In Act I of The Old Man and the Sea the reader is introduced to Santiago, an old man who loves fishing. Also in act one, the reader is introduced Manolin, a boy who is not related to the old man, but was taught to fish by Santiago. Santiago has not caught a fish for eighty-four days and it is bothering him. The other fishermen call him unlucky and make fun of him. Santiago ignores all of the comments and remains unfazed, but the question whether he is too old to catch a fish arises. The boy goes to buy some sardines for Santiago. Afterwards, they discuss fishing for the next day and baseball. They later go to Santiago’s house which is a small hut. They talk about their non-existent dinner and baseball. Santiago also mentions that his longest streak of not catching a fish is eighty-seven days and he cannot deal with going that long again. Santiago falls asleep and dreams of Africa and lions on the beach. When he awakes Manolin has gotten dinner for them from Martin. They say they must pay him back when they catch their big fish.
Act II begins with the duo heading down to the docks in the morning, but the moon is still outside. Manolin gives Santiago the sardines and he casts out to sea. Santiago pasts by flying fish and birds and make a comment about how the “can be so cruel” (29). Before light hits, Santiago casts out his lure. As Santiago was fishing, he notices Portuguese man of war being eating by turtles. He catches some tuna so that he can eats. Then he gets a pull on his deep line. He says it is marlin that is nibbling on the bait but not taking it. The marlin eventually takes the bait and the old man is ecstatic. The old man tries to catch the fish for hours, yet decides he should throw out another line for more food. He catches a fish and throws the line back out. Eventually the marlin fills his air sacks with air which means the battle is coming to an end. The old man sees the fish and prays that he has the strength to catch the fish (87). Eventually the fish is pulled close to the boat and the old man readies his harpoon, but is dehydrated and feels as if he and the marlin are in a battle to the death (92). The marlin comes to the side of the boat and the old man harpoons it which kills it and says “[he] must do the slave work” (95). Eventually sharks come which the old man kills, but it still got some of the fish and his spear. Later, more sharks come and the old man makes a make shift spear with a knife and an oar. He stabs the first shark in its eyes and the second one eats the marlin from below. Eventually more sharks come and the fish is eaten. The old man begins to contemplate whether he should have come out this far and begins the trip home.
In Act III, the old man sails without thoughts and feelings back to his home (119). The old man spits blood from his mouth and curses the sharks. He arrives to the harbor while everyone is sleep and grabs his mast and begins to walk back to his shack. Eventually, the old man falls down with mast on his shoulder. He tries to get back up, but it is too difficult, so he gazes upon the road. The old man finally gets up, but has to sit back down five more times on his way back to his shack. Once he arrives and falls down on his bed and falls asleep. The boy, Manolin, comes to his shack while he is asleep and decides to get the old man some coffee. On his way down, the fishermen were measuring a marlin at which was eighteen feet. When the boy returns Santiago is awake and they begin speak. The boy wants Santiago to take him fishing with him next time and Santiago says he has luck and the boy responds by saying he’ll bring the luck with him (125). The next day a tourist sees a skeleton on the beach and asks a man what it is. He says it is shark, but it is the skeleton of the marlin.