The Old Man
and the Sea
by
Ernest Hemingway
E
rnest Hemingway spent more than twenty
years of his life living in Cuba. From his
home in San Francisco de Paulo, Heming-
way often visited Cojimar, the village featured in
the novel The Old Man and tine Sea. An avid fish-
erman, Hemingway spent a great deal of his time
in Cuba fishing for shark and marlin. His respect
for the tireless fishermen of Cuba and their daily
struggle for survival upon the sea prompted him
to write this novel, which extols the spirit of the
individual as well as the virtues of determination
and courage.
Events in History at the Time of
the Novel
Marlin fishing in Cuba. The waters off the coast
of Cuba support an abundance of game fish, most
notably marlin, which is also known as spearfish
or sailfish. The migratory habits of these fish
carry them with the currents, bringing them to
the north coast of the island nation in October
and November and most commonly to its south
coast in February. The blue marlin arrive from
April to May, with the biggest of these fish ap-
pearing in September. These, according to Hem-
ingway, were "the heavyweights" (Hemingway in
Fuentes, p. 118).
A wide variety of bait is used to catch marlin,
but best results are achieved with balao (a silver
fish) and with needlefish. The balao is hooked
so that the barb emerges from its side, near the
tail, which best facilitates hooking the marlin
when it attacks the bait. Needlefish are cut into
274 L I T E R A T U R E A N D I T S
THE UTIRARY WORK
A novel set in Cuba and off its coastline in the
late 1940s or early 1950s; written and
published in 1952,
SYNOPSIS
Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman, spends
three days fighting a grant marlin before he
catches it. Despite his noble victory, by the
time Santiago drags the fish back to his village,
sharks have eaten the entire fish, leaving only
the skeleton.
slices and hooked so that several inches of fish
dangle behind, resembling the motion and ap-
pearance of a swimming fish's tail. For the big
September marlin, fishermen use larger bait such
as whole mackerel, bonefish, and bonitos.
While marlin fishing was considered great
sport for tourists in Cuba, it was much more im-
portant to Cuban fishermen who relied on the
giant fish to make their living. The meat of the
marlin is highly prized and has enormous com-
mercial value. In the novel, Santiago knows that
he will make a fortune if he can get his mon-
strous fish back to the Cojimar market intact.
Similarly, the boy Manolin substantially im-
proves his financial condition after catching just
three fish in two days.
Cuban religion. In the 1950s, 85 percent of the
Cuban people were nominally members of the
T I M E S V O L U M E 4
Roman Catholic Church. Catholic clergy esti-
mated, however, that only 10 percent of the pop-
ulation were active and informed members and
that at least 25 percent were agnostic in practice.
Since the beginning of the twentieth century,
church and state have been constitutionally sep-
arate in Cuba, and the Catholic Church has never
had the influence in Cuba that it has enjoyed in
other Latin American countries. Nevertheless,
since most of Cuba's population have at least
some Spanish ancestry, and because the Spanish
Catholic cultural influences have dominated
much of Cuban life since the sixteenth century,
Cuban attitudes and values are those of a
Catholic country. The disparity created by the
existence of a Catholic culture in which many
members are devoid of serious religious con-
viction appears countless times in The Old Man
and the Sea in the character of Santiago. As San-
tiago fights with the marlin he says, "I am not re-
ligious, but I will say ten Our Fathers and ten
Hail Marys that I should catch this fish, and I
promise to make a pilgrimage to the Virgin of
Cobre if 1 catch him. That is a promise" (Hem-
ingway, The Old Man and the Sea, p. 65). The
novel again alludes to this lack of religious feel-
ing when the old man, Santiago, starts to say his
prayers, "He commenced to say his prayers me-
chanically. Sometimes he would be so tired that
he could not remember the prayer and then he
would say them fast so that they would come au-
tomatically" (The Old Man and the Sea, p. 64). The
lack of devotion to Catholicism also becomes ap-
parent when Santiago thinks about sin. He won-
ders if it is a sin to kill the beautiful fish or if it
is a sin to hope that he will make it to shore be-
fore the sharks eat all of the marlin. Stopping
himself from brooding about it any further, San-
tiago dismisses the entire issue: '"Do not think
about sin,' he thought. There are enough prob-
lems now without sin. Also I have no under-
standing of it'" (The Old Man and the Sea, p. 105).
