Santiago's strength seems to be deteriorating slowly as the book progresses. The fish takes him by surprise and the old man cuts his hand on the line. For some reason, he washes his hand off by dipping it into the ocean. Salt water stings cuts like no other, but I guess the author forgot that. His other hand also develops a cramp after holding the line for so long. As the old man pointed out, he can't afford to have a cramp in his hand in case the fish does something unexpected and he needs two hands to hold the line.
A bird lands on his line, and he strikes up a friendly, one-sided conversation with it.
Later, the fish finally surfaces. It's a huge swordfish, bigger than the boat that the old man is in. I'm finding it hard to believe that one old man could hold such a huge fish for so long. Even if he is a fisherman, I just don't think it's possible.
I'm not really seeing Ernest Hemingway's reason for writing this book so far. All of the parts I liked have nothing to do with the main conflict between the old man and the fish. I'm finding that my earlier statement about enjoying this book more than I thought I was going to is being proven wrong with every additional page I read. The characters don't make sense to me, and the plot is becoming monotonous. He's been holding a line for around twenty pages now. Even if the old man can somehow kill the fish, he won't have the strength to return home with it.
Santiago catches a dolphin, but I don't think he caught an actual dolphin. He describes these as gold with purple stripes. That doesn't sound like any dolphin I know, and I know a lot of dolphins: they were my favorite animal when I was younger. He also says it's a fish, but dolphins are mammals not fish. It's doesn't really matter to the story, but I really want to know the actual name of the fish he caught.
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