- As the sun rises, the old man realizes the fish doesn’t seem to be getting tired. But he is swimming closer to the surface, which means he might jump.
- The old man addresses the fish again. I love you, he says, but I will kill you. Fatal Attraction, anyone?
- The old man sees a low-flying bird, who must be very tired.
- The bird perches on the line and the old man talks to it, telling it that it shouldn’t be so tired.
- He then refers to the fish as a friend. The fish responds by almost pulling the old man overboard. His hand is bleeding. Love hurts.
- He says again that he 1) must eat the tuna and that 2) he wishes the boy were there. Think of it as a chorus in a song.
- He washes his bloody hand in the water. Shoot, he thinks, I really need my hands for this.
- His hand cramps up and he chastises it as if it were a misbehaving child. Except he essentially says "screw you" to it, which isn’t a recommended child-rearing tactic.
- After all this talk about eating the tuna, the old man finally ... eats the tuna.
- Interestingly, the old man wishes he could feed the marlin, his "brother."
- He sees some wild ducks and realizes that a person is never alone on the sea.
- The weather is good – except for it being hurricane season. Seriously, though, he would be able to see it coming if a hurricane was on the way. There’s a little birdie that tells him so.
- He finds his cramp to be humiliating.
- He wishes the boy were there to massage the cramp away.
- The fish starts coming toward the surface. This is hugely exciting.
- The fish comes out of the water. He’s purple and longer than the boat. Holy cow.
- Interestingly, the old man says he has to hide the fish’s strength from him. He notes that people are smarter, but fish are more noble.
- The old man has seen fish this size but never caught one by himself.
- But why did the fish jump? The old man doesn’t know, either.
- He’s spending all this time thinking (mostly about his cramped hand) and wishes he were the fish – life would be so much easier. Except for the whole hook in your mouth thing.
- Since brute strength appears not to be working, the old man says some prayers and talks about making a religious pilgrimage.
- No, wait, he just promises that he will make the pilgrimage if he catches the fish. Dude, you have to pay the cashier before you get the merchandise.
- He decides to re-bait the other lines so he can catch some smaller fish to eat in case the marlin decides to spend another night in Hotel Agony by the Sea.
- He comments on being "a strange old man."
- Next comes, in our humble opinion, the most important paragraph in the entire book. Read it. The one about proving oneself. Read it again.
- THEN he proceeds to talk about the LIONS. Coincidence? Most certainly not.
- The old man recalls that, once upon a time, he could see decently well in the dark.
- He comments on the fish being strange.
- He thinks about baseball. He knows who’s playing whom.
- He compares himself to DiMaggio and some fighting cocks. Oh, and the fish, who he still wants to be.
- I’m totally screwed if there are sharks, he thinks.
- How much fun is arm wrestling? The old man remembers competing at it for two straight days (one round!) against a black man in Casablanca. They played it 'till their fingers bled. Was it the summer of...we don’t know the year.
- Everyone watched them, refereed, placed bets, stood around and gaped at their ridiculous stamina.
- He almost lost, almost lost, almost lost, and then ... he won.
- After that, everyone called him The Champion. Rock on, old man.
- The old man could have been champion of the world. At least in arm wrestling. But he decided he needed his right hand for fishing.
- He tried to arm wrestle with his left hand, but it betrayed him. (Yes, that’s the same hand cramping up at the moment.)
- He hopes for a dolphin so he’ll have something to eat.
- He wonders why the fish are purple.
- Right around nighttime (night number two), he gets a dolphin on the other line. He clubs it on the head.
- The fish hasn’t changed at all. It’s just slower. Which, last time we checked, counts as change.
- When to gut the dolphin? We agonize over such decisions ourselves.
- He rigs up the line so that the boat is taking a lot of the strain instead of him.
- Eating this food? Not pleasant, considering it’s bloody and occasionally still flopping about. The man hasn’t eaten in a day and it’s a painful process to FORCE this food into his stomach.
- The cramp is gone.
- He looks at the stars. He is sad about killing the fish but glad he doesn’t have to kill the stars. Now THAT would be a battle.
- He’s still up for killing the fish but sad that people will eat this noble creature.
- He believes that hunger will be the end of this big fish.
- There is a constant concern that the fish may break the line.
- He figures out that he needs to sleep in order to not "become unclear in the head."
- He cuts open the dolphin and finds two flying fish inside, which is essentially like a Christmas present, or possibly a very disgusting Easter Egg.
- He eats the raw fish.
- He notes that there will be bad weather in three to four days, which means this fish business better be done soon.
- He doesn’t dream about lions. He dreams about porpoises instead. And then he dreams about the lions. Phew. And he is happy.