book review the old man and the sea

Book Review: ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ by Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway published ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ in 1952, and it was to be his last major work. It is easy to see the parallels between the old man in the novel, called Santiago, and Hemingway. Santiago suffers from bad luck in his old age despite being a great fisher in his youth. Hemingway had been trying to reclaim the literary success of his older books, such as “The Sun Also Rises” and “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” Even though Santiago could have success in the easier, nearer patches of water, he hunts for a bigger fish further out. Hemingway too searches for a big success and writes this ambitious project.

Santiago’s run of bad luck continues for the 85th day; he hooks a marlin, but the marlin is too smart to panic and die quickly. Santiago must wait for the marlin to get hungry and jump out of the water. In this waiting game with the marlin, he verges onto the point of insanity, brought about by hunger, thirst and a lack of sleep. And yet he never lets go of the fishing line that connects him and the marlin. You, as the reader, as a bystander to this madness, at this point implore Santiago to let go and head back to shore, thinking to yourself “Why doesn’t he just let go?” in frustration. Santiago, on the one hand completely oblivious to your protestations, but also completely aware of them at the same time, does not let go.

Santiago wonders about this connection that he has made with this marlin. The marlin has seen him, and he has seen the marlin. He thinks that the marlin is far more dignified, far more beautiful and is ultimately far more deserving of life than him, with his old, decrepit body, abject poverty and the curse of bad luck that hangs over him. The marlin seems to also know this, seeing its reluctance to give up. And so Santiago must come up with a reason to justify his own survival. And he points to two things: his will and his intellect. In his moments of madness, he must rely on reason to come to a judgement of how things must be, and then bring about this outcome through his will. Because he can do this, and the marlin cannot, Santiago judges that he should live and the marlin should die; at this point, Santiago is playing at God, and promptly whispers some catechisms, asking the Lord to forgive him.

The marlin is far more dignified, far more beautiful and is ultimately far more deserving of life than him.

The stream of consciousness that Hemingway uses reflects Santiago’s way of coping with his madness. He ultimately asks 3 questions in this battle: “Who am I? Why am I here? What is it about me that deserves to live?” His response to the first question comes with his memories, which are, by definition, personal. His mind drifts to baseball, to the market stalls and to the fields of Africa, where he spent his youth. He traces who he was, and how he has got here. The second question is answered by the fact that he remembers that he has been fishing his whole life, and that fishing has essentially become the sole purpose of his life. All of his fishing experience has led him to this triumph. The third question is answered with a final moment; Santiago relates the story of when he arm-wrestled a man for 2 days in order to win. He identifies himself through his will. Even though this mission is suicide, giving up and letting go would also be a sort of suicide, because he has betrayed who he sees himself as. Time has taken away his body and his fortune, and so, his will is his last stand against time and it is the only thing that he will not relinquish. By extension, he cannot not relinquish the fishing line in his hand.

Santiago’s story is ultimately one of failure and his run of bad luck continues. The marlin’s blood has entered the ocean and the marlin’s corpse, strapped to the side of the boat, is eaten by sharks. He comes back after several days and all there is to show for it is a skeleton. Yet he has succeeded. Not only did he return alive, he also never betrayed his principles or his will. And so he lives to fish another day, whereas the marlin does not.

Even though this mission is suicide, giving up and letting go would also be a sort of suicide, because he has betrayed who he sees himself as.

Yet the ending is not depressing or demoralising. Santiago goes to bed, has some food when he wakes up and then goes fishing again, to repeat the whole process. Santiago has reaffirmed who he is in his old age; he has justified that he does not need to change. Resolute, unyielding and unchanging. This is what, Hemingway argues, it means to be a man.

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THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA

by Ernest Hemingway ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 8, 1952

A long short story and worth the money in quality of the old Hemingway of Men Without Women days — though in quantity it can't bulk to more than a scant 150 pages. A unique fishing story — as old man Santiago determines to try his luck in the Gulf waters off Cuba for the eighty fifth day. Surely his luck will change, he assures his faithful young friend whose parents wouldn't let him fish any more in such an ill-fated boat. So the boy goes along in imagination with the old man, pretending that there is enough food in the shanty- and supplementing the lacks from his own table; pretending that bait could be found- and bringing him sardines; planning for getting some warmer clothes for him and lugging water from the village pump; talking gaily of the great "DiMag" and of the game the Yankees are sure to win. And then the old man goes out — beyond the other fishing boats — and drops his lines in the way he has always done, and baits the hooks so that his hoped for great fish could smell and taste. The miracle happens — and the fish, a giant marlin, is bigger than any fish dreamed of. And the old man is alone....The story of that battle, that carried him out to sea and lasted through two days and two nights, is one of the miniature modern classics of such writing. And the story of the sailing back to port, as little by little the scavengers of the sea stripped what was to have been his livelihood for months to come, down to the skeleton, is grim and heartbreaking. A miracle tale, told with such passionate belief that the reader, too, believes. There's adventure here and Hemingway's old gift for merging drama and tenderness gives it a rare charm.

Pub Date: Sept. 8, 1952

ISBN: 0684801221

Page Count: 132

Publisher: Scribner

Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1952

GENERAL FICTION

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by Ernest Hemingway & edited by Verna Kale ; Sandra Spanier & Miriam B. Mandel

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A LITTLE LIFE

by Hanya Yanagihara ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2015

The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.

Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.

Yanagihara ( The People in the Trees , 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.  

Pub Date: March 10, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8

Page Count: 720

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015

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by Hanya Yanagihara

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PERSPECTIVES

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.

A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen ) has a compulsive impact.

"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….

Pub Date: June 15, 1951

ISBN: 0316769177

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951

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by J.D. Salinger

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Great Books Guy

Reading the classics.

1953 Pulitzer Prize Review: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

“He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish” (opening line).

The Old Man and the Sea is a rich and deep novella about an old fisherman named Santiago and his Herculean efforts to overcome a dry-spell of fishing. Much like the book’s protagonist, Ernest Hemingway was also going through a dry-spell of his own at the time. The Old Man and the Sea was written at a time when Hemingway was believed to be a writer in decline. His last critically praised work was published over a decade prior ( For Whom The Bell Tolls in 1940 – read my reflections on For Whom The Bell Tolls and its Pulitzer controversy here ). Hemingway had published Across The River And Into The Trees in 1950, his first post-World War II book, and it was mostly panned by critics. By the time The Old Man and the Sea was released, it too was met with skepticism from certain critics. In a word, The Old Man and the Sea was not unlike a great fish captured by an old fisherman only to be torn apart by sharks and dragged into the harbor.

