Student Question
What do the numbers 3, 7, and 84 symbolize in The Old Man and the Sea?
Quick answer:
In The Old Man and the Sea, the numbers 3, 7, and 84 symbolize both Biblical numerology and baseball. The number 3 represents the Holy Trinity and Jesus' resurrection, while 7 signifies creation and spiritual perfection. Santiago’s 84 days without a catch may symbolize a period leading to a significant event, and the struggle with the marlin over 3 days and 7 shark attacks reflect Christian trials and perseverance.
Great question. The two types of ideas you will be seeing here come respectively from Christianity/Biblical thought and from major-league baseball. The numbers 84, 7, and 3 are each significant in the numerology debate around The Old Man and the Sea. 3 and 7 are both powerful numbers in Biblical numerology. 3 is the number of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Issac, and Jacob), and is also the number of days until Jesus rose from the dead. 7 is the number of days within which the world was created, and symbolizes perfect spirituality.
Santiago begins fishing on the first day without any catches (not knowing it is going to last that long, obviously) and our story starts on the 84th day without any luck. Some say that Hemingway constructed this time period as if it had occurred starting on Christmas in the year he had written the book, 1951, and with...
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the 84th day being 3 days before Good Friday, with his struggle with the marlin culminating on Good Friday. 84 days at sea with no fish + 3 days struggling with the marlin = 87. However, there is a one-day variation in the numbers, and Good Friday lands on the 88th day.
Regarding the struggle with the marlin, it took 3 days and Santiago struggled to land the fish and fight off sharks 7 times. Hemingway was a devout Catholic, and he often incorporated Christian references into his writing. Another example of numerology here is the number 40. It is used to divide the days that Santiago still fished with Manolin counting from the first day of no fish, until day 40 when Manolin is forced to leave him. 40 was the number of years that Moses and the Jews were exiled to the wilderness, and 40 was also the number of days that Jesus was exiled to the wilderness. It is easy to draw a parallel between God (in the case of Moses and the Jews) and the test of Satan (in the case of Jesus) keeping one in the wilderness, to Santiago being trapped alone at sea at the mercy of a huge marlin.
Another opinion is that the 87 days correspond to several baseball games played during 1951. Santiago often parallels his experience at the time with DiMaggio, and it could be Hemingway decided to create a parallel with the entire timeline. This timeline (84 days at sea with no fish + 3 days struggling with the marlin = 87) only works with the year 1951 to correspond to several baseball games.