Eighty-four Days Without a Fish

Santiago, an old fisherman, has gone eighty-four days without catching a fish. The boy Manolin, who fished with him for the first forty days, was forced by his parents to join a luckier boat. Each evening, the boy helps the old man carry his gear ashore, saddened by his empty skiff. The sail, patched with flour sacks, looks like a flag of permanent defeat, yet Santiago's eyes remain cheerful and undefeated. This opening establishes the old man's extreme bad luck, his deep bond with the boy, and the community's perception of him as salao—the worst form of unlucky.