Alexi Olague

Mr. Truitt
AP British Lit/Composition
March 30, 2016

Literary Analysis: The Old Man and the Sea

Whats the first thing that comes to mind when you think about the world around you?
Most people would say the people in their lives, the responsibilities they have, as well as the
things that they enjoy and the things they dislike. In a sense, all these things play a part in
forming the structure of culture that a person lives in every day, with different cultures in
different places, as well as different time periods since things change over time. Books (on
purpose or accidental) capture a snapshot of society at the time the author is writing their novel,
with the norms and values being the main focal point when identifying the culture.
Considering culture in a novel, you have to consider two point of views, the culture the
author is creating or portraying in his novel, as well as the culture in the society that the author is
living in. The author of the old man and the sea goes by the name of Ernest Hemingway, and
lived from 1899-1961. Most people who talk about Hemingway usually talk about his welldocumented extra-curricular activities, such as big-game hunting, traveling, fighting in World
War 1, setting up a spy ring, as well as exploring the world, and injuring himself quite a bit.
Considering this, Hemingway could be described as an adventurous person who took risks as
often as he could, using these experiences to help him write his novels. Hemingway was a
symbol of a counterculture that resonated through people at the time, a care free individual who's

enjoying life to the fullest, as well as serving his country (even if he was technically in the Italian
army).
The culture that Hemingway brings into this novel is a direct product of Hemingway
living in his Cuban mansion, a story of a Cuban fisherman named Santiago. Hemingway presents
the basic culture of Cuba; hard working people who make a living doing honest work, while also
hoping to better their situation at any cost. Santiago, the main character, is a fisherman who's
been working all year long, but finally catches a record breaking fish, but is so far away from
home that he ends up losing the fish to sharks on his journey back, and nearly dies. This book is
seen as an allegory, sort of a testimonial to human endurance, the idea of bravery against terrible
odds. (Stamberg)
The culture represented by Santiago and his first mate show a type of perseverance,
strength and ingenuity that most people would want to display in their everyday lives, including
myself. Santiagos perseverance is questioned undoubtedly, with his first mate stating remember
how you went eighty-seven days without fish and then we caught big ones every day for three
weeks (Hemingway 5). Most people in our culture today dont want to work hard for what they
have or want, relying on government securities such as welfare and applying for disability
without having a legitimate disability. Santiago is an elderly man who still goes out every day in
his skiff in search for fish to not only sell, but to eat himself, which in todays culture and society
means hes working from paycheck to paycheck to survive. Not a lot of people are able to
manage that and in turn look for assistance instead of busting their butts to try and elevate their
status and live a more luxurious lifestyle.
The Old Man and the Sea is considered to be the best novel Hemingway ever wrote,
considering the amount of relatable symbols, simple English, and very descriptive language, as

well as capturing a culture that is very intriguing. Hemingway uses his experiences in Cuba to
craft an English speaking Cuba, with interjections of Spanish from now and then, which may be
relatable to most. One thing in this novel that a lot of people most likely cannot relate to is the
shear physical abilities that these men carried. The narrator states a prime example, As the sun
set he remembered, to give himself more confidence, the time in the tavern at Casablanca when
he had played the hand game (arm wrestling) with the great negro from Cienfuegos who was the
strongest man on the docksThe match had started on a Sunday morning and ended on a
Monday morning (Hemingway 55 & 56). I would most likely not be able to fit in to this culture
because of my personal struggle with procrastination, as well as my physical limitations
currently, because if a game of arm wrestling takes more than a day to finish, then its most likely
not the place for me.
The Old Man and the Sea, as previously stated, takes place in Cuba, along the ports
where the fisherman all gather up and work. For a long time Cuban culture was fairly easy to
describe, hardworking people who love their music, love to dance and especially love to play or
talk about baseball. Throughout the book, whenever Santiago isnt fighting a fish or his hunger,
he likes to think about the baseball and how he fears both the Tigers of Detroit and the
Indians of Cleveland (Hemingway 11). Not only does Santiago know about American baseball,
through the newspapers hes given by his first mate every morning, Santiago even has a favorite
player, Joe DiMaggio. I would like to take the great DiMaggio fishing They say his father
was a fisherman. Maybe he was poor as we are and would understand (Hemingway 15). Joe
DiMaggio represented everything that Santiago loved about his home country Cubas culture, a
hardworking man, who was the son of a fisherman, and who plays baseball, and for one of the
most recognizable teams in the world, the Yankees. Even during some of Santiagos most trying