Hemingway dedicated The Old Man and the Sea “To Charlie Scribner And To Max Perkins,” his old friends. Charlie Scribner was the President of the famous New York publishing house Charlie Scribner & Sons, and Max Perkins was Hemingway’s editor (Mr. Perkins was also the editor of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe, and other famous writers). Both Scribner and Perkins had passed away before the publication of The Old Man and the Sea . Hemingway’s new editor at Scribner was Wallace Meyer. After the lukewarm reception of Across The River and Into The Trees , Hemingway wrote to Mr. Meyer with the hope of reviving his reputation with a new book. When finished, Hemingway said it was “The best I can write ever for all of my life.” After some initial mixed reviews, The Old Man and the Sea elevated Hemingway’s literary reputation to new unparalleled heights. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953 and in 1954 Hemingway won the Nobel Prize for Literature. In his acceptance speech, which was delivered by John M. Cabot, U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, Hemingway offered a terse assessment of the life of a writer – a solitary experience which compels one to stretch out beyond known horizons. He dedicated his Nobel Prize to the Cuban people, but instead of giving his medal to the Batista government (the military dictatorship in Cuba) Hemingway donated it to the Catholic Church to be placed on display at the El Cobre Basilica, a small town outside Santiago de Cuba.

Hemingway first mentioned the idea for The Old Man and the Sea as early as 1936 in an interview with Esquire Magazine . The inspiration for the story was likely based, in part, on Hemingway’s own fishing boat captain, Gregorio Fuentes, a blue-eyed Cuban fisherman who led a storied life on the ocean. A portion of The Old Man and the Sea was initially published in Life Magazine and even these small snippets became wildly popular. After it was officially published, Hemingway won a string of accolades. The Old Man and the Sea was made into a 1958 movie starring Spencer Tracy ( click here to read my review of the film ). In later years, a miniseries was aired in the 1990s and a stop-action animation version was also released. It won an Oscar in 1999. I recently watched the animated film and was struck by its beautiful, impressionistic re-telling of the story.

The short novella reads like a fable. Unlike Captain Ahab’s fiendish and maddeningly obsessive quest in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick , Hemingway’s old man, Santiago, is a sympathetic character. He is hopeful but down on his luck. He is a staunch fan of baseball, and regularly compares himself to the ‘Great Dimaggio,’ or Joe Dimaggio, the famous center fielder for the New York Yankees (1936-1951). Santiago remains undeterred and steadfast in his support of the Yankees even if they lose a game. His commitments are unwavering. He believes in the power and mythos of the ‘Great Dimaggio.’

The other fishermen of Cuba generally do not respect Santiago so he befriends a young boy named Manolin, but Manolin’s parents prevent him from fishing with Santiago because of Santiago’s bad luck. Santiago has gone eighty-four days without catching a fish, branding him unlucky (or a salao , the worst form of unluckiness). Santiago is “thin” and “gaunt” with speckled brown skin and deep blue eyes:

“Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated” (10).

Santiago is a reader of newspapers (there are many references to newspapers and baseball games throughout the story). In the story, we are offered little glimpses into Santiago’s upbringing. As a young man, Santiago spent time along the “long golden beaches” of Africa. He now dreams of lions who hunted along those beaches –a memory of his early years growing up along the Canary Islands.

Santiago awakens early in the morning on the eighty-fifth day without a fish and he takes his little skiff out to sea –he loves the sea. He follows a circling bird outward until a huge fish catches his line. Santiago wrestles with the fish (a marlin) for two days and nights as it drags him eastward out to sea. He watches it through the water and cannot believe how big it is (we later learn the fish is 18-feet long). However, unlike Ahab, Santiago has no antipathy toward his catch. In fact, he respects the marlin and refers to him as a brother. Exhausted, he finally catches the marlin by piercing it with a harpoon. As he tows the marlin back to harbor, he also battles and kills several sharks who strike at the best meat of the fish. One wounded shark takes Santiago’s, while the other sharks are struck by Santiago’s knife and oar. When he finally arrives back in the harbor, Santiago’s marlin has been mostly eaten except for his head and tail.

Santiago, sore and fatigued, trudges back to his shack and collapses. The boy, Manolin, awakens Santiago in the morning with coffee and a newspaper. The boy cries at the sight of Santiago’s injured hands. He describes how the townsfolk searched for Santiago when he did not return after two days. Once rested, Santiago decides to donate the head of the marlin to Pedrico, another fisherman, and he offers the skeleton to Manolin so that he may fashion a spear. Nearby, a group of tourists at a cafe gaze upon the great marlin still attached to Santiago’s skiff and they mistake it for a shark. At the end, Santiago falls sleep again and he dreams of the lions on the beaches of Africa.

Notable Quotations:

“The clouds over the land now rose like mountains and the coast was only a long green line with the gray blue hills behind it” (35).

“It was considered a virtue not to talk unnecessarily at sea and the old man had always considered it so and respected it. But now he said his thoughts aloud many times since there was no one that they could annoy” (39).

“He looked across the sea and knew how alone he was now. But he could see the prisms in the deep dark water and the line stretching ahead and the strange undulation of the calm. The clouds were building up now for the trade wind and he looked ahead and saw a flight of wild ducks etching themselves against the sky over the water, then blurring, then etching again and he knew no man was ever alone on the sea” (60-61).

William Faulkner, at the time Hemingway’s greatest literary rival, praised The Old Man and the Sea in the following single paragraph review published in Shenandoah Magazine (a major literary magazine of Washington and Lee University):

“His best. Time may show it to be the best single piece of any of us, I mean his and my contemporaries. This time, he discovered God, a Creator. Until now, his men and women had made themselves, shaped themselves out of their own clay; their victories and defeats were at the hands of each other, just to prove to themselves or one another how tough they could be. But this time, he wrote about pity: about something somewhere that made them all: the old man who had to catch the fish and then lose it, the fish that had to be caught and then lost, the sharks which had to rob the old man of his fish; made them all and loved them all and pitied them all. It’s all right. Praise God that whatever made and loves and pities Hemingway and me kept him from touching it any further.”

Ernest Hemingway’s Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech

Below is a copy of the text of Hemingway’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech in 1954 (delivered by the U.S. Ambassador to Sweden on account of Hemingway’s poor health):

“Having no facility for speech-making and no command of oratory nor any domination of rhetoric, I wish to thank the administrators of the generosity of Alfred Nobel for this Prize.

No writer who knows the great writers who did not receive the Prize can accept it other than with humility. There is no need to list these writers. Everyone here may make his own list according to his knowledge and his conscience.

It would be impossible for me to ask the Ambassador of my country to read a speech in which a writer said all of the things which are in his heart. Things may not be immediately discernible in what a man writes, and in this sometimes he is fortunate; but eventually they are quite clear and by these and the degree of alchemy that he possesses he will endure or be forgotten.

Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers palliate the writer’s loneliness but I doubt if they improve his writing. He grows in public stature as he sheds his loneliness and often his work deteriorates. For he does his work alone and if he is a good enough writer he must face eternity, or the lack of it, each day.

For a true writer each book should be a new beginning where he tries again for something that is beyond attainment. He should always try for something that has never been done or that others have tried and failed. Then sometimes, with great luck, he will succeed.

How simple the writing of literature would be if it were only necessary to write in another way what has been well written. It is because we have had such great writers in the past that a writer is driven far out past where he can go, out to where no one can help him.

I have spoken too long for a writer. A writer should write what he has to say and not speak it. Again I thank you.”

To read my notes on reading The Paris Review’s famous interview with Hemingway (1958) click here .

