How does The Old Man and the Sea end?

The villagers marvel at Santiago's fish's skeleton, no one has ever seen a fish that large. It was around 1500 pounds, if not more when Santiago caught it. The Old Man and the Sea ends with Santiago sleeping peacefully, having read over the baseball scores, and dreaming about the lions playing on the African beaches.
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How is the ending of The Old Man and the Sea ironic?

The irony of The Old Man and the Sea is that, after days of struggling against the marlin, Santiago is robbed of his prize. Sharks attack the dead... See full answer below.
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What is the importance of the ending of The Old Man and the Sea?

The ending highlights the ignorance of society-at-large the old man's heroic feat. The tourist and waiter are only aware of the shark's skeletal beauty without ever realizing what the old man has gone through.
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What does Santiago do at the end of The Old Man and the Sea?

Although he kills several sharks, more and more appear, and by the time night falls, Santiago's continued fight against the scavengers is useless. They devour the marlin's precious meat, leaving only skeleton, head, and tail.
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What is the last sentence in The Old Man and the Sea?

' The last line from The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway .
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The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway) - Thug Notes Summary and Analysis



What happens to the old man at the end of the story?

What happens to the old man at the end of the story? The old man's at the stage in life where he's effectively given up the ghost and so has nothing to live for. If he isn't killed by the fascists scheduled to arrive at any moment, then the chances are that he'll take his own life.
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What is the lesson of the Old Man and the Sea?

“A man is not made for defeat.”

A man continues to do whatever he must do to the best of his ability, no matter what tribulations befall him. While challenges and setbacks can strip a man of all outward signs of success, still his spirit can remain undefeated.
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How was Santiago destroyed?

Santiago experienced this destruction. It started with 84 days of not catching anything. He was being crushed but his spirit and pride prevented defeat. During the fight with the marlin, he physically was being destroyed.
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Why does the old man break down and cry at the end?

Why does the old man break down and cry at the end? He realizes there is no hope for the world. He realizes that his son really is dead and gone forever.
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Why does Manolin cry at the end of The Old Man and the Sea?

Manolin cries because he empathizes for the old man who had been in a slump. He finally caught a great fish only to lose it to the sharks. The other fishermen recognize the greatness of the catch, but it is still a failure because the fish is not intact.
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Who is Santiago's hero?

Santiago's hero is the baseball star Joe DiMaggio.
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What happens to the fish that Santiago kills?

The old man thinks that the fish is killing him, and admires him for it, saying, “I do not care who kills who.” Eventually, he pulls the fish onto its side by the boat and plunges his harpoon into it. The fish lurches out of the water, brilliantly and beautifully alive as it dies.
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What is the irony in The Old Man and the Sea?

A woman says, ''I didn't know sharks had such handsome, beautifully formed tails. '' This is dramatic irony because the reader is aware that the tailbone is from a marlin rather than a shark, and that the shark is the creature that destroyed the marlin.
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What is The Old Man and the Sea a metaphor for?

In the novel The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway uses the literary device of metaphors. Hemingway uses the metaphor of the ocean to symbolize life, and to depict the role that individuals play in life. Hemingway uses the metaphor of the lions to signify people who live their lives as active participants.
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What do the tourists symbolize in The Old Man and the Sea?

I believe the tourists are an important addition to the story because they represent an outside perspective/understanding, i.e. a non-fisherman perspective, of the ordeal that Santiago has just endured out at sea.
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What do the tourists and waiter mistake the old man's fish for?

The waiter, trying to explain to the couple what happened to the marlin, says tiburon (shark). Misunderstanding, the tourists remark to one another that they didn't know sharks had such beautiful tails.
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What was the last message sent by the Red faced mans son?

He tells his fellow passengers that his son "before dying, sent me a message that he was dying satisfied at having ended his life in the best way he could have wished." As further proof of this, he shows the passengers that he does not "even wear mourning." The old man solidly believes that his son died for a proper ...
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What does Manolin mean to Santiago?

Manolin is Santiago's last and deepest human relationship, his replacement in the generational cycle of human existence, the one to whom he wishes to entrust his skill as a fisherman, the transforming power of his vision, and his memory.
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What is the name of the man in the Old man and the Sea?

Santiago. The old man of the novella's title, Santiago is a Cuban fisherman who has had an extended run of bad luck. Despite his expertise, he has been unable to catch a fish for eighty-four days.
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Was Santiago defeated?

Santiago, though destroyed at the end of the novella, is never defeated. Instead, he emerges as a hero. Santiago's struggle does not enable him to change man's place in the world.
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How long had their last dry spell lasted before the old man and the boy caught some good fish?

How long had their last dry spell lasted before the old man and the boy caught some good fish? 86 days.
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Was Santiago defeated by the shovel nosed sharks?

Santiago was all beat-up, but he didn't give up at all. He caught the fish, and tried to make the sharks get away. When he got home, he was hurt and the fish was a skeleton. Santiago was proud of himself, and he dreams of lions.
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What does the marlin symbolize in The Old Man and the Sea?

The Old Man and the Sea is rife with religious symbolism. The marlin is no exception. In addition to symbolizing redemption for Santiago's unlucky stretch of fishing, it also symbolizes redemption in a religious context. The marlin is a symbol for Christ and Communion, the symbolic ritual of The Last Supper.
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Why is it significant that the novel ends with the old man dreaming of lions?

Now that Santiago is no longer young, and has lost his friends, family, and strength, he sees the lions only in his dreams. Santiago's dreams of the lions at the end of the novella suggest that in triumphing over the marlin, he has undergone his own rejuvenation.
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Is The Old Man and the Sea Based on a true story?

Hemingway said the old man was based on nobody in particular, but it is likely he modelled the main character of the novel, Santiago, after a great friend of his, Gregorio Fuentes. Fuentes and Hemingway were fishing buddies in Cuba where Hemingway spent most of his adult life.
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