Such sentiments again suggest a relationship to
religion based more on custom and culture than
any true devotion, as was true for many others
among Catholics in Cuba.
Personalismo in Cuban society. Integral to the
novel is personalismo, the code of personal dig-
nity under which much of Cuban society is or-
ganized. The code defines success more in terms
of the fulfillment of personal destiny or spiritual
potential than by occupational or financial sta-
tus. In keeping with this code, Cubans, like other
Latin Americans, customarily place high value on
the dignity of the person and appreciate the in-
L I T E R A T U R E A N D I T S
nate worth and distinct character of each indi-
vidual. This individuality is associated more with Old Man and
personal qualities than with individual rights. A
the Sea
person is interesting and valuable because he is
unlike anyone else, not because his qualities
themselves are ideal.
In The Old Man and the Sea, this system of per-
sonalismo manifests itself among the villagers of
Cojimar. Though Santiago is a poor old man who
hasn't caught a fish in almost three months, he
is still regarded as a worthy member of the com-
munity. The workers at the Terrace, a local
restaurant, respect his ability as a fisherman and
furnish him with meals when he has no money;
the boy Manolin provides him with bait for fish-
ing, and other fishermen give him newspapers so
that he can check the American baseball scores.
Even after he has several successful fishing ven-
tures, Manolin wants to fish with Santiago be-
cause he sees him as a unique individual from
whom he can learn a great deal, regardless of the
failure they may experience together. Santiago,
despite being a poor fisherman, is portrayed as
a noble individual with heroic qualities. In a
sense, the entire novel is a celebration of per-
sonalismo.
SANTIAGO'S FISHING TECHNIQUE
I
n the novel the old man, Santiago, fishes with a hand-line, a
primitive fishing technique used by most Cuban fishermen
that only requires a few hundred feet of heavy cord, bait, a
hook, and two strong hands. When Santiago hooks the fish, his
hands serve as the reel, letting out line as the fish struggles and
pulls away, and pulling line back in when the fish is resting or
lets the line go slack. The end of the line is fastened to the
boat, so if the fish pulls out all the excess line, it will have to
tow the boat, which rapidly tires out the fish. This method is
incredibly rigorous; by the end of his ordeal with the marlin,
Santiago's hands are so badly torn that the boy, Manolin, cries
when he sees them. Though difficult and, in some cases,
painful, this simple but effective technique is still used by many
fishermen today.
Luck in Cuban culture. Cubans believe strongly
in destiny, in their view a combination of spiri-
tual forces and luck. According to the Cuban
mind, luck is not an external force, but rather
evidence that someone has the personal spiritual
qualities essential for success. Following this
T I M E S V O L U M E 4 275
Old Man and
the Sea
logic, anyone may discover that it is his or her
destiny to be lucky—or in other words, to suc-
ceed through a combination of fortuitous events.
It is this conception of luck that has historically
prompted much of the Cuban population to buy
lottery tickets every week rather than open sav-
ings accounts. Luck plays a major role in Santi-
ago's belief system and the belief systems of the
other villagers in The Old Man and the Sea. San-
tiago gets a feeling that his eighty-fifth day of fish-
ing will be good and immediately wants to buy
the number 85 in the next day's lottery drawing,
276 L I T E R A T U R E A N D I T S
even though he has to borrow money to do so.
