A fish caught on a hook while a man reaches for his phone in the water.
Illustration by Luci Gutiérrez

Plot Summary and Study Guide

This NarraTiVo is based on a predigital format (once known as a “book”). If you have been assigned “Old Men and Sea” as part of your advanced-level Taking Possession of Your Narrative class, you will first need to know enough about the plot, characters, and pertinent memes so you can explain this narrative in relation to your own.

The characters in the story are: Santiago, an old man; Eduardo, his friend; Ramón and Miguel, friends of Eduardo; José, Pedro, Esteban, Xavier, Buddy, and Antonio, friends of Ramón and Miguel; and thousands of other men of sixty-seven and above who are friends, or friends of friends, or friends of friends of friends, of theirs. The only character who is not an old man is a boy of about fifteen. He has a name, but is usually just called “the boy.” Completing the list of characters are a marlin (a large type of fish, now extinct), some sharks (now mostly extinct or in private collections), and several extinct birds.

The plot begins with all the old men waking up very early, as usual. Santiago, in his shack by the harbor, sees that he has a message from Eduardo, who is forwarding messages from Ramón and Miguel, who say that a huge fish is swimming in the Gulf Stream, powerful and unknowable, far out in the deep ocean. The boy helps Santiago load his boat and the old man rows a long way from shore. Ramón sends him a message about which bait to use, but Esteban counters with a message arguing against this choice and calling it “an obscenity.” Ignoring both of them, Santiago uses a bait suggested by a marlin-fishing algorithm. Soon Santiago hooks the huge fish.

All the old men receive alerts of this news. Santiago is videoing his struggle with the fish, which, as all the old men watching in their own various fishing huts and shacks agree, must be a creature of great nobility. Santiago begins to talk to himself, and Antonio and several other friends offer suggestions about the right words to use while fighting such a fish. Santiago thanks them and changes his words accordingly.

The old men share Santiago’s video with other old men, who also share it. Thousands now add comments and send messages cheering him on. He tries to respond personally to as many of these as he can. By now, he has been fighting the fish for a long time. He does not know how long, but some of the old men have been timing the heroic struggle and are able to tell him to the hundredth of a second.

Many of the old men offer helpful tips, such as how the old man can reposition the line on his back so it won’t cut into his flesh so deeply as the fish pulls. Meanwhile, the old man hopes he will not pass out from the pain, thirst, and hunger. Some of the old men send texts to a supply boat to bring him lunch and coffee. The boat that arrives does not have exactly the kind of coffee he likes. “But I have no time to worry about that now,” the old man says. Then he texts, “I do not believe that I have ever encountered such a fish,” but more than three hundred old men send him photos of fish that they estimate were as big or bigger.

You will not have to give more than a brief summary of the ending for the exam. Eventually, Santiago catches the fish and ties it to the side of his boat, and sharks eat it. Trying to fight off the sharks, he loses his phone, but luckily he has brought another one, and it is fully charged. He then returns to the harbor, where about four thousand of the old men who have been following him have been pre-alerted and are waiting. The boy, who came to help him take his fishing gear back to his shack, has trouble finding him in the crowd, and so goes home.

Study Questions

How does this story compare with your own personal narrative? What is the point of knowing it, if it does not relate directly to the narrative you wish to take ownership of? Was the old man smart to bring along a spare phone, and who will reimburse him for the phone that he lost? Do the sharks, the seagulls, and the huge fish represent the Holy Trinity? If so, will that affect anybody’s final grade? How can a story from long ago help you with a degree in Marketing Resource Design? If you are majoring in Megafauna Rescue and Rehabilitation, what violations of game laws and bioethical standards do you see in this story? Is it possible to transfer out of this course so late in the term and still get credit for it? Discuss. ♦