The old man, or Santiago Timeline and Summary

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• The old man hasn’t caught a fish in 84 days.
• He sits on the terrace with Manolin.
• They reminisce.
• He and Manolin pretend to have dinner and talk about baseball.
• The old man falls asleep.
• He is woken by the boy and they eat.
• The old man talks about the lions in Africa.
• He dreams about the lions.
• He wakes up and then wakes the boy.
• He sets out on the fishing trip.
• The old man muses on skill being better than luck, and the quality of his eyes.
• He watches the sea turtles and jellyfish and characterizes them.
• He catches a tuna and uses it for bait.
• The old man talks to himself
• He hooks the marlin.
• The agony of holding on to the fish lasts overnight.
• He recollects having hooked a female marlin when her companion was there.
• He wishes the boy were there.
• The old man hooks another fish and cuts it loose (no time to deal with that now).
• The old man muses a lot about the fish, how he wishes he could see it, how it is his brother, etc.
• The fish surges and cuts the old man below the eye with the line.
• Another night passes.
• The old man feels he really ought to eat the disgusting and raw tuna.
• The old man gets a cramp in his hand.
• He believes a man is never alone at sea.
• He wishes the boy were there again.
• He gets excited because the fish is jumping.
• The old man is overwhelmed by the fish’s size.
• The old man prays.
• The old man talks about the lions.
• He compares himself to DiMaggio.
• He recalls the arm wrestling in Casablanca.
• He hooks a dolphin and clubs it over the head. If only the marlin had gone that easily...
• His cramp goes away.
• He looks at the stars and does what most people do when they look at stars: muses on them.
• He forces himself to eat some food.
• He takes a nap and dreams about the lions and is happy, or as happy as one can be when staying in Hotel Agony by the Sea.
• He is woken up by a sudden jerk from the fish.
• He forces himself to eat again.
• He harpoons the fish to death. Yay.
• The old man is nervous about the blood in the water as he heads home.
• He harpoons the first shark to death, but loses the harpoon in the process.
• He ties a knife to the oar tip for a weapon.
• He muses on whether or not it was a sin to kill the marlin.
• More sharks come. These are the stupid kind.
• He kills them, but they take a big chunk of dead marlin with them.
• His body starts to fail him as he tries to club the following sharks to death.
• He makes it home with the skeleton of the fish and heads to bed, resting on the way.
• He wakes and chills out with the boy. They talk about the extravaganza.
• He asks for the newspapers.
• He gives the fish head to Pedrico.
• He dreams about the lions.