On the 1953 Pulitzer Prize Decision

The Fiction Jury in 1953 consisted of Roy W. Cowden, an English and Creative Writing Professor from the University of Michigan; and Eric P. Kelly, a Dartmouth English professor and author of children’s books –most notably The Trumpeter of Krakow (1929), winner of the Newbury Medal.

• Roy W. Cowden (1883-1961) was a professor at the University of Michigan where he serves as Director of the Avery Hopwood Prize Program from 1935 to 1952, a cash prize series of creative writing awards in fiction and poetry. Today, there is an award in his name at the University of Michigan.
• Eric P. Kelly (1884-1960) was a professor of English at Dartmouth College and briefly a lecturer at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. He won the 1929 Newbery Medal for his children’s book, The Trumpeter of Krakow .

Again in 1953, Kelly and Cowden were split in their report to the Pulitzer Advisory Board. Kelly supported Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea , while Cowden was for Carl Jones’s Jefferson Sellek . They both listed numerous other options in the jury report. With a Pulitzer Prize being long overdue for Hemingway, especially after the snub of For Whom The Bell Tolls , the Board’s choice was easily made. Apparently, Professor Cowden was greatly displeased with this award, and so he departed the Fiction jury for the following year.

While Hemingway never had a word of reproach for his prior Pulitzer Prize denial, upon winning for The Old Man and the Sea , he wrote to Charles Poore of The New York Times stating “…I had never understood the Pulitzer Prize very well but that I had beaten Tony Pulitzer shooting and maybe it was for that.”

In 1953, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, after serving a leave of absence in order to head NATO forces in 1951 and running for President of the United States, officially vacated his position as President of Columbia University. He was succeeded by Grayson Kirk, a portly, pipe-smoking man who previously served as an advisor to the State Department and as a key leader in the formation of the United Nations. During his tenure, he oversaw a period of extraordinary growth for Columbia University as well as considerable cultural tumult that arose in the 1960s. Kirk drew the ire of students for deciding to construct a gymnasium in Morningside Park (which was seen as a symbol of the university’s distance from the Harlem community and its interests); he was attacked for his membership in the Institute for Defense Analyses (a consortium of universities conducting research for the government); and also for taking a controlling interest in a cigarette corporation whose sale would bring revenues to Columbia; and finally, he mishandled the explosive student demonstrations in 1968 which brought widespread criticism and negative press coverage. Kirk served as President of Columbia University from 1953-1968 (he resigned abruptly following his fateful decision to call up the police to quell student protests in 1968). He then assumed the role of President Emeritus in order to continue raising funds for the university, and he also continued to serve on the boards of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Association of American Universities before passing away in 1997. At any rate, 1953 was Grayson Kirk’s first official year as President of Columbia University, which included oversight of the Pulitzer Prize Board, though he had technically served as Acting President since 1951.

Also, in 1953-1954 journalist John Hohenberg began his long tenure as Administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes (technically, he replaced Frank Fackenthal who resigned from Columbia University in 1948, though since that time Dean Ackerman served in the role in an unofficial capacity). Mr. Hohenberg served as Administrator until he resigned in 1974, though he remained onboard for an additional two years as “emeritus administrator” thereafter. By 1976, he had helped to transform the Pulitzer Advisory Board into an autonomous award-granting body (henceforth known as the Pulitzer Prize Board), among a flurry of changes and transformations to the Pulitzer Prizes.

In his fourth year as a Columbia University journalism professor, John Hohenberg was invited to attend a meeting of the Pulitzer Advisory Board by his Dean, the ailing Carl W. Ackerman who was nearing retirement. According to Hohenberg’s The Pulitzer Diaries , Dean Ackerman invited him along to the board meeting by suggesting, “maybe you can help me by taking a few notes.” At the time, Ackerman had been serving as secretary of the Advisory Board, and he carried with him an armful of manila folders filled with various Pulitzer jury reports, and a large book entitled “Minutes of the Advisory Board on the Pulitzer Prizes.” The Board met in the World Room at Columbia University’s School of Journalism (in the earlier days of the Pulitzer Prizes, from what I can tell, the Board met in the Trustees Room in the Low Memorial Library).

Typically, I include a brief biography of the author in my Pulitzer Prize reviews, however I have written extensively on Ernest Hemingway’s biography elsewhere. Click here to read my notes on the epic life of Ernest Hemingway.

Film Adaptation:

• Director: John Sturges
• Starring: Spencer Tracy

Further Reading:

• The Torrents of Spring (1926)
• The Sun Also Rises (1926)
• A Farewell to Arms (1929)
• To Have and Have Not (1937)
• For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), denied the Pulitzer Prize
• Across the River and into the Trees (1950)
• The Old Man and the Sea (1952), Pulitzer Prize-winner

Literary Context in 1952-1953:

• Nobel Prize for Literature (1953): awarded to Winston Churchill “for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values.”
• National Book Award (1953): Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.
• Per Publishers Weekly, the top bestseller in 1952 was The Silver Chalice by Thomas B. Costain. The second The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk (the prior year’s Pulitzer Prize-winner), followed by East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Other books on the list that year was My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier, Giant by Edna Ferber, and The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway.
• The works of André Gide were placed on the Catholic Church’s Index of Forbidden Books by Pope Pius XII.
• Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting For Godot was published.
• Agatha Christie’s play The Mousetrap debuted in London. She also published three novels in 1952.
• John Steinbeck’s East of Eden was published.
• Kurt Vonnegut’s Player Piano was published.
• Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man was published.
• Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea was first published (it was to win the Pulitzer Prize the following year).

Did The Right Book Win?

1952 was a fairly extraordinary year for American letters. The Old Man and the Sea was a top-tier selection for the Pulitzer Prize, perhaps a mea culpa after the infamous snub of Ernest Hemingway for For Whom The Bell Tolls . However, novels like Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man and John Steinbeck’s East of Eden would have been equally worthy of consideration for the prize.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea . New York, Scribner’s and Simon & Schuster, 2003.

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The old man and the sea.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 2 Reviews
• Kids Say 6 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Man vs. marlin story a challenging, introspective read.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that context and the teacher's skill will influence how well their kids relate to this reading-list staple. Widely regarded as Hemingway's masterpiece, it won the Pulitzer Prize and had much to do with his winning the Nobel. It's packed with epic struggles (man vs. nature, man vs…

Why Age 12+?

There is a fair amount of graphic description of gutting and butchery of fish, i

Santiago and Manolin drink beer; some of Santiago's reminiscences involve ba

Mild invective, e.g. "whore."

It's the early '50s in Cuba. Santiago makes much of the fact that he doe

Any Positive Content?

Besides being fine (if sometimes jarringly macho) writing by a Nobel- and Pulitz

Santiago is a veritable icon of tenacity and refusal to give up; his young assis

Perseverance, resourcefulness, and the ability to make the best of existing circ

Violence & Scariness

There is a fair amount of graphic description of gutting and butchery of fish, including one scene of killing a female marlin as her mate looks on from outside the boat.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Santiago and Manolin drink beer; some of Santiago's reminiscences involve bars.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

It's the early '50s in Cuba. Santiago makes much of the fact that he doesn't have a radio on which to listen to baseball.

