This post was written in response to Charli Mills at Carrot Ranch’s weekly #99 word Flash Fiction Challenge. This week’s prompt is to include a fishing tale in the story. Check out other entries or take part yourself!
Passing on the Spear
After Ernest Hemingway’s novella ‘The Old Man and the Sea’
Manolin pounded his fists on the weathered door. “Santiago, I’ve brought you coffee!”
The old man had spent the last weeks chasing a giant marlin and fighting off sharks with a simple knife on his way back home. The boy admired him as the best fisherman.
“Get dressed, Santiago! We need to go out to sea again. There are plenty more marlins to catch!”
Santiago looked up, his eyes shining and beads of sweat dripping down his brow. “You go. Here, I give you my spear.”
“But you must teach me!”
“Not anymore. Now I must join the lions.”
****
This flash is a reinterpretation of the final scene of The Old Man and the Sea, where the Old man (Santiago) hands his spear over to his apprentice, the boy (Manolin) and closes his eyes dreaming of the lions he saw in his youth.
Santiago, believes his life has come to an end, after his final, exhausting and futile battle against the marlin and the sharks. He managed to return home, but the sharks ate his trophy, the marlin, which was strapped to the side of his ship, so he only had its carcass to show, and considers himself defeated.
The old man accepts his fate and the natural order of the cycle of life, according to which all creatures are both predator and prey. He has reached the end of his cycle and can no longer help his apprentice, Manolin. The old man gives the boy his spear, symbolically passing on his skill and encourages him to continue his own journey as fisherman. Meanwhile Santiago, dreams of the lions he saw in Africa when he was a young man.
****
This weekend I was lucky enough to have my grandchildren again. They asked me what my friend wanted me to write a story about and I said a fish. They both decided to draw a mermaid!
Rereading Jane Eyre 
Love the mermaid!
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I love the mermaid too 🙂 Very sweet indeed.
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I love your flash, Luccia. I really love this book and I am very interested in other peoples thoughts and interpretations.
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Thank you, Robbie.
I do wonder about the lions. Why lions in his final dream? The greatest predator, king of the jungle, yet at the end he no longer feels strong enough to be a predator, he’s retiring from his profession…what do you think?
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I understood the lions represent his young and strength. He is trying to prove that he can still do the things he did as a young man.
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Yes, that’s what I thought too, but why does he hand the boy the spear? It’s as if he was giving up…
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Maybe he felt it was time to get some help.
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I know I watched the movie, and I think I read the book, but it was so long ago I can’t be certain or remember much about it, except I enjoyed it. I appreciate your reminder of the story. How fitting that you should write the continuation. I enjoyed your story.
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Thank you! I was thinking a flash summary or snipped if a classic could get students into a discussion on the topic, themes, characters etc. As a warm up or motivation to reading the whole text?
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That sounds like a great idea, Luccia. Let me know how it goes, please.
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Old Man and the Sea is among my favorite Hemingway classics! What a terrific nod to the man who knew how to write tight. You always manage to capture the original essence of each classic and yet distill the writing into one distinctly your own. And, your grandchildren are colorfully creative!
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Thank you, Charli! I’ve always respected and tried to learn from the best. I love Hemingway’s powerful and concise prose.
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