Old Man and the Sea Question 8

Question eight asks "How accurately does this novel reflect events in history? What responsibilities does the author believe exist between various groups in society, such as workers and bosses, men and women, blacks and whites, etc.? What people, ideas, and events probably influenced this author?". The book I will be answering these questions from is Old Man and the Sea. The book is set in the time of the 1940's. This time consisted of World War II, Great Depression, and the very well known Pearl Harbor attack.(1940s.org) The book showed many examples that the Great Depression was going on. Throughout the book the evidence of hardships and very little jobs and money was harped on multiple times. It was shown more when Santiago was in town before and after he was at sea. (Hemingway) I don't think that the fact that World War II was going on was as well represented though. The Great Depression was definitely more evident than World War II, which makes me believe that the setting is more in the early 1940's than in the mid-late because that's when the Depression was lessening and WWII was of most importance.(1940s.org) As for the responsibilities of the time, the largest difference was between men and women. For the book specifically and the village it is set in, the men are fishermen or business owners. As for the women, they were known for keeping the house, making the meals, and taking care of the children. This was the average lifestyle for women of the 1940's and in the village that the book is set in. Its is obvious that the author was very influenced by his own values and the historic events. The biggest personal value that is incorporated in the book is the authors religious belief. Hemingway must have had a large belief in the Christian church specifically. He also shows his value for the older generations by showing a very high regard of them and their life lessons/opinions. Another huge influence was definitely the Great Depression which was pretty much a key part to the entire outline of the Old Man and the Sea.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.

1940s.org | 1940-1949 History Fashion Movies Music. 2010. Web. 25 July 2011. .

Old Man and the Sea Question 7

Question seven asks "What techniques does the author use to engage the audience and make the story effective?". The book I will be answering the question from is the Old Man and the Sea. The author Ernest Hemingway had many ways of catching the readers attention through outlets such as suspense, symbolism, and lastly repetition. Hemingway used suspense specifically when Santiago, old man, was on the boat. He led the readers to keeping wanting to read more because of the intense things that kept happening and making you ask yourself many questions. When Santiago caught the fish I read on wondering if he is going to lose it or maybe be ripped off the boat? When he was fighting off the shark I read on asking myself is the sharks were going to end up eating him or was he just going to give up of fighting them off.(Hemingway) Hemingway used symbolism in many ways but the one that engaged me, as the reader, most was the symbolism of the fish. The fish symbolized Santiago's luck and recognition. When Santiago had the fish he regained his luck that he had supposedly lost. He also gained his recognition as a asset to the village and as a fisherman. Lastly Hemingway used many types of repetition throughout the book. These include the story of the lions on the beach, DiMaggio/baseball, and purple lavender color of fish.(Hemingway) Repeating these stories or phrases made everything flow and kept you reading on and connecting everything. These techniques worked very well for Hemingway because he was a good enough writer to use suspense, symbolism, and repetition right and very well. Having different ways to engage a reader is usually the only way to keep someone reading a book. I know that if I read a book and about one fourth the way through I already lost interest I would return it. If there isn't anything to keep the reader engaged, then the book loses any spark. Even if the story line is amazing, the author has to keep the reader engaged. As I explained, Hemingway did and fantastic job with this in Old Man and the Sea!

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.

Old Man and the Sea Question 6

Question six asks "Why do we still read this book and what is so timeless about its message and characters? Also what can we learn from reading this novel?". I am going to answer this question from the book Old Man and the Sea. With a book of such fame many do ask this question of why? What makes it so great? There are multiple answers to this question. First answer being simply the story line! A story of an old man fighting fish and sharks out on the sea against all odds and winning gives a huge amount of interest to many readers. The message of overcoming hardships that most would have thought would end in failure is a very interesting and exciting concept. Specifically when the old man, Santiago, is out on the boat with no weapons left yet still fights off the sharks as best he can shows great strength. (Hemingway) This strength is more mental than physical for Santiago making him have a very heroic personality. Books about heroic acts and overcoming obstacles have timeless messages of never giving up, making Old Man and the Sea a very timeless book because of the messages it gives. Santiago El Cameon, aka the old man, is known as the hero of the book. That makes the young boy, Manolin, a sidekick in a way because he is Santiago's help. A character who sticks his neck out to help others becomes very popular to readers. Having popular characters causes many to read books and then to keep reading them because of their importance and good impressions they give on the reader. Having both good messages and popular characters can make a book timeless to any reader because if although setting may change, lessons and people can stay constant (or timeless). One can be taught many things from the such as hard work, help, and confidence. Hard work is taught when throughout the book we see the town working to fish and make money so they can live and ultimately with hard work they do. Also it is shown when the old man works hard to fish and because he didn't give up, in the end catches the biggest fish ever seen by the villagers. The lesson of helping others is shown through the young boy when he helps the old man with everything and is recognized from some the villagers and the old man in a very good light. He also feels better with himself for helping the old man. Confidence is shown through Santiago when he has the confidence to set out on the fishing trip alone and go farther than any other fishing boat was going. (Hemingway)