Educational Value

Besides being fine (if sometimes jarringly macho) writing by a Nobel- and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, The Old Man and the Sea offers gorgeous descriptions of marine and animal life in the exotic regions where Hemingway spent time and where he has Santiago visit in his youthful travels. It also offers a window on village life in pre-Castro Cuba, and economic realities of fishermen's lives in developing countries that have probably not changed much in the interim.

Positive Role Models

Santiago is a veritable icon of tenacity and refusal to give up; his young assistant Manolin, who cannot defy his parents to accompany Santiago fishing, nonetheless remains loyal to him by helping his longtime mentor in many small ways.

Positive Messages

Perseverance, resourcefulness, and the ability to make the best of existing circumstances are all core values here, as well as the loyalty of the boy Manolin to Santiago despite much adversity.

Parents need to know that context and the teacher's skill will influence how well their kids relate to this reading-list staple. Widely regarded as Hemingway's masterpiece, it won the Pulitzer Prize and had much to do with his winning the Nobel. It's packed with epic struggles (man vs. nature, man vs. himself), eternal issues (love, survival, teaching the next generation, tenacity against the odds) and strong writing. It's also about three days in a boat in which most of the action takes place in the title character's head, punctuated by graphic descriptions of, say, the gutting of fish. It's also somewhat fraught with a late-in-life perspective that may be largely lost on young readers. Readers young and old are rarely ambivalent about this book -- it's either love or hate, often mixed with a hefty dose of parody (Hemingway at times writes like a macho parody of himself). To nudge kids in the love direction, you may wish to check out Alexander Petrov's 1999 Oscar-winning animated film adaptation.

Where to Read

Parent and kid reviews.

• Parents say (2)
• Kids say (6)

Based on 2 parent reviews

Old man and the sea

What's the story.

After 84 days of catching nothing, Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman, sets out alone in his small skiff into the Gulf Stream in search of better fortune and soon hooks what proves to be the fish of a lifetime. As he spends the next three days on the high seas being towed by the colossal marlin, sleeping and waking, he ponders his strategy, struggles with the mighty fish, and reflects on his life.

Is It Any Good?

Not everyone, especially among the young, is prepared to engage with a plot that's largely waiting and introspection, punctuated by description and reminiscence, however beautifully written. Generations of critics and readers have showered this book with praise; generations of other readers, particularly those required to read it in school, have blasted it as the worst book they ever read, when they admit to getting through it at all, despite its brevity. Whether the particular class for which your kid is reading the book intends to focus on Hemingway, symbolism, heroic struggle, marine life, pre-Castro Cuba, or baseball in the Eisenhower era, it might be helpful to get a few bearings before sending him or her out on the high seas in this book.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about what Santiago won and lost from his quest, and whether the reward was worth the effort.

What do you know about Joe DiMaggio, who Santiago finds so admirable? This might be a good time to talk about the era when baseball teams had spring training in the Caribbean, and the cultural ramifications.

Early on, Santiago says, "Fish, I love and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends." Santiago spends a great deal of the book talking about killing what he loves, in which he is probably speaking for the author, who made something of a career of killing big game on several continents. Is killing what you love a tenable position?

Why do you think The Old Man and the Sea is often required reading in school?

Book Details

• Author : Ernest Hemingway
• Genre : Adventure
• Topics : Adventures , Ocean Creatures
• Book type : Fiction
• Publisher : Scribner
• Publication date : May 28, 2011
• Publisher's recommended age(s) : 12 - 18
• Number of pages : 128
• Last updated : July 12, 2017

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What to read next.

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• Ocean Creatures

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Words & Dirt

Review: ernest hemingway’s “the old man and the sea”, by miles raymer.

It’s been a long time since I read anything by Ernest Hemingway, and even longer since I first read  The Old Man and the Sea   in my teens. This time around, the book proved both more and less impressive than I remember. Hemingway’s prose, although clean and efficient, rings somewhat hollow for me now. I think this was always true, but I wouldn’t have admitted it as a young literati who felt obligated to revere Hemingway due to his position in the American canon. But even if the language left me wanting, the existential depth of this novel came through loud and clear in a way I didn’t recognize years ago.

The Old Man and the Sea  is a simple tale. Santiago, our “old man,” is an aged fisherman daunted by a spell of bad luck–– “eighty-four days now without taking a fish” (13). Though befriended by a youngster known only as “the boy,” Santiago is a solitary person with a worldview that doesn’t cast a net much farther than the next catch or baseball game results. His intense focus and persistence make him a formidable character and a winning protagonist.

Santiago’s story unfolds over the course of a single fishing expedition. Before leaving, he refuses the boy’s company, striking out on his own with only his determination as companion. As he makes his way into the ocean, his observations vary from stoic to impassioned. He expresses affection for some sea creatures by calling them “brothers,” and seems to revile others, at one point referring to a man-of-war as a “whore” (32). These hostile streaks in Santiago’s consciousness, combined with a vaguely racist reminiscence of beating a “negro” at arm wrestling earlier in life, make  The Old Man and the Sea  feel dated in some parts (55-6). However, the novel’s timeless message is ultimately strong enough to overshadow these anachronistic elements.

At its core, this is a narrative of negotiation with two basic layers: Santiago’s negotiation with the ocean itself, as personified by a giant marlin, and his negotiation with his own weathered but resilient body. The fish, which promises to break his streak of bad luck should he succeed in besting it, pushes Santiago to his physical and mental limits. For a long time it seems that their wills are equally matched, with Santiago holding on as the marlin steadily drags his skiff farther and farther out to sea: “I can do nothing with him and he can do nothing with me” (41).

Santiago understands this battle as both an indication of his superiority as a fisherman, but also a humbling reminder of humanity’s place in the greater cosmos:

He lay against the worn wood of the bow and rested all that he could. The first stars were out…and he knew soon they would all be out and he would have all his distant friends. “The fish is my friend too,” he said aloud. “I have never seen or heard of such a fish. But I must kill him.”…I do not understand these things, he thought. But it is good that we do not have to kill the sun or the moon or the stars. It is enough to live on the sea and kill our true brothers. (59-60)

This feeling of being in place, right where one belongs, covers this novel like a warm blanket. Santiago’s archetypal greatness comes from his equanimity, which holds steady even through great pain. His desire to outlast the fish––and the ocean itself––is tempered by his understanding that he is subject to the rules of a grand pageant over which he has no control.

Santiago also bargains fiercely with his own flesh. His body is the enabling factor in his struggle and also his greatest obstacle:

He felt faint again now but he held on the great fish all the strain that he could. I moved him, he thought. Maybe this time I can get him over. Pull, hands, he thought. Hold up, legs. Last for me, head. Last for me. (69)

As any expert laborer must be, Santiago is intimately in touch with the needs of his body, and makes great efforts to keep his strength up during the battle with the fish. Repeatedly he honors the capacities of his physique while lamenting its limitations:

He could feel the steady hard pull of the line and his left hand was cramped. It drew up tight on the heavy cord and he looked at it in disgust. “What kind of a hand is that,” he said. “Cramp then if you want. Make yourself into a claw. It will do you no good.” (48)

As the novel closes, Hemingway reminds us that nature––unwilling to sacrifice a single sardine for the toils of humanity––is not a fair negotiator. In this era of climate change, the lesson is deeply necessary and stings with a special cruelty. But Santiago, reunited finally with the boy on shore, indicates that he is not vanquished, and perhaps cannot be. Better still, he accepts the boy’s offer to take to the sea together once more, showing that he has opened himself again to the boons of brotherly cooperation. Triumph awaits, perhaps, with the next fish, but the dignity of hard work is everlasting.

