I have started reading "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway. The story is about an elderly fisherman, named Santiago in Cuba. Santiago has gone eighty-four consecutive days without bringing back any fish. He is considered to be salau, which is the worst form of unlucky. Santiago often reads about the baseball news in the newspaper with his old friend, a boy named Manolin. Manolin used to fish with the old man until Manolin's father forced him to fish for a different boat because they had not yet caught any fish. Santiago's favorite team to follow is the New York Yankees who, led by Joe DiMaggio, are on a winning streak. On the eighty-fifth day, Santiago sets out for a large catch.
Hemingway uses some foreshadowing when Santiago says that eighty five is a lucky number before he goes out fishing for the eighty-fifth day without catching a fish. This I why I think that Santiago will come back with a grand fish this time. I think that the use of the Yankees in the newspaper is also a form of foreshadowing. The Yankees are on a winning streak and as Santiago says they can't loose. Eventually though, the Yankees end up losing and snapping their win streak. This is related to Santiago's streak of coming back empty handed on his fishing trips. This shows how, for better or worse, everything eventually comes to an end. This is why I predict that Santiago will finally snap his streak of not catching any fish.
This foreshadowing of how everything comes to an end for better or worse also relates to a theme of how patience and persistence will eventually pay off (though I don't know if the old man will end up catching fish, but I'm predicting that he will). How even through these long, grueling eighty-four days without catching a single thing, the old man continues to go out on his boat and try to catch something. I predict that his devotion will eventually pay off.
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