Santiago, the “old man” of the story, hails from Spain’s Canary Islands, off the west coast of Africa. He has lived for many years in Cuba, where he recently mentored a neighbor boy in the skills of deep-sea fishing. Near the end of his lifetime as a sailor and fisherman, Santiago goes many weeks without catching anything sizable. On the 85th day of this bad-luck streak, he hooks the biggest fish he has ever seen, an 18-foot marlin that pulls his boat for two days. Although he finally defeats and kills the fish, during the return voyage the giant creature gets devoured by sharks. Santiago symbolizes the persistence, skill, endurance, and humility that, to author Hemingway, are the hallmarks of virtue and right living.

Santiago’s boat mate, the boy Manolin, loves the old man, who taught him how to fish. He works at sea with Santiago until the boy’s father, fed up with the old man’s bad luck, sends him to another boat. Despite that, nightly the boy helps Santiago stow his equipment, shares dinner with him, and chats with him about baseball. The boy and Santiago treat each other respectively as grandson and grandfather.