The Old Man And The Sea

The Old Man and the Sea is a novel was the last major work of fiction to be written by Ernest
Hemingway and published in his lifetime. It is considered to be one of his most famous works and
was cited by the Nobel Committee as contributing to the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature to
Hemingway in 1954.

The Old Man and the Sea is the story of a battle 1between an old, experienced Cuban fisherman and
a large marlin2. The novel opens with the explanation that the fisherman, who is named Santiago,
has gone 84 days without catching a fish. In fact, he is so unlucky that his young apprentice, 3
Manolin, has been forbidden by his parents to sail with the old man and been ordered to fish with
more successful fishermen. Still dedicated 4 to the old man, however, the boy visits Santiago's shack 5
each night. On the eighty-fifth day,Santiago sets out 6alone, taking his skiff far onto the Gulf Stream.
He sets his lines and, by noon of the first day, a big fish that he is sure is a marlin takes his bait. 7After
a long struggle with the fish Santiago manages to strap 8the marlin to the side of his skiff and heads
home, thinking about the high price the fish will bring him at the market and how many people he
will feed. While Santiago sails back back to the shore, sharks are attracted to the trail 9of blood left
by the marlin in the water. Despite his efforts to ward off the sharks, they have almost devoured
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the marlin's entire carcass, leaving a skeleton consisting mostly of its backbone, its tail and its head.
Once home, he slumps onto his bed and falls into a deep sleep. The next day, a group of fishermen
gather around the boat where the fish's skeleton is still attached. Manolin, worried during the old
man's endeavor,11 cries upon finding him safe asleep. The boy brings him newspapers and coffee.
When the old man wakes, they promise to fish together once again. Upon his return to sleep,
Santiago dreams of his youth—of lions on an African beach. The old man feels very unwell and also
coughs up blood a few times towards the end of the story. He doesn't tell the boy.

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The novel has received so much praise and is considered to be one of the best novels in American
literature. Santiago fights the creatures of the sea and some readers think that the story is about
man’s battle against the natural world. However, the novel can be viewed as the story of man’s
place in relation to nature. In the story, Santiago and the marlin show similar qualities of pride,
honor, and bravery, and both are subject to the same eternal natural law - they must kill or be killed.
Santiago himself says:

“man is not made for defeat . . . [a] man can be destroyed but not defeated.”i

Read the dialogue and describe their relationships

-"And the spear?"

-"You keep it if you want it."
-"I want it," the boy said. "Now we must make our plans about the other things."
-"Did they search for me?"
-"Of course. With coast guard and with planes."
-"The ocean is very big and a skiff is small and hard to see," the old man said. He noticed how
pleasant it was to have someone to talk to instead of speaking only to himself and to the sea. "I missed
you," he said. "What did you catch?"
-"One the first day. One the second and two the third."
-"Very good."
-"Now we fish together again."
-"No. I am not lucky. I am not lucky anymore."
-"The hell with luck," the boy said. "I'll bring the luck with me."
-"What will your family say?"
-"I do not care. I caught two yesterday. But we will fish together now for I still have much to
learn."
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 A Man Can Be Destroyed But Not Defeated

 Skeleton of the marlin, which is a symbol of
both his defeat and his triumph