The novella's overall structure can be divided, according to setting, into three parts — the three phases of Santiago's cyclical journey from the land to the sea and then back to the land again. (This cyclical journey also suggests the cyclical quality of human life and the various cycles of the natural world, such as the change of season or the interdependency of all living creatures in the food chain.) The novella's middle part, which takes place at sea, actually comprises the bulk of the story, its central action, and its most dramatic moments. However, by considering first what takes place on Santiago's voyage out and then what takes place during his great sea battles, special attention can be focused on the first section's realistic description and other details that should not be glossed over lightly.
As Santiago, alone in his boat, rows out to sea, the third-person, omniscient narrative of the first part on land begins to shift a bit and continues to do so throughout the second part at sea. Here the perspective draws closer to Santiago, entering his mind with increasing regularity as Hemingway begins blending narrative modes (methods of telling the story). Sometimes this movement into Santiago's thoughts is signaled traditionally, with a tag such as he thought or with he said and the conventional quotation marks around what Santiago actually speaks aloud. (Attention is even paid to this handy literary device in Santiago's explanation that he permits himself to talk aloud while at sea without Manolin.) At other times, the narrative drifts almost imperceptibly into Santiago's thoughts (sometimes cast as first-person interior monologue) or the quotation marks around whatever Santiago speaks aloud to himself eventually disappear.