Rating: 7/10

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[The Old Man and the Sea]: A Review

Hi everyone! Hope your summer is full of ice cream and pool time. I’m definitely enjoying both since they help with this Texas heat a little 😉

Today I am excited to review a recent read of mine, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. I decided to include one Hemingway piece on my list for The Classics Club because I felt like I should read more by him. My mom recommended  The Old Man and the Sea  as her favorite Hemingway. I have read a little bit of Hemingway before ( The Sun Also Rises as a high school sophomore and a few short stories in college literature courses). And honestly, I wasn’t super impressed. I thought maybe I just didn’t ‘get’ Hemingway or I just don’t like American literature from this time period.

But then I read this novel. I loved it.

Initial Thoughts:

• This story is so simple. It’s about a man trying to catch a large fish out in the ocean. But the way Hemingway creates a tapestry of emotional complexities is really gorgeous.
• I like how short this novel (story?) is because it’s easy to finish. I felt accomplished as I read it in only a few sittings. But it also made me think deeper than I expected.
• I loved the simple, loving relationship between the old man and the boy. I’m glad the old man had someone who cared about him.

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway is considered one of Hemingway’s masterpieces. Goodreads summarizes, “It is the story of an old Cuban fisherman and his supreme ordeal: a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. Using the simple, powerful language of a fable, Hemingway takes the timeless themes of courage in the face of defeat and personal triumph won from loss and transforms them into a magnificent twentieth-century classic.”

The highlight of the book for me was the language–beautiful, raw, and compelling. I never really appreciated his genius until reading this. And I think the bulk of his genius is in his beautiful language. This story isn’t complicated. In fact, it’s rather simple. But the way it is told is fascinating and compelling.  I felt that I was in the boat with the old man. His fascinating journey to defeat the fish and the sea is told so brilliantly that it read quickly for me. I was on the edge of my seat waiting to know what would happen.  My copy of the novel calls it a fable, a parable, and an epic.  All three seem true to me. And it’s the language that gives us multiple layers of meaning that make it read that way for me. 

A few favorite particularly beautiful passages:

“H e was too simple to wonder when he had attained humility. But he knew he had attained it and he knew it was not disgraceful and it carried no loss of true pride.” “B ut man is not made for defeat, he said. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” “L uck is a thing that comes in many forms and who can recognize her?” The Old Man and the Sea , pages 13, 103, & 117

One of the most fascinating parts of this book is the relationship between the old man and the fish. The old man continually calls the fish his brother and narrates the way he interacts with the fish–respecting the fish on a deeper level as an equal and a friend. I was impressed by the man’s great understanding of his role and the fish’s role in the world and the way they had to work together to survive. I admired the man’s strength and patience as he let the fish pull his little skiff along. And I admired the way he waited to make sure he could kill the fish without pain and suffering to the fish. I was impressed by his respect for the fish even after he is bringing the fish back to shore. They seemed to understand each other on a deeper level. It wasn’t just about a man catching a fish to feed himself or make money. This story is about the brotherhood between the man and the fish and the sea, about the respect and strength needed to build and cultivate that relationship.

Particularly compelling quotes about this relationship:

“H e is a great fish and I must convince him . . . I must never let him learn his strength not what he could do if he made his run. If I were him I would put in everything now and go until something broke. But, thank God, they are not as intelligent as we who kill them; although they are more noble and more able.” “‘T he fish is my friend, too,’ he said aloud. ‘I have never seen or heard of such a fish.'” “You are killing me, fish, the old man thought. But you have a right to. Never have I seen a greater, or more beautiful, or a calmer or more noble thing than you, brother. Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who.” The Old Man and the Sea , pages 63, 75, & 92

The emotions of this novel were deep and poignant. I was truly moved by the man’s struggle to win the battle with his prize marlin. I felt fear, hope, sadness, despair, and acceptance with the old man. Most especially, the events that happen after that climactic moment are heart wrenching and raw. The man’s quest to save the fish from the sea is perhaps the most intense part of the entire novel for me. I was rooting for him and for his strength and will. While I won’t give away the ending here I will say this.  The ending fits the story, and it’s complexities have me thinking about it still. 

There are so many themes that can be discussed within the context of this novel: strength and weakness, power and failure, brotherhood and respect, victory and defeat. I want to read more analysis of this novel because the potential for discussion and interpretation seems nearly endless. Some questions and insights I want to remember about it:

• The man and the fish form a brotherhood. How does that relationship change and develop through the story? How does the man change?
• What could each element in this novel represent–the man, the fish, the sea, the hook, the skiff?
• How can victory and defeat coexist in one experience? How do they do so here?
• What is sin? What role does it play in this novel?
• What is the moral, if any, of this story?

And I have to share my favorite quote from the novel. It’s rather long but I think it captures the beautiful language, complex themes, and epic quality of the novel.

“There are enough problems now without sin. Also I have no understanding of it. I have no understanding of it and I am not sure that I believe in it. Perhaps it was a sin to kill the fish. I suppose it was even though I did it to keep me alive and feed many people. But then everything is a sin. Do not think about sin. It is much too late for that and there are people who are paid to do it. Let them think about it. You were born to be a fisherman as the fish was born to be a fish. . . . You did not kill the fish only to keep alive and to sell for food . . . . You killed him for pride and because you are a fisherman. You loved him when he was alive and you loved him after. If you love him, it is not a sin to kill him. Or is it more?” The Old Man and the Sea , page 105

Overall, one of my favorite classics read this year. I highly recommend this one.

This novel is my 16th novel finished for my list with The Classics Club! Check out my full list  here . For more info on the club, click  here .

Share this:

15 thoughts on “ [the old man and the sea]: a review ”.

I love this book too, and I completely agree about the power of the simple language Hemingway uses

Like Liked by 1 person

Thanks so much for your comment! Fun to remember what I enjoyed about this classic.

I don’t always care for Hemingway, but this…I LOVE! Nice review.

Amen! I’m not much of a Hemingway fan myself but yes, The Old Man and the Sea was fantastic!

A great review 🙂 I should read this one too, I have it in my physical shelf even, so I’ve had it for a while. One of the classics I should totally know.

Thanks so much! It is totally worth reading. Makes me feel accomplished to have read it since it’s a classic, but I appreciate how short it is as well 🙂

Let me know your thoughts if you read it soon!

I took an entire grad class on modernism, which the literary period during which this novel was written. I just couldn’t understand anything I read. We covered all these novels by old white men, and I just didn’t care about what they did. All the themes seemed to be cheating their girlfriends back home during WWI, getting STDs and nearly dying from them, depression and disease, and the stock market crash. We read the entire John Dos Passos USA trilogy. What a waste of time. Each book seemed exactly the same. We didn’t read any women or people of color. Perhaps that’s why I have such an aversion to writers like Hemingway.

