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Full title The Old Man and the Sea
Author Ernest Hemingway
Type of work Novella
Genre Parable; tragedy
Language English
Time and place written 1951, Cuba
Date of first publication 1952
Publisher Scribner’s
Narrator The novella is narrated by an anonymous narrator.
Point of view Sometimes the narrator describes the characters and events objectively, that is, as they would appear to an outside observer. However, the narrator frequently provides details about Santiago’s inner thoughts and dreams.
Tone Despite the narrator’s journalistic, matter-of-fact tone, his reverence for Santiago and his struggle is apparent. The text affirms its hero to a degree unusual even for Hemingway.
Tense Past
Setting (time) Late 1940s
Setting (place) A small fishing village near Havana, Cuba; the waters of the Gulf of Mexico
Protagonist Santiago
Major conflict For three days, Santiago struggles against the greatest fish of his long career.
Rising action After eighty-four successive days without catching a fish, Santiago promises his former assistant, Manolin, that he will go “far out” into the ocean. The marlin takes the bait, but Santiago is unable to reel him in, which leads to a three-day struggle between the fisherman and the fish.
Climax The marlin circles the skiff while Santiago slowly reels him in. Santiago nearly passes out from exhaustion but gathers enough strength to harpoon the marlin through the heart, causing him to lurch in an almost sexual climax of vitality before dying.
Falling action Santiago sails back to shore with the marlin tied to his boat. Sharks follow the marlin’s trail of blood and destroy it. Santiago arrives home toting only the fish’s skeletal carcass. The village fishermen respect their formerly ridiculed peer, and Manolin pledges to return to fishing with Santiago. Santiago falls into a deep sleep and dreams of lions.
Themes The honor in struggle, defeat, and death; pride as the source of greatness and determination; kinship and connection
Motifs Crucifixion imagery; life from death; the lions on the beach
Symbols The marlin; Joe DiMaggio; the shovel-nosed sharks
Foreshadowing Santiago’s insistence that he will sail out farther than ever before foreshadows his destruction; because the marlin is linked to Santiago, the marlin’s death foreshadows Santiago’s own destruction by the sharks.
