The Old Man and the Sea

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'The Old Man and the Sea' is one of the most important books of 20th century American
literature. The novella highlights the strength of its protagonist's spirit and mirrors
Hemingway's own struggles at the time it was written.

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway is the last of Hemingway’s great fiction
books. This short novella was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and is often cited as
one of the defining factors (along with several near-death experiences) in Hemingway’s
selection for the Nobel Prize for Literature. The story follows Santiago, a poor Cuban
fisherman who is suffering from a long streak without successfully catching anything. He
hooks an enormous marlin, the biggest he’s ever seen and the majority of the novella
follows him trying to reel in this gigantic fish.

Key Facts about The Old Man and the Sea

Title: The Old Man and the Sea
When/where written: 1951 in Cuba
Published: 1952
Literary Period: Modernism
Genre: Parable
Point-of-View: Third-person omniscient, mostly limited to Santiago
Setting: 1940s, Cuban fishing village, the Gulf of Mexico
Climax: When Santiago finally catches the marlin
Antagonist: The sharks and the marlin

Ernest Hemingway and The Old Man and the Sea

Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea is one of his most popular novels. The
story is moving, endearing, and emotional. His direct style of writing is suited perfectly to
the life and death situation that Santiago finds himself in. During the period of time in
which Hemingway wrote The Old Man and the Sea, he was living in Cuba. It was the
1940s and he spent a great deal of time on the water, fishing off his boat The Pilar. He
lived in Cuba for almost 20 years and became an important figure, well-known through
Havana. Hemingway lived much more luxuriously than Santiago, the main character
of The Old Man and the Sea, but he was well acquainted with hardship. He’d been part of
the First World War as a war reporter and was even present on D-Day during WWII. It
was his exposure to the realities of life and death as well as his knowledge of the Cuban
people that helped this novel become the success that it was and still is. Some scholars
have also suggested that the solitude, struggle, and desperation that Santiago

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experiences in the novella mirror the same emotions in Hemingway’s life at the time he
wrote the story. His writing career was at a low point, and he was relatively isolated from
his contemporaries while living in Cuba.

Books Related to The Old Man and the Sea

While Hemingway is almost always associated with Cuba, he also spent a good deal of
time in Paris. While there, he became part of the “lost generation” of writers. This is a
term used to refer to Americans who moved to Europe after WWI. Others included Ezra
Pound and Gertrude Stein with whom Hemingway was well acquainted. Works by these
authors, as well as those by F. Scott Fitzgerald are similar in style and technique to
Hemingway’s novels. His books and stories often rebel against ideas of patriotism and
express the same disillusionment with tradition that can be found in Pound’s poetry.
Novels of adventure and determination can also be counted as similar to The Old Man
and the Sea. These include The Call of the Wild by Jack London, The Road by Cormac
McCarthy, and Hemingway’s own The Sun Also Rises.

The Lasting Impact of The Old Man and the Sea

The Old Man and the Sea is a memorable novel. Love it or hate it, it sticks with you. It is a
story of hardship, perseverance, and the indomitable nature of the human spirit. It is a
book about suffering and accepting that suffering as part of one’s life–it is inescapable.
When readers make their way through this novel, it’s emotionally turbulent. At one
moment it’s desperately sad and at the next, triumphant. Much like life, Santiago’s quest
to end his 84-day streak without catching a fish doesn’t go as planned.

Additionally, just as this novel works as a metaphor for Hemingway’s life, it can also be
applied to any reader’s personal struggle. These struggles don’t have to be as physical as
Santiago’s but they can be just as trying. Today, the novel is regarded as one of the finest
examples of American literature, of any period.

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