-ing for years off the Mosquito Coast and your eyes are good."
  • Santiago: "I am a strange old man."
  • Manolin: "But are you strong enough now for a truly big fish?"
  • Santiago: "I think so. And there are many tricks."

• Dialogue Regarding Baseball Teams and Managers:

  • Santiago: "The Yankees cannot lose."
  • Manolin: "But I fear the Indians of Cleveland."
  • Santiago: "Have faith in the Yankees my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."
  • Manolin: "I fear both the Tigers of Detroit and the Indians of Cleveland."
  • Santiago: "Be careful or you will fear even the Reds of Cincinnati and the White Sox of Chicago."
  • Manolin: "Tell me about the baseball."
  • Santiago: "In the American League it is the Yankees as I said."
  • Manolin: "They lost today."
  • Santiago: "That means nothing. The great DiMaggio is himself again."
  • Manolin: "Who is the greatest manager, really, Luque or Mike Gonzalez?"
  • Santiago: "I think they are equal."
  • Manolin: "And the best fisherman is you."
  • Santiago: "No. I know others better."
  • Manolin: "Que Va. There are many good fishermen and some great ones. But there is only you."

• Discussion Between Santiago and Manolin Upon Return to the Shack:

  • Santiago: "They beat me, Manolin. They truly beat me."
  • Manolin: "He didn’t beat you. Not the fish."
  • Santiago: "No. Truly. It was afterwards."
  • Manolin: "Pedrico is looking after the skiff and the gear. What do you want done with the head?"
  • Santiago: "Let Pedrico chop it up to use in fish traps."
  • Manolin: "And the spear?"
  • Santiago: "You keep it if you want it."
  • Manolin: "I want it. Now we must make our plans about the other things."
  • Santiago: "Did they search for me?"
  • Manolin: "Of course. With coast guard and with planes."
  • Santiago: "The ocean is very big and a skiff is small and hard to see. I missed you. What did you catch?"
  • Manolin: "One the first day. One the second and two the third."
  • Santiago: "Very good."
  • Manolin: "Now we fish together again."
  • Santiago: "No. I am not lucky. I am not lucky anymore."
  • Manolin: "The hell with luck. I’ll bring the luck with me."
  • Santiago: "What will your family say?"
  • Manolin: "I do not care. I caught two yesterday. But we will fish together now for I still have much to learn."
  • Santiago: "We must get a good killing lance and always have it on board. You can make the blade from a spring leaf from an old Ford. We can grind it in Guanabacoa. It should be sharp and not tempered so it will break. My knife broke."
  • Manolin: "I’ll get another knife and have the spring ground. How many days of heavy brisa have we?"
  • Santiago: "Maybe three. Maybe more."
  • Santiago: "In the night I spat something strange and felt something in my chest was broken."
  • Manolin: "Get that well too. Lie down, old man, and I will bring you your clean shirt. And something to eat… You must get well fast for there is much that I can learn and you can teach me everything. How much did you suffer?"
  • Santiago: "Plenty."

• Exchange Between Tourists and Waiter at the Terrace:

  • Female Tourist: "What’s that?"
  • Waiter: "Tiburon. Shark."
  • Female Tourist: "I didn’t know sharks had such handsome, beautifully formed tails."
  • Male Companion: "I didn’t either."