I usually have a hard time with modernism for those reasons you mentioned. I just don’t connect with the stories and such. And I agree that the “literary canon” is often very one sided with a lot of authors who are white men. And I haven’t loved the other Hemingway I have read. But this one was so different for me. I was really impressed. But I don’t think I am going to start reading all of Hemingway’s novels or anything. Haha. Thanks for your comment!

Wow ! Great review 🙂 I read this book very recently, the first of Hemmingway’s work that I ever read and I liked it. You have expressed all the nuances of the book so beautifully 🙂

Thank you so much! I appreciate your comment! That’s neat you read it recently too. Always glad to find fellow readers that have similar interests 🙂

I picked this up again at the Hemingway home in Key West this April. My nine year old was RIVETED. I think I appreciated it more through his eyes than my own when I tried to read it in high school.

That’s really neat! I think I enjoyed it more because I didn’t read it for assignment in high school. That does make a difference, doesn’t it? 🙂

This book sounds absolutely amazing. I’ve been interested in this book for a while, but I haven’t picked it up yet. I’m definitely going to now. I really like the way you did this review; you built a lot of interest in the novel and talked about some of the themes and questions it raises, without giving anything away. Definitely sold me on this book. Wonderful review.

Thank you so much! I appreciate your comment. I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I hope you find time to read it soon. And I’d love to hear you thoughts when you finish 🙂

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Book Review

The old man and the sea.

• Ernest Hemingway
• Drama , Historical

Readability Age Range

• Scribner Book Company, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
• Nobel Prize in Literature, 1954; Award of Merit Medal for the Novel from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, 1954; Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, 1953

Year Published

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway has been reviewed by Focus on the Family’s marriage and parenting magazine .

Plot Summary

Santiago, an old fisherman, hasn’t caught anything in 84 days. He’s discouraged. His friend and former sailing mate, Manolin, longs to help him, but Manolin’s parents refuse because of Santiago’s poor fishing record. On day 85, Santiago feels a tug he knows to be the fish he’s been looking for. But the fish is so enormous and strong that for several days it pulls him farther out to sea. Hemingway details the valiant struggle between man and fish, lauding the old man for his perseverance despite the fact that sharks ultimately eat his prize fish.

Christian Beliefs

Santiago has religious pictures on his wall. He questions the purpose of sea swallows, birds that are really too weak and delicate to survive against harsher sea birds. Santiago tells God he isn’t religious, but that he would say “Hail Mary” and “Our Father” prayers and make a pilgrimage if he catches the fish. He follows this with additional prayers that are more repetitive than heartfelt. Santiago contemplates whether it is a sin to kill the fish. Hemingway employs a fair amount of crucifixion imagery throughout the book to portray Santiago as a Christ figure who transcends death and defeat.

Other Belief Systems

The old man talks quite a bit about luck concerning fishing. Manolin’s parents are happier now that he is working with a “lucky” boat.

Authority Roles

Santiago is Manolin’s hero. Santiago teaches Manolin a great deal about fishing. However, Manolin keeps a close eye on Santiago to make sure Santiago gets the nourishment and care needed. At times, Santiago is under the authority of both the sea and his great fish. At other moments, he masters them with his skill and perseverance.

Profanity & Violence

Phrases like “God knows,” “Christ knows” or “God help me” appear; few, if any, are an intentional misuse of the Lord’s name. In demonstrating his passionate faithfulness to the old man, Manolin uses the words d–n and h—.

Sexual Content

Santiago calls the dangerous Portuguese man-of-war invertebrate a whore. He later talks about the same animal heaving and swinging as though “the ocean were making love with something.”

Discussion Topics

Get free discussion questions for this book and others, at FocusOnTheFamily.com/discuss-books .

Additional Comments

Other issues: The boy buys the old man a beer. (There is no clear indication as to whether the boy has one himself.) When the old man asks if he’d steal some sardines, the boy says he will, but he doesn’t.

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Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children. The inclusion of a book’s review does not constitute an endorsement by Focus on the Family.

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The Old Man and the Sea

By ernest hemingway.

Hemingway’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, 'The Old Man and the Sea', opens with the main character, Santiago returning from his eighty-fourth day with catching a fish.

Article written by Emma Baldwin

B.A. in English, B.F.A. in Fine Art, and B.A. in Art Histories from East Carolina University.

It is a short, moving novel that tells the story of an old, Cuban fisherman’s three-day struggle in the Gulf of Mexico as he tries to catch a large marlin. 

‘Spoiler Free’ Summary  

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway tells the story of an old Cuban fisherman, Santiago , and his quest to break his eighty-four-day streak of unsuccessful fishing. He spends time with a young boy he used to fish with, Manolin, and the two speak about baseball. Manolin cares deeply for Santiago and does what he can to improve his life. Santiago, the man to whom the title refers, heads out the next day in an attempt to change his luck.

Before sunrise the next day Santiago is on the water again, his eyes focused on a new, distant fishing spot. When a fish takes his line, and Santiago realizes how large it is, his struggle begins. Through miles of water and hours and days of struggle, Santiago suffers for what he hopes will be a success, all the while being reminded of what it means to be human.  

The Old Man and the Sea Summary

Spoiler alert – important details of the novel are revealed below.

The Old Man and the Sea starts with the main character, Santiago, returning from a fishing trip, 84 days long, without catching a fish. Although downtrodden, the old man maintains hope his luck is going to change. His attitude is bolstered by the boy with whom he used to fish, Manolin. Unfortunately, by his parent’s orders, Manolin is no longer allowed to accompany Santiago out onto the water. They want their son to fish and learn from someone who is not struggling as the old man is at this time. The boat he’s moved to is much more prosperous, but the new fisherman does not inspire Manolin’s allegiance as Santiago has.

Manolin is devoted to the old man. He cares for him when he gets back from fishing, helps him carry in gear, and finds food for the two to eat together. The old man is desperately poor and is more than often unable to feed himself without Manolin’s help. The boy’s kindness shines through as he berates himself for not thinking of other ways he could better Santiago’s life. A passion the two share is baseball. They discuss upcoming games and their favorite player, Joe DiMaggio.

The next day, the old man wakes “as old men do” and walks to Manolin’s hut to wake him. Together they prepare Santiago’s skiff and he sails out into the waters. He determined the night before that he was going to sail farther than usual. Santiago sails so far as to enter into the Gulf Stream. As he moves through the water, he takes note of the wildlife around him, showing a clear appreciation for the natural world and all the creatures in it. Throughout the novel, the reader is told the story through Santiago’s thoughts. They often flit to his past, when he worked on a turtle boat and saw lions on a beach in Africa , and then return to his present moment. Santiago continues to remind himself to stay focused on the task at hand.

