Friday, October 3, 2008

Re-Write on The Old Man and The Sea



INTRODUCTION:

The old man Santiago has waited for his fish for eight-four days, however, till today he has got nothing. In the first forty days, a boy had been with him, but after forty days, the boy’s parents had told him to go because there was no fish they had got in those days. The boy’s parents believe that Santiago is the worst form of unlucky, if the boy stays with him during his all life, the boy will not gain anything. As expected, the boy caught three good fish the first week when he listened to his parents’ orders in another boat. The fact proved that the boy has touched lucky from the moment that he departed from Santiago’s boat. At this time, someone must ask: What happened at the beginning of their fishing? After the boy’s departure, what was Santiago doing? Did he feel lonely? Or did he enjoy his life? Was he still an unlucky man? ...
So many questions take us to look back on the past eighty-four days...



The Past Eighty-four Days

This is a beautiful night, Santiago and the boy were having their wonderful dinner, what the delicious dish was their today’s harvest—a big fish. The boy brought some bottles of beer from the Terrace (the name of a restaurant), and brought the latest news of the baseball game that is Santiago’s favorite game. They knocked over a drink and talked about the Yankees of the baseball game. It was exactly a wonderful night for them, and they were even unwilling to think about what would happen tomorrow.

“Cheers!” Santiago said, “Let’s drink, and drink heavily!”
“Cheers!” the boy repeated his words.
“I have never so tied like today. I wish both of us have a break day.” Santiago said. His voice was so slight that the boy could not hear what he says clearly.

That’s exactly, the big fish was so amazing, because it not only was sold with a good price, but was cooked like the nice dish which was on the table. This big harvest made them tired and desiring for a break that was a normal idea people believed. However, something unexpected happened in the following days was what they did not like to wish and to see.


Day One...

The old man Santiago and the boy got up early as usual, although they were dead drunk last night, they had to ready to put to sea for their catch in this early morning. The boy took the rolls of line in the basket and the harpoon and gaff, and the old man carried the mast with the furled sail on his shoulder.

“Do you want some coffee?” the boy asked as usual.
“Okay, let’s get some.” the old man said. Some coffee could refresh them, and it was as the only breakfast for them.
Then they sat in an early morning place that served fishermen and had coffee from condensed milk cans. With enjoying having their breakfast coffee, they chatted with each other joyously.
“How did you sleep old man?” the boy asked. He was waking up now although it was still hard for him to leave his sleep.
“Very well, Manolin.” the old man said, “I feel confident today.”
“So do I.” the boy said, “Now I must get some sardines and fresh baits. I’ll be back soon. Have another coffee. We have credit here.” He walked off, bare-footed on the coral rocks, to the ice house where the baits were stored.


The old man drank his coffee slowly. It was his first meal of today, and the coming lunch would be after several hours, he knew that he should take it. After ten minutes, the boy was back with the sardines and the many types of bait wrapped in a newspaper. Then they went down the trail to the skiff, feeling the pebbled sand under their feet, and lifted the skiff and slid her into the water as usual.

When they were in the boat, the old man fitted the rope lashings of the oars onto the thole pins and, leaning forward against the thrust of the blades in the water. They began to row out of the harbor in the dark. At this moment, there were other boats from the other beaches going out to sea and they all heard the dip and push of their oars even though they could not see them. Sometimes someone would speak in a boat. But most of the boats were silent except for the dip of the oars. They spread apart after they were out of the mouth of the harbor and each one headed for the part of the ocean where he hoped to find fish.

In the dark, both the old man and the boy were feeling the morning coming, and when they rowed they also heard the trembling sound as flying fish left the water and the hissing that their stiff set wings made as they soared away in the darkness.

“It is a beautiful morning again.” the boy said with cheerful voice.
“Yes, I hope we can get a big fish once more as yesterday.” Santiago said that with a prayerful heart.
“That’s good, if we will catch a big one today.” the boy imaged “Then we can play knife and folk again tonight.”
“Pluck up! We will get good harvest today.” the old man barked out the incentive words.
“I agree with you!” the boy was inspired.

At this moment, the sun rose thinly from the sea and they could see the other boats, low on the water and well in toward the shore, spread out across the current. Then the sun was brighter and the glare came on the water and then, as it rose clear, the flat sea sent it back at their eyes so that it hurt sharply and they rowed without looking into it.

