Day becomes night becomes day, and with little or no sleep the old man loses track of time and islands of Sargasso weed drift by. But it is then, with his quarry hooked, that the true test begins. With his village status of saleo, “the worst form of unlucky”, his body racked and gnarled by years of labour but with blue eyes “cheerful and undefeated”, he sets out on the 85th day since his last catch and rows the skiff far, away from the deep wells that have offered no reward, towards “the schools of bonita and albacore” where he might fare better: “My big fish must be somewhere.” When it suits, when hope takes the bait under the deep blue sea, Santiago offers to pray should he require not only strength but fortitude to land his prize: “I will say ten Our Fathers and ten Hail Marys that I should catch this fish, and I promise to make a pilgrimage to the Virgin de Cobre if I catch him. He is reverent but not pious, wary of devotion, although he could waver. He thinks and speaks of luck but is not prone to superstition. But lately the sea has been cruel, and the old man has endured 84 days without a catch. A New York Yankee, “the great DiMaggio”, is his earthly god. Fishing is his life, while baseball, the Gran Ligas, is his religion. The setting creates sympathy for Santiago's plight as well as his efforts to conquer nature and prove that he's still a valuable contributor to his community.Santiago is a simple man. The simple setting of the fishing boat contrasts with the vastness of the ocean and the power of the attacks. The mood becomes more suspenseful when Santiago is injured and fears for his life as sharks continually approach the boat to feed off the dead, captured marlin. Santiago spends several days in his one-person fishing boat searching for a good catch and reeling in the marlin.

The setting supports the moody tone and the feeling of isolation. The primary story arc and the action sequences take place out at sea in the Gulf of Mexico. The setting also supports the melancholy tone of the work. The small town setting imparts a sense of community and helps readers' understanding of the critical nature of fishing to the story's characters. He develops a deep friendship with his young apprentice, Manolin. Santiago lives alone in a tiny, unglamorous fishing hut. 'Hemingway's love for fishing is legendary, and both his fiction and journalism are filled with tales about his favorite sport,' says Nick Lyons at Publishers Weekly. The beginning and conclusion of the story take place in a small fishing village just outside Havana.

The old man and the sea novel