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.

Old Man and the Sea Question 5

Question five asks "How does this novel reflect the history, behavior and social issues of the time period and setting and what is this book's symbolic and thematic significance?". The book I am answering the question for is Old Man and the Sea. To be able to tell you, the reader, the history, behavior, and social issues from the time period of Old Man and the Sea, you must know the setting. This books setting is in an older Cuban fishing village in the 1940's. (Hemingway) This era was a time of many hardships because of World War Two and the middle-end of great depression.(1940s.org) The hardships of the time had a big influence on the behaviors of the people in the village the book is set in. People in town began living to work, rather than working to live. This made for a very busy time because people were doing anything to be able to have a paycheck. This was especially hard for the village because they were mainly fishermen. Being a fisherman is a dangerous job as it is but when you add the pressure of having to catch something to be able to live makes even more stress. Evident throughout the book was peoples need to fish because if you were catching fish, you were making money. That was a big social issue because people were very judgmental if you weren't able to catch anything. This is why the old man, Santiago, was deemed to be unlucky because he hadn't caught a fish for eighty four days, making him somewhat of an outcast. (Hemingway) Many sought him as worthless. In this time older people were not seen as needy as much as they are today. Today there are many benefits and help offered to elderly because we recognize the helplessness many fall into. At this time they still had to work and earn the money and help they were given. Living in a small village in the 1940's caused many social issues because of the historical events that were incorporated at the time. This shows a great theme of hard work and will to live because of the things they pushed themselves through.



Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.

1940s.org | 1940-1949 History Fashion Movies Music. 2010. Web. 25 July 2011. .

Old Man and the Sea: Question 4

Question four asks ”Who is the "hero" in this book and what are some of his/her traits and what does he/she accomplish, and how is he/she portrayed? Also does the hero represent an abstract idea such as goodness, truth, courage or evil?”. The book I will be answering this question for is Old Man and the Sea. The hero in the book is the old man, otherwise known as Santiago El Cameon.(Hemingway) One of the most of obvious and important trait of Santiago El Cameon is that he is old because that is what the book is based around. Other traits of Santiago include his love of fishing, huge strength in heart, soul, and mind, his weak body, and his large love and care for the young boy Manolin. Santiago is portrayed at first as an old and unlucky man who is not a very good fisher anymore. As the books goes on, he begins to be portrayed differently. I, the reader, saw that he was not as weak as the author led one to believe in the beginning. The next thing that was portrayed at first was that he was unlucky which was changed in a big way when he caught the biggest fish anyone had ever seen. Although there was no actual fish meat left, the town still saw him as lucky to have caught him and still be alive. The last part about him loving fishing was changed to being shown as not just love but a way of life for him. The only way of life Santiago knew how to live. The hero, Santiago, shows the abstract idea of courage. He showed it when he took the first step on that boat to go out to sea alone knowing how old and frail he had become. He continued to show it when he kept traveling out farther and farther into the sea knowing the dangers it would entail. The most notable time it was shown was when he caught and brought in the big fish and began fighting off the sharks.(Hemingway) Santiago is the evident hero in the book and displayed large amounts of courage.


Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.