Several hours later, there was a breeze ruffled the surface of the sea, the old man and the boy felt a little cool under the sunshine. They thought it was better for them than yesterday, but at least they were not sweating at every pore liked before. That’s right, the burning sun was harmful for their skin, and it also made them thirsty under the situation of no enough water on the sea.

“Look at that bird!” suddenly, the boy saw a man-of-war bird with his long black wings circling in the sky ahead of them, he said happily. The bird made a quick drop, slanting down on his back-swept wings, and then circled again.
“He’s got something,” the old man said aloud. “He’s not just looking.”

They rowed slowly and steadily toward where the bird was circling. The old man told the boy that they should not hurry and they only needed to keep their lines straight up and down. But they crowded the current a little so that they were still fishing correctly though faster than they would have fished if they were not trying to use the bird.

Meanwhile, the bird went higher in the air and circled again, his wings motionless. Then he dove suddenly and the old man saw flying fish spurt out of the water and sail desperately over the surface.
“Dolphin,” the old man said aloud. “Manolin, do you see the big dolphin?”
“Yes, the dolphin is so big that I have never seen before. What should we do next?” the boy asked the old man.
“Okay, let me show you, and you must remember what I do next.” the old man demonstrated the fishing skills to the boy.

He shipped his oars and brought a small line from under the bow. It had a wire leader and a medium-sized hook and he baited it with one of the sardines. He let it go over the side and then made it fast to a ring bolt in the stern. Then he baited another line and left it coiled in the shade of the bow. He went back to rowing, and asked the boy with him to watch the long-winged black bird who was working, now, low over the water. As they watched the bird dipped again slanting his wings for the dive and then swinging them wildly and ineffectually as he followed the flying fish. They could see the slight bulge in the water that the big dolphin raised as they followed the escaping fish. The dolphin was cutting through the water below the flight of the fish and would be in the water, driving at speed, when the fish dropped.

“It is a big school of dolphin,” he said to the boy, “they are widespread and the flying fish have little chance. The bird has no chance. The flying fish are too big for him and they go too fast.”

They watched the flying fish burst out again and again and the ineffectual movements of the bird.

“That school has gotten away from us,” he said disappointedly, “they are moving out too fast and too far. Be that as it may, we can not catch one of them any more.”
“Oh, bad luck! We lose a delicious dish.” the boy said with a disappointed voice, too.

After the big school of dolphin gone, the following situation was also bad, because there was no fish through the water for a long time even at sunset, and the wind was stronger than before. The old man had to ask the boy to put back to port. When they pulled the boat up, they stepped out and made the boat fast to a rock. Santiago was downhearted and asked the boy to unstep the mast and furl the sail and tie it.
Both of them were keeping silent when they walking back home...
Perhaps, just like what the boy said before, today they were unlucky, but what would happen on the next day, who knew? Maybe this was the beginning of their bad luck...


Day Two...

The old man Santiago got up earlier, he thought he and the boy would work harder than yesterday because there was nothing they had got yesterday. As soon as he got up, he went up the road to wake the boy. The door of the house where the boy lived was unlocked and he opened it and walked in quietly with his bare feet. The boy was asleep on a cot in the first room and the old man could see him clearly with the light that came in from the dying moon. He took hold of one foot gently and held it until the boy woke and turned and looked at him. The old man nodded and the boy took his trousers from the chair by the bed and, sitting on the bed, pulled them on. The old man went out the door and the boy came after him.

The boy was sleepy, and Santiago encouraged him, “Come on, my dear Manolin, I believe there are so many fish are waiting for us today.”
“Oh, sorry Santiago, please forget my spiritless just now, I am going to spunk up in the coming minutes.” Soon after saying that, the boy refreshed himself and kept in step with the old man.

Finished preparing for everything before they launched out as usual, the old man and the boy started to sail towards the coming sunrise. However, today’s weather was not good enough, as the sun hid in the cloud and was invisible for a long time.
“The weather seems so terrible, and the strong wind and rain may be coming.” the old man thought, but he did not tell the boy, perhaps there was a ray of hope left in his heart.

