Name: _____________________________
Class: English 415
Section:
Date:______________________________
Instructor: Professor Vanitha Swaminathan
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Key Facts
· The Old Man and the Sea
AUTHOR · Ernest Hemingway
TYPE OF WORK · Novella
GENRE · Parable; tragedy
LANGUAGE · English
TIME AND PLACE WRITTEN · 1951, Cuba
DATE OF FIRST PUBLICATION · 1952
PUBLISHER · Scribner’s
NARRATOR · The novella is narrated by an anonymous narrator.
POINT OF VIEW · Sometimes the narrator describes the characters and events objectively, that is,
as they would appear to an outside observer. However, the narrator frequently provides details
about Santiago’s inner thoughts and dreams.
TONE · Despite the narrator’s journalistic, matter-of-fact tone, his reverence for Santiago and his
struggle is apparent. The text affirms its hero to a degree unusual even for Hemingway.
TENSE · Past
SETTING (TIME) · Late 1940s
SETTING (PLACE) · A small fishing village near Havana, Cuba; the waters of the Gulf of Mexico
PROTAGONIST · Santiago
MAJOR CONFLICT · For three days, Santiago struggles against the greatest fish of his long career.
RISING ACTION · After eighty-four successive days without catching a fish, Santiago promises
his former assistant, Manolin, that he will go “far out” into the ocean. The marlin takes the bait,
but Santiago is unable to reel him in, which leads to a three-day struggle between the fisherman
and the fish.
CLIMAX · The marlin circles the skiff while Santiago slowly reels him in. Santiago nearly passes
out from exhaustion but gathers enough strength to harpoon the marlin through the heart, causing
him to lurch in a burst of vitality before dying.
FALLING ACTION · Santiago sails back to shore with the marlin tied to his boat. Sharks follow the
marlin’s trail of blood and destroy it. Santiago arrives home toting only the fish’s skeletal
carcass. The village fishermen respect their formerly ridiculed peer, and Manolin pledges to
return to fishing with Santiago. Santiago falls into a deep sleep and dreams of lions.
THEMES · The honor in struggle, defeat, and death; pride as the source of greatness and
determination
FORESHADOWING · Santiago’s insistence that he will sail out farther than ever before
foreshadows his destruction; because the marlin is linked to Santiago, the marlin’s death
foreshadows Santiago’s own destruction by the sharks.
FULL TITLE
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Character List
The Old Man and the Sea
by
Ernest Hemingway
Santiago:
Manolin:
The Marlin:
The Sea:
Joe DiMaggio -
Perico -
Martin -
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The Old Man and the Sea
Day 1 - 5
As you read the story and come across events and issues that happen when Santiago goes
“far out” into the ocean and the three - day struggle between the fisherman and the fish, fill
in details in the middle column. Write significant quotations about the struggle, honor in
struggle, defeat and death, and pride and determination in the right-hand column.
Day 1-5
4 Details from the story
4 Significant Quotations with page #
Day 1
( p 9-25 )
Day 2
( p 25-54 )
Day 3
( p 54-82 )
Day 4
( p 82-122 )
Day 5
( p 122-127 )
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The Old Man and the Sea—Double Entry Journal (DEJ)
Overview: A DEJ is a way to closely read passages from a text, to discover what individual
words and sentences reveal about characters, conflicts, themes, etc. In the future, you will be
selecting your own “strong lines” and meaningful passages to comment on, but for this first
effort six have been chosen for you. Each passage shows something about Santiago, his
relationship to someone Manolin, his opinion about a particular issue, his honor in struggle, his
pride and his dreams etc.
Directions: As you read each passage, you have five tasks: First, identify who is speaking or
narrating. Second, explain what the context or situation is—that is, who is involved, where
he/they is/are, at what time, and what is going on, etc., Third, explain what the quotation
means and how it is significant to the novella. (In other words, why is this quote important?)
Keep in mind that quotations rarely tell you why they are important, so you must use the clues
given to you and really dig beneath the surface, kind of like “Author and Me” questions. Finally,
what connections do you see between this excerpt and other excerpts in the novella? (Ideas of
waiting, feeling trapped, making friends, etc.) Before you begin, read the pages assigned and go
over the sample DEJ. I know it sounds like a lot, but you are capable!
Quotation
Sample:
1. He no longer dreamed of storms,
nor of women, nor of great
occurrences, nor of great fish, nor
fights, nor contests of strength, nor
of his wife. He only dreamed of
places now and of the lions on the
beach. They played like young cats in
the dusk and he loved them as he
loved the boy. (25).
Response
Speaker: Narrator
Situation: This passage, describes Santiago’s dreams on the night before
he sets out for his fishing expedition (the first day that the narrative
covers).
Significance: In his youth Santiago had been a sailor, and traveled to
Africa, where he saw the lions which figure so prominently in his dreams.
