Detailed Summary of The Old Man And the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, Part II
While sleeping the old man dreams of his visit to Africa while he was young. The old man dreamed of the places and lions. He sees them playing like cats. He simply loves them. Then the old man rose from his bed and went to the boy's house to wake him up. Then the boy carried his sea essentials for him and they reached the shore. There they had coffee and the boy gave him new baits and sardines. Then old man sails and plans to go far out into the sea. There is complete silence and he soon encounters the flying fish, "his principal friends on the ocean." The old man considered sea as a woman that gives both favours as well as shows cruelty under the influence of the moon.
The old man reached beyond the well he had earlier tried to hook a big fish from. He had his four baits starting from forty fathoms to more than seventy fathoms. He was hoping to catch a big fish. The old man thinks he might be lucky today but even for that he wishes to "be exact" to benefit from good luck. Then he observed a man of war bird circling over the water at a distance from his, Santiago knew it "has something". Santiago saw a big dolphin and prepared himself to catch it. The dolphin moves away and Santiago thinks "perhaps my big fish is around them". So, Santiago moved deeper into the sea. He observes "Agua mala", the poisonous plant that would harm the man but not the fish.
Santiago remembers how he loved to walk on the shore on sea turtles and popped them with his shoes. He loved green turtles and had a friendly contempt from their speed and love making. He remembers of having gone turtling and considers that people don't care much about turtles. Santiago compares himself with turtles. Then he remembers of the liver oil which all fishermen take; this is good for the eyes and a shield against all colds. Soon he found tuna fish jumping on the surface of water, ahead of him. He got optimistic. A tuna fish hits on the stern of his boat and the old man hits it on the head and gets inside the boat. He thinks aloud that "He'll make a beautiful bait. He'll weigh ten pounds."
Then the old man realizes that "he had probably started to talk aloud, when alone, when the boy had left". He does not care if others consider him "crazy" because rich have radios to talk to them in their boats and to bring them the baseball." Santiago considers he "was born for" fishing. Suddenly, a line dropped signalling that fish had swallowed the bait and Santiago cries out "yes". Old man talks to himself while some big marlin was eating the tuna down in the water: "Don't be shy, fish. Eat them." But unfortunately for Santiago, the fish eats the tuna and goes away without swallowing the bait.