Manolin's parents know that Santiago is a great
fisherman, but forbid Manolin to fish with him:
"The boy's parents had told him that the old man
was definitely and finally salao, which is the
worst form of unlucky" (The Old Man and the Sea,
p. 9). Later in the novel, when his fish is attacked
by the sharks, Santiago thinks about luck: "Luck
is a thing that comes in many forms and who can
recognize her? I would take some though in any
form and pay what they asked" (The Old Man and
the Sea, p. 117).
T I M E S V O L U M E 4
 Old Man and
the Sea

L I T E R A T U R E A N D I T S T I M E S V O L U M E 4 277
 The Novel in Focus
Old Man and
The plot. As the novel opens, Santiago, an old
the Sea Cuban fisherman, has gone eighty-four days
without catching a fish. Manolin, a boy who
learned to fish with the old man, has been for-
bidden by his parents from fishing with him any
more because they consider him to be unlucky.
Now with a luckier boat, Manolin has caught
three fish. He shares his success with Santiago
by buying him a beer at a local tavern. Santiago
tells Manolin that he is planning on fishing far
out at sea the next day. Manolin brings Santiago
dinner from the tavern; he knows that Santiago
has no money to buy food. He also gives him
two sardines to use for bait.
MACHISMO AND JOE DIMAGGIO
T hroughout the novel, Santiago thinks about the great Amer-
ican baseball player Joe DiMaggio as a model of courage
and determination. Santiago thinks, "i must have confidence and
I must be worthy of the great DiMaggio who does all things per-
fectly even with the pain of the bone spur in his heel" (The Old
Man and the Sea, p* 68). Santiago also asks himself, "Do you
believe the great DiMaggio would stay with a fish as long as I
will stay with this one? ... I am sure he would and more since
he is young and strong" (The Old Man and the Sea, p. 68).
The next morning, Manolin and Santiago go
together down to the beach. Manolin leaves for
his boat, and Santiago sets out in his own small
boat for the deep water far out. Santiago prepares
his lines with pieces of the sardines and watches
the birds and flying fish splashing in the water.
At first he catches a small albacore and plans to
use it for bait on some of his hooks. When San-
tiago gets another pull on his line, he realizes that
it is a marlin. The intelligent marlin eats the small
sardines off the hooks, and does not get hooked
until it goes after the albacore. So strong is the
marlin that when it moves off, it pulls the boat
easily along. Santiago worries that the fish will
dive and pull his small boat under the water or
snap the line with a sudden movement. To keep
a strong hold on the line, Santiago moves it across
his back, putting a canvas sack between his skin
and the line to spare himself some pain. Though
Santiago desperately wants to catch the marlin,
he also pities the creature and thinks of it as his
brother out on the sea. When the marlin jerks
278 L I T E R A T U R E A N D I T S
suddenly, the line cuts into Santiago's hand. San-
tiago moves the line to his other hand and rinses
the injured hand in the ocean. As the hours go
by and evening falls, Santiago eats a tuna fish that
Manolin gave him. He eats the fish raw, know-
ing this is the only way to keep up his strength.
After fighting the marlin all night, Santiago is
pleased to see it rise to the surface and leap out
of the water, wrestling with the line. Santiago has
been hoping for such a move; the marlin's body
is now too full of air for it to dive very deep. He
marvels at the size of the fish, which is two feet
longer than his boat. Still, the fish continues to
struggle. Santiago is growing fatigued. His back
has become numb from the pain of the line, and
one of his hands has cramped up completely, but
he continues to hold onto the line. After another
full day of struggling, Santiago finally wears the
fish down and begins to pull it, inch by inch.
When he gets it close enough, Santiago harpoons
the giant marlin, killing it instantly. Because the
fish is too large to fit in his boat, Santiago lashes
it to the side and heads for home.
Attracted by the blood from the great fish,
sharks follow Santiago's boat and eventually at-
tack the fish. Santiago kills several sharks, but
loses his harpoon and his knife and when night
falls, he can do nothing to stop the predators
from eating every piece of meat on the giant mar-
lin. By the time he reaches Cojimar, only the
skeleton of the marlin is left. Completely ex-
hausted from his three-day effort, Santiago stum-
bles home and falls asleep. Manolin finds him in
his bed the next morning and cries when he sees
the deep cuts in his hands. Villagers gather
around Santiago's boat, amazed at the size of the
marlin's skeleton; it is measured at eighteen feet,
a record fish.
