Detailed Summary The Old Man And the Sea Part Three, a great novel written by Ernest Hemingway.
Detailed Summary The Old Man And the Sea Part Three
Then Santiago lies on the skiff to take some rest. He dreams himself in a boat while a couple of lying come on the shore and Santiago waits if more would come and they do come. But Santiago is pleased to see the lions. But suddenly the fish gave strong pulls and jumped up. Santiago got up for the final conflict with the fish. Santiago waits for the fish to start circling the boat and this would be it because “soon he (the fish) has to circle”. Though Santiago is in deep pain yet he declares: “And pain does not matter to a man.”
It was early morning when the fish began to circle the boat. On each circle the old man kept on rolling the wire onto his body so that the fish does not get far from him. The whole process continued for two hours till the old man was completely tired. Then the old man loosened the wire a bit so that the fish does not turn mad again pulls the cord so that the fish really comes close enough to be killed. “It was on the third turn that he saw the fish first”. Santiago could not believe: the fish “can’t be that big”. And after a couple of circles the fish was close enough for the old man to kill it.
It was early morning when the fish began to circle the boat. On each circle the old man kept on rolling the wire onto his body so that the fish does not get far from him. The whole process continued for two hours till the old man was completely tired. Then the old man loosened the wire a bit so that the fish does not turn mad again pulls the cord so that the fish really comes close enough to be killed. “It was on the third turn that he saw the fish first”. Santiago could not believe: the fish “can’t be that big”. And after a couple of circles the fish was close enough for the old man to kill it.
When Santiago was about to kill it, the fish swam away. Santiago uttered in deep agony: “Fish, you are going to have to die anyway.” When the fish came near again, Santiago hit it with the harpoon and killed it. Santiago was dead tired and could hardly see clearly. Santiago ties the marlin along his boat and moves homeward. Santiago is very happy: “My head is not that clear. But I think the great DiMaggio would be proud of me today.” Santiago could judge by the wind as to the coast. And now after the matter with fish was settled he needed something to eat and to drink.
While Santiago was happily sailing home, a Mako shark was in pursuit of the big marlin. It came following the blood of marlin and its smell. It “was built as a sword fish except for his huge jaws which were tight shut now as he swam fast”. Its teeth “were shaped like a man’s fingers” with “razor-sharp cutting edges”. Santiago soon observed the shark coming. He prepared his harpoon and got ready. When the shark hit the marlin and began eating it, Santiago “rammed the harpoon down onto the shark’s head”. The shark died but it “took about forty pounds” of meat and the harpoon too.”
Here Santiago knows that “bad time is coming” and he encourages himself: “But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” Santiago thinks of DiMaggio: “I wonder how the great DiMaggio would have liked the way I hit him in the brain”. Old man does not want to lose hope: “It is silly not to hope”. Therefore, he looks at the front part of the fish which is not mutilated by the shark. He argues with himself over the idea of sin. He considers it sin not to hope then it is also a sin to kill the fish and a lot more is sin but man does it. He asks himself: “Do not think about sin. It is much too late for that and there are people who are paid to do it.”
Santiago contends himself with the idea that he is a mere fisherman and not a thinker: “You were born to be a fisherman as the fish was born to be a fish. San Pedro was a fisherman as was the father of the great DiMaggio.” But he also drags in DiMaggio. Then he thinks again that he, perhaps, killed the fish for “pride” and not for money. He thinks the fish is beautiful and knows no fear and he killed it well in self-defence.
Old man had hardly rested for two hours when two “shovel-nosed sharks” came and attacked marlin. Santiago took up the oar with the knife tied to it. He hit one of the sharks “into the shark’s yellow cat-like eyes” and it sank while eating the marlin. Santiago hit the other shark a couple of times but it did not move and then he hit it in the eye. He says aloud: “I shouldn’t have gone out so far, fish. Neither for you nor for me. I’m sorry, fish.” Santiago kills the other shark.
Next came was a single shovel-nose shark. It came like a pig. Santiago dealt with it. He knows that he is too old to fight but: “I am too old to club sharks to death. But I will try it as long as I have the oars and the short club and the tiller”. Then a pack of sharks came at sunset. Santiago hit the first shark on its head with the rudder and after some clubbing it slid down of the fish. Santiago then sees a number of fins but he does not care because he can do nothing about them. He thinks of back home and the boy and some elderly fishermen that would be worried about him.
Santiago’s Talking to Himself:
Santiago admits his fault of having gone far out: “I am sorry that I went too far out. I ruined us both. But we have killed many sharks, you and I, and ruined many others.” Santiago talks to himself of fighting the sharks at midnight “I’ll fight them until I die.” When there is a sound from within that he might have some luck, he utters “I’d like to buy some if there’s any place they sell it”. He clubbed at heads and heard the jaws chop. Finally he reached the harbor and nobody was there to help. He lay there for some time. Then he reached his hut and slept there.
The boy came in the morning to see the old man. He found him fast asleep and his hands body all wounded. He ran out to bring something for the old man but he was weeping all the way to the market. The fishermen gathered round the skiff to measure the skeleton of the fish. It was eighteen feet long. The boy fetches him a coffee and sits by the side of the old man to serve him. The boy announced that from that day onward he shall accompany the old man. He keep on weeping for the pains of the old man.
Read More to the Detailed Summary The Old Man And the Sea Part Three
- The Old Man and the Sea Study Notes
- Short Summary The Old Man and the Sea
- Detailed Summary The Old Man and the Sea Part 1
- Detailed Summary The Old Man and the Sea Part 2
- Detailed Summary The Old Man and the Sea Part 3
- Santiago Character in the Novel
- Manolin Character
- Symbolism in the Novel
- Fight with Marlin in the novel
- Fight with Sharks
- Handmatch fight with the Negro and Santiago
- Importance of DiMaggio in the Novel
- The novel as a tragedy