The Old Man and the Sea: History, Responsibilities between Groups, and Influences

As I stated earlier, this book reflects a little bit of history.  Santiago said that the New York Yankees were the best because in the early 1950’s when this book was written, they won the World Series several times in a row (New York Yankees).  His inspiration from the games, Joe DiMaggio, was a great centerfielder for the Yankees during that time (PBS).  In addition, arm wrestling (Santiago told a story of how he won an arm wrestling contest after an entire day and night) was becoming a popular activity as it spread around the country at many different locations.  Surrounded by ocean, Cuba is a good setting for the book since many of the people that live there fish.

            As far as relationships between groups in society go, the protagonist was by himself for most of the story, unless you count the fish of course, so there were not too many opportunities for the author to show his views of how social groups should relate with one another.  On the other hand, the boy’s relationship with Santiago showed much respect and love, as did the old man show to the boy.  This is likely to be how Hemingway viewed that people should treat one another.  When some of the other fishermen made fun of the old man, he did not take it personally and was not angry with them (Hemmingway 3).  Perhaps Hemingway also considered the best thing to do when someone treats you wrongly is to forgive them and move on with life so that what they said will not hurt you. 

            Upon researching, I discovered that Ernest Hemingway had actually traveled to Africa before (Ernest Hemmingway).  Santiago’s dreams of lions on the beaches of Africa were most likely inspired by this experience. By the way that he wrote about the lions in Africa, how he dreams of them each night, he probably enjoyed the experience. Also, Hemingway had once struggled to catch a huge fish that was at least a thousand pounds (Ernest Hemmingway).  Finally, Hemingway spent part of his life living in the island of Cuba, where the story took place (Ernest Hemmingway).    

"Arm Wrestling 101." Kidzworld. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Aug. 2012. <http://www.kidzworld.com/article/6501-arm-wrestling-101>.

"Ernest Hemingway." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Aug. 2012. Web. 18 Aug. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway>.

"New York Yankees." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Aug. 2012. Web. 7 Aug. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Yankees>.

PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 7 Aug. 2012. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dimaggio/peopleevents/pande01.html>.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.