Manolin has been lucky, catching three fish
in two days. With his new luck and money he
decides that he will fish with Santiago regardless
of his parents' wishes. Santiago continues to sleep
and dreams about his days of fishing when he
was young.
Machismo in the novel. The notion of machismo
recurs throughout The Old Man and the Sea. In
Cuba and other Latin American countries, suc-
cess in competition and mastery of one's envi-
ronment may be demonstrated by a wide range
of a man's personal qualities; the most common
and admired of these qualities is machismo, or
maleness. Machismo can be developed by nu-
merous means and should ideally consist of sev-
eral elements. A man whose manly qualities are
displayed only through sexual exploits, for ex-
T I M E S V O L U M E 4
ample, is disparaged, even though sexual
prowess is one aspect of machismo. In addition
to sexual prowess, military and athletic prowess
are also major components of machismo. Though
most men fail to live up to ideal athletic perfor-
mances, they can become enthusiastic spectators
and in this way identify themselves with the ath-
lete in his achievement.
The physical or athletic element of machismo
can also be demonstrated through hard work.
A sugarcane cutter who exceeds his work quo-
tas can be just as admired as a boxer or soldier.
In the upper classes this emphasis on physical
activity is not as pronounced; intellectual
strengths receive greater admiration. A fine or-
ator or scientist might, for instance, gain
machismo through his accomplishments.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who in 1959 re-
placed the dictator Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar
(who was in power during the time period of
the novel), was considered macho (having
machismo) in part for his five-hour television
speeches. They were considered a feat of intel-
lect, determination, and endurance.
In the novel Santiago, despite his old age, ap-
pears to be a strongly macho character. Not only
does he display physical prowess in his efforts
battling the marlin and the sharks, but he con-
stantly shows himself to be clever through his
vast knowledge of fishing and the tricks neces-
sary to conserve his strength and to endure his
three-day struggle. Throughout the standoff,
Santiago bolsters himself by remembering past
feats of strength and endurance and by encour-
aging himself to persevere. At one point, Santi-
ago recalls winning an arm-wrestling match
against another fisherman. The struggle lasted a
full night and day, and his victory earned San-
tiago great respect. For feats such as this he has
been called El Campeon, the Champion. This
thought of past machismo helps Santiago to con-
tinue. At another point, when he realizes that
the fish is fearless and confident, Santiago tells
himself, "You better be fearless and confident
yourself, old man" (The Old Man and the Sea,
p. 84). When the fish jerks the line, causing it
to slice into Santiago's hands, Santiago again en-
courages himself in macho terms, telling himself
that "pain does not matter to a man" (The Old
Man and the Sea, p. 84). Similarly, throughout
his own life Hemingway also constantly chal-
lenged himself in an attempt to achieve his own
personal heroism; he boxed, put himself in dan-
ger during several wars, hunted all over the
world, played all types of sports, and associated
L I T E R A T U R E A N D I T S
with other macho figures such as soldiers, bull-
fighters, and prizefighters. Old Man and
Sources. Most of the source material for The Old the Sea
Man and the Sea comes from Hemingway's own
experiences fishing off the coast of Cuba. Hem-
ingway spent more than two decades of his life
living on the island, and fishing was one of his
favorite activities.
In addition to basing The Old Man and the Sea
on his own fishing experiences, Hemingway was
also inspired by an anecdote he had heard in
1936. The story concerned an old fisherman who
hooked a marlin far out at sea. After two full days
of struggle, the old man brought in the fish, har-
pooned it, then lashed it to the side of his boat.
By the time the old man was picked up by a
larger fishing boat, sharks had eaten half his fish.