The Struggle

At noon that day, a fish takes the bait on one of his lines. The old man is very cautious, using all his knowledge, gained through decades of experience on the water, to know what to do with the line and when. The line was one hundred fathoms deep and the fish he hooked a marlin. Santiago knows immediately that he’s got a very large fish on his line but he isn’t sure how large. One hint of its size is the fact that the old man can’t get it pulled in. Rather, it starts to pull the boat out to sea. While this might frighten some sailors, the old man is nonplussed. He knows that no matter where he ends up he’ll be able to navigate back to the island. It’s a “long” island he states, and the lights are bright.

Over the next hours, and eventually days, the old man is pulled by the fish out into the sea. He does not tie the line off for fear that it will snap from the tension. Rather, he wraps it around his shoulders and back. His back begins to ache, but he knows he can bear it. He speaks out loud to himself, a habit that began after Manolin left his skiff. Santiago speaks on life, death and the brotherhood he feels with the fish on his line. Although he knows they are connected, and that the fish is a majestic creature he is determined to kill it. He wants to show the fish what man can do and he desperately needs something to sell.

One of the reoccurring themes in The Old Man and the Sea is that of the human body and it limitations. Santiago’s hands, the left, in particular, fail him. The left cramps up and he struggles for a time to get it to relax. But, he never panics. He knows he can bring the fish in. The struggle lasts for three days. Santiago manages to catch a fish and then a dolphin that had two flying fish in its belly, to eat.

Before the struggle has progressed for too many miles or days, the old man expresses his longing for the fish to jump. He just wants to see what “he’s up against”. It finally does and he is baffled by its size. So much so that he almost can’t believe what he’s seeing.

On the third day, Santiago is on the verge of giving up. His body is failing him, his mind is slipping and he starts to doubt his abilities. But, the fish is circling. He tries, again and again, to kill the marlin with his harpoon, and finally succeeds. A part of him mourns, as the fish was his brother. But he’s also proud of himself. He continues to wish, as he had since the struggle began, that Manolin was at his side.

Returning Home

The old man ties the marlin to the side of his skiff, as it’s too big to haul on board, and sets off home. For a time, he’s unable to take his eyes off the fish at his side. It’s incredibly large and beautiful and he worries over the reaction in the market. He doesn’t want this creature to be consumed frivolously, but he knows he has to sell it so he can feed himself.

In a grueling turn of events, but one that is not unpredictable, sharks begin to attack the boat. They follow the trail of blood the marlin is leaving in the water. In the first few Santiago is able to kill with the harpoon, but eventually, he loses it. He creates a makeshift weapon by attaching his knife to the end of an oar. With this, he kills more sharks but is unable to keep them from taking more and more of his fish. He stops looking at the fish, unable to bear its sight.

It takes a great deal of time for Santiago to make it back to the village, but when he does it’s clear that the entire fish has been devoured. All that’s left is a skeleton, the head, sword, and tail. He spends the next hours sleeping and wakes to find Manolin who is once again taking care of him. The villagers marvel at Santiago’s fish’s skeleton, no one has ever seen a fish that large. It was around 1500 pounds, if not more when Santiago caught it.

The Old Man and the Sea  ends with Santiago sleeping peacefully, having read over the baseball scores, and dreaming about the lions playing on the African beaches.

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About Emma Baldwin

Emma Baldwin, a graduate of East Carolina University, has a deep-rooted passion for literature. She serves as a key contributor to the Book Analysis team with years of experience.

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The Old Man and the Sea

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The Old Man and the Sea , short heroic novel by Ernest Hemingway , published in 1952 and awarded the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It was his last major work of fiction. The story centres on an aging fisherman who engages in an epic battle to catch a giant marlin .

The central character is an old Cuban fisherman named Santiago, who has not caught a fish for 84 days. The family of his apprentice, Manolin, has forced the boy to leave the old fisherman, though Manolin continues to support him with food and bait. Santiago is a mentor to the boy, who cherishes the old man and the life lessons he imparts. Convinced that his luck must change, Santiago takes his skiff far out into the deep waters of the Gulf Stream , where he soon hooks a giant marlin . With all his great experience and strength, he struggles with the fish for three days, admiring its strength, dignity, and faithfulness to its identity; its destiny is as true as Santiago’s as a fisherman. He finally reels the marlin in and lashes it to his boat.

However, Santiago’s exhausting effort goes for naught. Sharks are drawn to the tethered marlin, and, although Santiago manages to kill a few, the sharks eat the fish, leaving behind only its skeleton. After returning to the harbour, the discouraged Santiago goes to his home to sleep. In the meantime, others see the skeleton tied to his boat and are amazed. A concerned Manolin is relieved to find Santiago alive, and the two agree to go fishing together.

The Old Man and the Sea contains many of the themes that preoccupied Hemingway as a writer and as a man. The routines of life in a Cuban fishing village are evoked in the opening pages with a characteristic economy of language. The stripped-down existence of the fisherman Santiago is crafted in a spare, elemental style that is as eloquently dismissive as a shrug of the old man’s powerful shoulders. With age and luck now against him, Santiago knows he must row out “beyond all people,” away from land and into the Gulf Stream , where one last drama would be played out, in an empty arena of sea and sky.

Hemingway was famously fascinated with ideas of men proving their worth by facing and overcoming the challenges of nature. When the old man hooks a marlin longer than his boat, he is tested to the limits as he works the line with bleeding hands in an effort to bring it close enough to harpoon . Through his struggle, Santiago demonstrates the ability of the human spirit to endure hardship and suffering in order to win. It is also his deep love and knowledge of the sea, in its impassive cruelty and beneficence, that allows him to prevail. The essential physicality of the story—the smells of tar and salt and fish blood, the cramp and nausea and blind exhaustion of the old man, the terrifying death spasms of the great fish—is set against the ethereal qualities of dazzling light and water, isolation, and the swelling motion of the sea. And through it all, the narrative is constantly tugging, unreeling a little more, and then pulling again, all in tandem with the old man’s struggle. It is a story that demands to be read in a single sitting.

The Old Man and the Sea was an immediate success and came to be regarded as one of Hemingway’s finest works. It was cited when he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. A hugely popular film adaptation starring Spencer Tracy was released in 1958.

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The Old Man and the Sea | Ernest Hemingway | Book Review

PLOT: 4.5/5 CHARACTERS: 5/5 WRITING STYLE: 4.5/5 CLIMAX: 5/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4.5/5

“Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.” ~ Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

One of the bookish resolutions that I took in 2018 was to read 10 classics. My progress wasn’t noteworthy but I am determined to change it in the coming years.

I picked up The Old Man and the Sea because I am participating in an Instagram readathon in which the prompt was to read a book that is a part of a “100 books to read in a lifetime” list.

Needless to state, The Old Man and the Sea frequently graces many such lists and was a good option.

What is the book all about and what to expect?

The Old Man and the Sea is a classic novel written in 1951 by Ernest Hemingway . It is considered to be the last major work by the eminent author to be published while he was alive.

The book is a short read (under 100 pages) which is set in Havana, Cuba. The story tells us the tale of an old fisherman, a young boy and a beautiful and brave fish.

What is the story like?

Santiago is an old fisherman who has gone 84 days without fishing. He has now been termed as “salao” by the local people, which means that he is suffering from the worst form of unluckiness.

Once a sturdy and healthy man, he was great at his job and would always catch the best fish. Now, he is an old and poor man with nothing much to keep his days and mind occupied.

