1. References, Topics, & Questions
The Old Man & The Sea
References, Topics, & Questions

2. Location: Havana Cuba & Gulf Stream

3. Marlins

4. Spanish Terms (often in italics)
“Salao” (p. 9): comes from the Spanish word salado, it’s a slang term meaning worst luck.
“Guano” (p. 15): in this case, it refers to certain palm trees or their leaves to be used as thatch.
“Bodega” (p. 17): a shop that sells wine and sometimes groceries.

5. Joe DiMaggio & Dick Sisler

6. Leo Durocher & John McGraw

7. What Does Hemingway Mean? (day one – through p. 24)
“He was too simple to wonder when he had attained humility” (p. 13).
“But I try not to borrow. First you borrow. Then you beg” (p. 18).
“Anyone can be a fisherman in May” (p. 18).
“Then we would have that for all of our lives” (p. 22).
Old Man: “I may not be as strong as I think…But I know many tricks and I have resolution” (p. 23).

8. What Does Hemingway Mean? (day two – through p. 50)
Old Man: “Why do old men wake so early? Is it to have one longer day?” (p. 24).
(after the old man apologizes for waking the boy early) the boy says “Que va…It is what a man must do” (p. 26).
“The old man always thought of her (the ocean) as feminine and as something that gave or withheld great favours, and if she did wild or wicked things it was because she could not help them. The moon affects her (the ocean) as it does a woman he thought” (p. 30).

9. Santiago as a Fisherman
Look over pages 30 – 32 as Santiago prepares to fish. What insight can you gain about him from this passage?
Look over pages 48 – 49 and the story of the male and female marlin. What’s your reaction to it? Why is Santiago remembering this incident? Why is Hemingway telling us this story?

10. Hemingway Diction
While we’ve talked about how Hemingway generally uses fairly simple word choice and syntax, he certainly can heighten his diction at times. For example:
“The myriad flecks of the plankton were annulled now by the high sun and it was only the great deep prisms in the blue water…” (p. 40)

11. Pure Hemingway. Enjoy It.
“It was considered a virtue not to talk unnecessarily at sea and the old man had always considered it so and respected it” (p. 39).
“Now is the time to think of only one thing. That which I was born for” (p. 40).
“…(he) tried not to think but only to endure” (p. 46).
“But I will show him what a man can do and what a man endures” (p. 66).
“Each time was a new time and he never thought about the past when he was doing it” (p. 66).

12. Day Three
Look over the reading we did for today (from p. 50 – 81). What is the most significant thing you took from this section of the story? Explain.

13. Day Three
Reread the description of the marlin on pages 62 – Note how huge it is, how much admiration Santiago has for it, etc…
What’s going on with Santiago’s left hand and the way Santiago think about it, treats it, etc…?
Notice that Santiago turns to religion a bit to help him with the fish (page 65). But how do we know he’s not a true, deep believer?
What does Santiago mean and how does it apply to him/his situation when he says “This is no sense in being anything but practical though.” on page 59?

14. Wrap Up Is the marlin a comrade or an adversary? Can it be both?
Is Hemingway the fisherman or the marlin?
Why did Hemingway title this novel The Old Man and the Sea vs. The Old Man and the Marlin?