The old man of this story was allegedly Carlos
Gutierrez, an elderly fisherman whom Heming-
way hired to captain his fishing boat, the Pilar.
HEMINGWAY THE FISHERMAN
H
emingway was a master sports fisherman and spent con-
siderable time fishing off the Cuban coast. He snared the
biggest sailfish known to have been caught in the Atlantic
Ocean, which weighed 119 pounds. Hemingway also caught
a 786-pound shark in waters off Bimini (one of the Bahama Is-
lands) in the Atlantic, In the summer of 1935 he won a host
of sports fishing competitions, beating several skilled and fa*
mous fishermen of the time. Through his pursuit of big game
fishing, Hemingway became a celebrity in Cojimar, the small
fishing village from which he embarked on many of his fish-
ing expeditions. After his death, the Cojimar villagers erected
a statue in his honor; it was made with bronze from boat pro-
pellers donated by local fishermen since metal was a scarce
resource in Cuba at this time.
Another episode in 1940 may have also served
as a source for the novel. Hemingway witnessed
a man and a boy in a small boat being dragged
by a fish that the man had hooked. When Hem-
ingway approached to try to help, the man had
screamed at him to stay away. Hemingway
watched the struggle for half the day, finally
pulling his own boat close enough to throw some
provisions into the boat of the embattled fisher-
man and boy. Beginning with the anecdote and
perhaps this experience, Hemingway added
T I M E S V O L U M E 4 279
 deeper elements from the environment to flesh
Old Man and out Santiago's character and develop the action
of the story.
the Sea
Critical reception. As soon as Hemingway fin-
ished the manuscript of The Old Man and the Sea,
he began receiving positive reactions from the
few friends whom he allowed to read it. As word
of the story spread, Cosmopolitan magazine of-
fered Hemingway $10,000 to let it publish the
complete story in one issue. Hemingway declined
the offer. He wrote to publisher Charles Scrib-
ner, "This is the prose that I have been working
for all my life that should read easily and simply
and seem short and yet have all the dimensions
of the visible world and the world of a man's
spirit. It is as good prose as I can write as of now"
(Hemingway in Brenner, p. 15).
In May 1952, Hemingway accepted a
$40,000 offer from Life magazine to publish the
story. In two days, Life magazine sold 5.3 mil-
lion copies of its September 1st issue. The fol-
lowing year saw the story released in novel form
with the first printing of the Book-of-the-Month
Club edition selling 153,000 copies. The novel
rose to the top of the bestseller lists and re-
mained there for six months.
Early reviews of The Old Man and the Sea were
favorable. Impressed by the novel's humanistic
tone, reviewer Philip Young wrote, "It is the
knowledge that a simple man is capable of such
280 L I T E R A T U R E A N D I T S
decency, dignity and even heroism, and that his
struggle can be seen in heroic terms, that largely
distinguishes this book" (Young in Brenner, p.
18). Clinton S. Burhans, another critic, found in
the character of Santiago "a noble and tragic in-
dividualism revealing what a man can do in an
indifferent universe which defeats him, and the
love he can feel for such a universe and his hu-
mility before it" (Burhans in Brenner, p. 18).
Such acclaim was widespread. Recognized for its
excellence, The Old Man and the Sea won the
1953 Pulitzer Prize for fiction and contributed
in 1954 to Hemingway's receiving the Nobel
Prize for literature.
For More Information
Brenner, Gerry. The Old Man and the Sea: Story of a
Common Man. New York: Twayne, 1991.
Fuentes, Norberto. Hemingway in Cuba. Secaucus,
N.J.: Lyle Stuart, 1984.
Hays, Peter L. Ernest Hemingway. New York:
Continuum, 1990.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New
York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
MacGaffey, Wyatt, and Clifford R. Barnett. Cuba: Its
People, Its Society, Its Culture. New Haven, Conn.:
Hraf Press, 1962.
Perez, Louis A., Jr. Cuba: Between Reform and
Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press,
1988.
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