Old Man and the Sea: Question 3

Question three asks “What universal themes does this book address and what does the author understand about human nature?”. The book I will be answering the question from is Old Man and the Sea. I could pick out two main themes throughout the book and those were hardships and strength through many outlets. The book is mainly based around the old man, Santiago El Cameon, so most of the examples of the theme revolve around him. The first general theme I picked out was hardships. This starts at the beginning when it talks about how long it had been since Santiago had caught a fish. Then it continued into when he actually went fishing and was having trouble with doing things around the boat. This included things such as setting the lines up, putting different baits and weights on the lines, steering and guiding the boat, and just general moving around on regular bases. The hardships got even worse when he caught the big fish and could barely keep a hold of it. When he finally got the fish into the boat, Santiago had even more trouble trying to fight off the sharks that were constantly coming to attack the fish. (Hemingway) All of these were huge in the book and made up about half of the general theme of the book. The other half was all the strengths portrayed throughout the book. In the beginning they showed the strength in the young boy Manolin’s body when he was carrying Santiago’s large fishing equipment to his boat. (Hemingway) The next aspect to strength was shown by Santiago when he was all alone and found the strength in his heart to not feel alone. He allowed himself to stay strong and not get upset to the point where he would break down. Santiago also showed the next portrayal of strength in his mind. This was shown when he was fighting to real in the large fish. He knew he could not do it with his body because he was too weak, he had to use his strength in his mind to outsmart the fish and he did! These two themes as you can see were repeated multiple times throughout the book making them very important to the author. The author obviously sees that humans are faces with many trials and hardships but he also knows that humans can and do use our many different types of strengths to overcome these hardships.


Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.

Old Man and the Sea: Question 2

Question two asks “What are the causes, gains, and losses of the conflict dealt with in this book?” The book I will be answering the question from is Old Man and the Sea. I am going to go through a few specific conflicts and their causes, gains, and losses. One conflict was that the boy, Manolin, wants to fish with the old man but Manolin’s parents will not allow it.(Hemingway) This causes Manolin to be upset because he has to stay behind and makes the old man, Santiago El Cameon, to have to go alone. One gain to this is that the Santiago El Cameon has less to worry about when he is on the boat fishing because he will not be worried about Manolin and his safety. Another gain is that Manolin will not get in trouble with his parents because he isn’t going. A loss is that when Santiago is on the boat he ends up needing to boy in many ways. One way being that he needed company to help himself not go crazy from the stress. The other two main reasons are that he needed help with things around the boat and fighting off the sharks when he caught the big fish.(Hemingway) Another conflict was that Santiago is very old and weak. This causes him to have trouble doing many things in his everyday life, especially his fishing. A gain to him being older and weak is that people give him much respect. Many people in the town help him, especially the young boy Manolin and the restaurant owner who always gives food and coffee to Manolin to give to Santiago.(Hemingway) Another gain is that this forces Santiago to search for other ways of strength in his heart and mind. The losses to this are very evident. Being as weak as Santiago is can make being a fisherman on a boat very challenging to do because it is hard to lift heavy things that need to be lifted. Another huge loss was when he had to try and fight the sharks off his big fish and because he was so weak, he could not do it and lost his large fish.(Hemingway)


Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.

Old Man and the Sea: Question One

Question one asks “What does the writing reveal about the author's values and attitudes and from what perspective does he/she write?”. The writing I will be answering the question from is Old Man and The Sea. There were many things revealed about the author throughout the book about his values. One very prominent and repeating thing that was shown in very high regard was religion. The author used his knowledge and obvious belief in God and other religious figures many times in the book. Many times being when the old man was in the boat and needed help, he would call to God for help and talk much of and about him.(Hemingway) This shows that the author is very religious and knows much about the Christian or Jewish religion. He values God and makes sure his characters do too because he just know that’s how he believes it should be. I don’t think he even realizes how much he really includes religion because he never flat out states that in the book itself. The second aspect that was shown in very high regard was just old men in general. Throughout the book he gave many examples of how older men are very wise and strong in heart and mind. People who do not care about older people would not give this such credit and be so kind about them. He also shows many times how other characters in the book would give much respect and care to the old man which was good. The author showed that it was good by showing so many examples and showing them in a very good light, making it so that was a good thing. The author’s perspective was very blunt and obvious in my opinion. He sees that people can be strong in mind and it makes their body strong. The old man was weak in his body but his mind was so strong that he never let the fish go or even lose and never gave up. So through the authors mind being strong doesn’t technically mean how “big” or “buff” you are.


Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.