As what the old man anticipated, dark clouds were gathering in the sky, and then heavy rain came down in torrents at midday. At that instant, the wind blew hard and the sea was billowing. In the meantime, both the old man and the boy were jolty on the boat. “The safest way is making for port now without stopping.” the old man said not only loudly but also hurriedly.
“That’s right, we’d better hurry up.” the boy was panic-stricken, but he tried to keep a placid voice so that the old man would be not worry about him.

Then they tried their best to put back to port...
It was contented that finally they were back home safely. But their boat was inflicted heavy damage in the rainstorm. Then they had to mend it as soon as possible, as without the boat they could not sail in the following days.


After a few days...

The old man and the boy mended the boat and made it sailing again. As usual, they got up early, had breakfast, and prepared for everything before launched out. Then they started to sail…
Maybe as people made talks of Santiago, he was down on his luck because from the early morning to this moment when the sun wanted to go home, he and the boy got nothing. To their disappointment, they had to go back to the port, but they hoped they could stay longer on the sea.

The old man knew that if there was no fish in their basket, people would laugh at him all the time and the boy’s parents would ask the boy to go.
However, Manolin was a clever boy because he knew Santiago’s stress that was he had had no gain for a long time, and he brought some food to the old man from his home everyday. He always stayed with him and encouraged him, “You are the best fisherman among them who I have seen, so don’t worry about it, tomorrow is another day, everything will be good.”

Unluckily, when the old man got the confidence once more, the weatherman reported through the radio that the hurricane would be coming in the following days. At this moment, the old man thought with disappointment, “Why the weather was opposite to me, why the God do not bless me? Maybe I should not be a fisherman, or maybe I will do another thing next.”
Although the boat was repaired well in the past few days, the old man and the boy had to stay at home because of the bad weather. It was the worst news to them to stay at home again.

In the following days, the old man had each wakeful night spent in prayer, with saying ten Our Fathers and ten Hail Marys, “Hail Mary full of Grace the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death…Amen.” Then he added, “Blessed Virgin, pray for the good weather tomorrow. I am eager to fish all the time.” With his prayers said, he felt much better and he fell asleep. Then he had a dream that no matter how strong the hurricane screamed on the sea, he and the boy were sailing to fish as usual...

The time went quickly...

When the fair weather came, the old man had had no fish for a long time that was in excess of one month. However, there was an unexpected bad news was waiting for him.

The boy brought some delicious dishes to the old man as usual, but the old man felt something would happen in the next second because the boy was keeping silent from the moment he came in.
After playing a good knife and fork, the boy finally said, “Santiago, I have some words to tell you, but I have no idea how to make you can forgive me.” With saying the sad words, the boy cried plaintively, “I am sorry, because my parents ask me to go, but I would rather stay with you though no fish than get some fish everyday.”
“Don’t worry about me, my boy.” Santiago tried his best to conceal what he thought at that time, “You are a good boy, I know I am unlucky recently, if you leave me, maybe you will make a good fortune.”
Although Santiago wanted to fish with the boy everyday, he knew it was time to make the boy having the ability of independence.
“Thank you, Santiago. I will come to see you every day even if I can’t go sailing with you.” The boy still did not wipe tear off...


The following forty-four days...

After the boy’s departure, the old man felt very lonely, although he tried his best to hide his real feeling every time. Today, the old man still returned with empty hands. When the boy came in, the old man was asleep in the chair because of the tired body and mind. The boy took the old army blanket off the bed and spread it over the back of the chair and over the old man’s shoulders.

In the following first week, the boy caught three good fish after listening to his parents’ orders in another boat. However, people laughed at the old man more frequent than before. They believed that the old man must be suffered from the worst form of unlucky, if the boy would stay with him during his all life, the boy would not gain anything. Nevertheless, the old man did not care about their talking, and he just wanted to hold confidence and expectation of getting many good fish. He always said to himself that “A man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated”. Although people’s words liked the flood that would engulf everything, Santiago did not care at all.

Every day he got up early, and every day he came back late. Every day he prepared for enough things to fish, but every day he brought an empty basket. Every day the boy came to see the old man with some food, and every day he gave the old man a lot of supports and encouragements both in physical aspect and in mental aspect. So every day the old man did not give up the hope, and kept his faith all the time.
At the eighty-fourth night, the old man still said his prayers before going to bed even though he was not sure whether tomorrow would be a lucky day or not......

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