Even the boy whom he loves dearly and had trained well is now forbidden by his parents to work with the old man because of his unlucky strike.

Manolin, the young boy, however, loves Santiago and cares for him. He often brings him food and tea and they talk about all things under the sun especially Santiago’s favourite – the American baseball.

Determined to change his luck and bring home a catch big enough to get the town talking, the old man sets out on the sea on the 85 th day. He goes out into the Gulf Stream and his bait soon gets taken by a big fish which he supposes is a Marlin.

But, the fish will not relent so easily. The old man is also determined and won’t let go easily. What follows is a fight for life with both sides being equally brave and determined.

“But man is not made for defeat,” he said. “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”

How good are the characters?

The characters are one of the most honest and brave ones that I have come across in a book in recent times.

Santiago, the old man is . Though his body is weakened by the number of years he has seen, the same cannot be said about his resolve. That he is old in his manners and in his treatment of elements only adds to his charms. Unlike, many younger fishermen he respects the sea and calls her La Mar, a term of endearment.

“But the old man always thought of her 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 as it does a woman, he thought.”

Santiago, for me, was a character that cannot be . His respect for the Marlin is also noteworthy. Though he is determined to prevail, he still respects the fish and apologizes to it profusely. He calls it noble and and sometimes laments about the futility of such an existence, which makes people do such horrible things to nature’s beautiful creatures.

The author’s writing style

I consider myself quite incompetent to comment on the author’s writing style. The author chooses a very simple story and turns it into a masterpiece. If that is not wonderful, I don’t know what else is.

I also liked the way a non-human i.e. the Marlin plays such an important role in the book.

The life lessons which the old man teaches while battling for his own existence is also something to look forward to in this book.

What I absolutely loved?

Undoubtedly, the climax is the best part of the book but more about that in the following paragraphs.

What did I not like?

The Old Man and the Sea is a difficult read for somebody who isn’t familiar with all the fishing jargons, methods, techniques and equipment. This is probably one of the reasons most readers find it difficult to finish the book.

It also means that once you are through the book you emerge as a more informed reader. I personally found myself googling for a lot of information throughout the course of the book, and that is something that really makes me happy.

What about the climax?

The climax is what makes this book a winner. The magic of The Old Man and the Sea lies in its tragic ending and that is what elevates the book to its classic status.

The climax is and, in the end, if you are a sensitive and emotional reader like me, you cannot help but shed a tear or two for the old man Santiago and his undying spirit.

How good was the entertainment quotient?

The book, though a short read, is not an easy one. It takes time for the reader to get into it and it is also perceptibly slow towards the middle, but that doesn’t take away the entertainment quotient.

Finishing the book does require some effort but, in the end, it is worth every minute that you spend reading it.

 Pick up the book if

The book is often featured in the “100 books to read in a lifetime” list, do you need any other reason apart from that?

Skip the book if

Skip the book if you don’t like slow reads and if classics are not your cup of tea.

Watch the video here

Can’t wait to read it? Buy your copy of The Old Man and the Sea from the link below.

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Meet Sankalpita, the bookworm extraordinaire! With an insatiable appetite for reading (over 100 books annually!), she started her blog, bookGeeks, in 2013. Now India's top-tier book blog, it attracts 700,000 monthly readers. She also runs a popular YouTube channel, inspiring a passion for Indian literature in all ages. Her ultimate goal? "To serve a nation through literature." With a passion for Indian literature, she's on a mission to ignite the reading spark in both kids and grown-ups alike.

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The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway: Book review

Published - September 01, 2018 04:01 pm IST

Last month, an old, unpublished story by American writer Ernest Hemingway surfaced. ‘A Room on the Garden Side’, written in 1956, is set in a Paris hotel he loved, the Ritz. The Strand Magazine , a quarterly which has published it, includes an afterword by a board member of The Hemingway Society, Kirk Curnutt. He said the piece “contains all the trademark elements readers love in Hemingway” and though “the war is central... but so are the ethics of writing and the worry that literary fame corrupts an author’s commitment to truth.” Hemingway ended his life in 1961.

Struggling souls

He wrote about war, Paris, boxers, bullfighters and soldiers, many of whom were lonely souls struggling to eke out a living. The epitome of this struggle was showcased in his 1952 novella, The Old Man and the Sea . In fact, in 1954, when the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Hemingway, the citation picked out the book for special mention. The Nobel academy said it was honouring him “for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style.”

The story begins with the narrator saying that the old man “who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream,” had gone 84 days without catching one. In the first 40 days, a boy he was very fond of, and vice-versa, had been with him. But the boy’s parents, much to his annoyance, told him “that the old man was now definitely and finally salao , which is the worst form of unlucky.” He was ordered to go on another boat, which caught three good fish the first week. He missed the boy who looked out for him.

A pot of yellow rice

On most of the days the old man came in empty-handed, the boy guided him home. “What do you have to eat?” the boy would ask. “A pot of yellow rice with fish,” the old man replied. “May I take the cast net?” “Of course.” “There was no cast net and the boy remembered when they had sold it. But they went through this fiction every day. There was no pot of yellow rice and fish and the boy knew this too.”

So, on the 85th day, the old man set sail with bait (sardines, which the boy got him) and little else to net a fish. “And the best fisherman is you,” the boy told him. The old man hopes no fish will come along that will prove the boy wrong. The rest of the novella is the story of the old man's struggle with nature, a huge fish (swordfish) and himself. As the duel goes on, the old man thinks aloud: “I wonder if he has any plans or if he is just as desperate as I am?” He won’t give up and fights against all odds — “...man is not made for defeat... A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”

The writer looks back at one classic each fortnight.

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The Old Man and the Sea

Ernest hemingway.

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

The Old Man and the Sea: Introduction

The old man and the sea: plot summary, the old man and the sea: detailed summary & analysis, the old man and the sea: themes, the old man and the sea: quotes, the old man and the sea: characters, the old man and the sea: symbols, the old man and the sea: theme wheel, brief biography of ernest hemingway.

Historical Context of The Old Man and the Sea

Other books related to the old man and the sea.

• Full Title: The Old Man and the Sea
• When Written: 1951
• Where Written: Cuba
• When Published: 1952
• Literary Period: Modernism
• Genre: Fiction (novella); Parable
• Setting: Late 1940s; a fishing village near Havana, Cuba, and the waters of the Gulf of Mexico
• Climax: When Santiago finally harpoons and kills the marlin; when Santiago fights off the final pack of sharks
• Antagonist: The marlin; the sharks
• Point of View: Third-person omniscient, although largely limited to Santiago's point of view

Extra Credit for The Old Man and the Sea

Awards: The Old Man and the Sea was the last major work of fiction Hemingway wrote. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and contributed to Hemingway's selection for the Nobel Prize in 1954.

Criticism of the Critics: Hemingway's novel Across the River and Into the Trees , published in 1950, met with severe negative criticism, although Hemingway said he considered it his best work yet. When The Old Man and the Sea was published to great acclaim, some viewed the story as Hemingway's symbolic attack on literary critics—the elderly master fighting and triumphing over his long-time adversaries.

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