Jaws

Content Warning: This chapter contains descriptions of animal abuse.

Quint, Brody, and Hooper ride on Quint's boat, The Orca. They are armed with harpoons tied to barrels and two fishing rods, which they ladle with a mix of “fish guts and blood” known as chum into the sea to lure the shark (136). Brody, bored, asks Quint about the rigors of his job, even though Quint is not a great conversationalist. Their discussion is interrupted when Quint spots that “something’s taking one of the baits” (137). The fishing line unreels as Brody hangs on to the rod. Quint issues instructions. Brody reels in a small blue shark, which Quint shoots with a rifle. He cuts “the shark's belly from the anal fin to just below the jaw” and then releases it back into the water (138). The shark thrashes around, trying to eat its own intestines. Other blue sharks arrive and eat the dying shark. Hooper is appalled because he does not like “to see things die for people’s amusement” but Quint only laughs then re-baits the hook (139).

Brody fetches three beers for the men. He spots two old photographs of Quint, one of which is of Quint with “a big white—about fourteen, fifteen feet” that he caught (140).