The old man continually recalls the past -- of a victorious armwrestling match, of previous fish caught, of the aforementioned lions -- to
give himself the strength to persevere through his three days of suffering at
sea. The fact that Santiago no longer dreams of any of these makes him
unique. Maybe the author wants to inform the reader that he is no longer
capable of doing all this anymore. But the fact that he dreams of the lions
playing suggest a time of youth and ease. Dreaming about the lions each
night provides Santiago with a link to his younger days, as well as the
strength that is associated with youth. Even more so than the lions, the boy
provides Santiago with the ultimate symbol of youth, potency, and hope.
Connections: The image of the lions playing on the African beach, which
is presented three times in the novel, remains something of a mystery.
They are also linked explicitly to Manolin, a connection that is made clear
at the end of the novel as the boy watches over his aged friend as
Santiago’s dream of the lions returns.
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2) On life at sea: "Why did they make
birds so delicate and fine as those
sea swallows when the ocean can be
so cruel? She is kind and very
beautiful. But she can be so cruel
and it comes so suddenly and such
birds that fly, dipping and hunting,
with their small sad voices are made
too delicately for the sea" (29).
Speaker:
Situation:
Significance:
Connections:
3) On his great marlin: "Fish, I love
you and respect you very much. But I
will kill you dead before this day
ends" (54).
Speaker:
Situation:
Significance:
Connections:
4) On resilience: "I think the great
DiMaggio would be proud of me
today. I had no bone spurs....I
wonder what a bone spur is. Maybe
we have them without knowing of it"
(97).
Speaker:
Situation:
Significance:
Connections:
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5) On mortality: "Fish, you are
going to have to die anyway. Do you
have to kill me too?" (92).
Speaker:
Situation:
Significance:
Connections:
6) "A man can be destroyed but not
defeated" (103).
Speaker:
Situation:
Significance:
Connections:
7)"They beat me, Manolin," he said.
"They truly beat me."
"He didn't beat you. Not the fish."
"No. Truly. It was afterwards" (124).
Speaker:
Situation:
Significance:
Connections:
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The Old Man and the Sea
OPEN MIND
Directions: Put yourself in Santiago’s shoes at the end of p. 127. Fill in the open mind diagram
below with objects, images, symbols and quotations from the story to provide a picture of what
might be going through his mind. Be sure that you follow each quote with the page number on
which it appears. You must include at least 4 quotations in your open mind.
Writing Directions: On a separate sheet type a paragraph (100 words approx.) explaining what
you drew and wrote inside the open mind.
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SANTIAGO and ME
Directions: How much do you have in common with Santiago? Complete the chart and
answer the questions below. On the back of this sheet write a paragraph of 100 words
approximately comparing you to Santiago.
1. Complete the chart:
2.
3.
My Goals 3
Santiago’s Goals 3
My Values 3
Santiago’s Values 3
Ways Santiago and I are alike:
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Ways Santiago and I are different:
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
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The Old Man and the Sea - Vocabulary
As you read the novella, define each of the following vocabulary, identify its part of speech
(noun, verb, adjective, etc.) and use each in an original sentence in which you demonstrate
understanding of the word. Underline the vocabulary word in your original sentence.
1. Skiff
2. gaff
3. furled
4. benevolent
5. hoist
6. humility
7. phosphorescence
8. myriad
9. fathoms
10. bonito
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11. albacore
12. ineffectual
13. plankton
14. iridescent
15. filaments
16. intolerable
17. treacheries
18. rigor mortis
19. conscientiously
20. undulation
21. pivoted
22. proprietor
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Vocabulary: Part I: Spanish vocabulary in The Old Man and the Sea (defined for you)
salao
guano
bodega
brisa
calambre
juegos
un espuela de hueso
El Campeon
dorado
galanos
San Pedro
tiburon
Que va
agua mala
Part II: Special words.
unlucky
palm tree
grocery store/warehouse
breeze
cramp
games
a spur of the bone
the champion
golden
shovel-nosed sharks
Saint Peter
Shark
Oh, no!
bad water
Havana
Mosquito Coast
Capital of Cuba
East coast of Nicaragua and
Honduras
The patron saint of Cuba, Virgin
of Copper. Hemingway left his
Nobel prize at this shrine.
Played for NY Yankees in the
1940’s
Played for the Philadelphia
Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals and
Cincinnati Reds in the 40’s and
50’s
Manager of the NY Giants in
1902-1932
Player, later manager of Dodgers
in the 1950’s
Islands off the coast of Spain
One from the Catalonia region in
Spain
Town on the southern coast of
Cuba
Star in the constellation Orion
Virgin de Cobre
Joe DiMaggio
Dick Sisler
John J. McGraw
Leo Durocher
Canary Islands
Catalan
Cienfuegos
Rigel
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