times while trying to reel in his big catch, Do you believe the great DiMaggio would stay with a
fish as long as I will stay with this one? he thought. I am sure he would and more since he is
young and strong. Also his father was a fisherman. But would the bone spur hurt him too much?
(Hemingway 54 & 55).
Hemingway had a way of using different cultures around the world to influence his
pieces of literature. For a few of his early works, he used his previous experiences in World War
1 to write The Sun Always Rises, as well as A Farewell to Arms, with many influences of Italian
culture and French culture being used in these novels. Hemingway later in life, as a reporter,
covered the Spanish Civil War extensively, which led to another of his successful novels, For
Whom the Bell Tolls. His last novel Hemingway used his experience and knowledge of the
Cuban people to write The Old Man and the Sea, which was his final major novel.
With that being said, from my point of view, the fact that the book is written with the use
of another peoples or countrys culture, and not that of my own, does not dissolute the novel in
any way shape or form. In fact, many people would say, including myself, that Hemingways
variant cultures that he presents in many of his works of literature helped him sell his books,
along with his stupendous writing ability. In The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway used the
Cuban culture, as well as the Spanish language, to build a platform for his protagonists to wear
their countrys culture on their arm, and display the ideal merits that Cubans would like to
present to the rest of the world. Its also interesting to determine what exactly the main
differences are between our culture and the Cuban culture, with the language being different, the
music being entirely different, the clothing being different, the living standards being different,
as well as the technology being different (considering the time period the novel was written in).
The only thing that might change a persons understanding of the novel, through a cultural

standpoint, would be the fact that a person at first would not comprehend the novel without the
proper background knowledge necessary to fully enjoy it. My previous knowledge, along with
the research of Hemingway before reading The Old Man and the Sea helped me grasp some of
the loose concepts that Hemingway uses, along with some grammar errors that were left in the
novel.
The distinct differences from the culture in The Old Man and the Sea and my culture
consists of two major talking points, one being that they are both formed in different countries by
different people, as well as a huge barrier which is the time period gap between my culture and
the novels culture. The Old Man and the Seas culture is mainly Cuban, mixed in with a few
American snippets that Hemingway blended to make the books culture, but my culture is that of
Mexican and American, so it gave me a leg up on the book once it was made clear that the book
was set in Cuba. Mexico and Cuba are in close proximity to one another, that often times Cubans
who are looking to flee from the island come to either America, or Mexico, on route to America,
so snippets of their cultures dances and music often times stay with Mexican culture, as we
simply adapt it to our culture. Once this transformation happens, when Mexicans immigrate to
America, they bring it along with them as they settle a family down and have Mexican-American
children, which is what I am to be considered as. So in truth, my Mexican-American culture
helped me understand the book more and more, as my knowledge of American baseball was
made handy in my mind, as well as my knowledge of the Spanish language, and the hard
working attitude that most Hispanic and Latino countries carry. My family in Mexico work
diligently every farming season to grow the crops that they will in turn sell at the farmers market
in the nearby metropolitan area, which can be compared to Santiagos efforts of trying to fish the

biggest fish and turning to sell the 15,000 pound fish at thirty cents a pound (Hemingway
79).
Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois, but he proved that no matter where youre
born or where you die, theres no reason to not live life to the fullest, and thats exactly what
Ernest Hemingway did, he lived life to the fullest, and also wrote to the fullest. His novels
transcend time periods because of the snapshots of the cultures he wrote his novels with, and The
Old Man and the Sea is another great example of this.