The Old Man and the Sea: Summary Part 1

In the first part of the novel Santiago returns home from another unsuccessful day at sea. This marks his 84th day without catching any fish. Despite his failure he remains optimistic and does not give up hope that today will be the day breaks his dry spell. He returns home where a boy, Manolin, appears to help him with ending the day. He gets him some food and drink and helps him put away his boating supplies. They talk about baseball with each other, with Santiago talking about his great admiration for Joe DiMaggio. Manolin then leaves and Santiago goes to bed. Manolin wants to go fishing with Santiago but he will not allow it because his parents forbid him from fishing with Santiago because of his unluckiness. The other fishermen in the village also give Santiago grief because of his optimism despite his great spell of failure. The older fishermen in the village are simply sad for him however because they know how it is sometimes and Santiago used to be a living legend. Manolin gets the food from the manager of the bar because Santiago does not have anything to use to purchase food for himself. The manager gives Manolin the food because he respects Santiago and feels sorry for him. Santiago tells Manolin to thank the manger and he is very appreciative. Santiago has a very deep seated respect for Joe DiMaggio because despite a terrible injury he is still one of the best baseball players out there. Santiago looks to him for inspiration several times throughout the novel and uses him as his motivation. After Manolin departs Santiago goes to sleep covering himself with newspapers because that is all he has at his disposal. The next day Santiago awakes and makes his plans to head out to sea. In hopes that he will break his dry spell he plans to go out very deep to the sea where no other fishermen go.