In the book, The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway tells a story of an
old fisherman. The old man, named Santiago, had gone for eighty-four days
without catching a fish. Santiago feels that the following day would be a
good day because eighty-five is his lucky number. The following day he gets
up before dawn and sets out for a day of fishing. He had set one bait at
forty fathoms, the second at seventy-five fathoms, and the third and forth
were at one hundred and one hundred and twenty-five fathoms. While Santiago
is fishing he sees a bird trying to get a flying fish that was being chased
by tuna. The old man tries to put his boat over the school of tuna in hope
of getting a catch. Suddenly something hooked itself on the bait that was
set at one hundred and twenty-five fathoms. The old man had caught a huge
marlin that was now pulling him out to sea. The fish continued to pull the
old man out to sea for about 3 days. The old man survived by putting one of
his other lines out so that he could catch fish and eat them in order to
keep his strength. On the third day he finally caught the fish. He had
pulled the fish in slowly and then threw his harpoon at the fish's heart
killing it instantly. The old man tied the fish to the side of his skiff and
began to sail home. As he was sailing a shark took a large bite out of the
fish he had caught. The old man harpooned the shark in his brain, and as the
shark rolled off of the fish it took the old man's harpoon with it. The old
man knew that there would be other sharks that would follow the scent of the
fish's blood. He tied his knife to the butt of one of his oars. Two more
sharks came and the old man killed them both. The second shark broke the
blade as it rolled off the fish. Desperate, the old man waited for the other
sharks. All he had left was a club, and he was going to use it. More sharks
came, but this time in a pack. The old man despe...