The Old Man and the Sea question #5

"The Old Man and the Sea" reflects the history, behavior and social issues of the time period and setting of this story. The setting of this story is the late 1940s. It takes place in a small fishing village near Havana, Cuba and the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Ernest Hemingway was influenced a lot by events in history that he witnessed while writing "The Old Man and the Sea". Hemingway served in both World War I and World War II. He was also present during the liberation of Paris and the arguement within the Cuban Communist party in 1945. "Having viewed death and hardship in many forms, Hemingway’s feeling of disillusionment was only magnified by his 10-year struggle with writing that preceded the publication of 'The Old Man and the Sea' " (LitCharts).  Behavior traits of this time period were also reflected in this book. I think this was shown with the way Santiago was viewed. It seemed like he was not respected as much because of his age and bad luck with fishing. Even Manolin who would help him no longer could because his parents did not like him fishing with Santiago. This could also fall under social issues as well. Another social issue could be lack of food resources. In a fishing village, if you could not catch anything to eat, it was harder to find food. This is what Santiago struggled with ,but the boy helped keep him fed. The books symbolic signifance is the idea that Santiago represents Christ. Hemingway demostrates this by kind of recreating the crucifixtion. The crucifixtion of Christ is symbolized when Santiago is fighting with the marlin and gets his hands cut up as well as pain on his back. Another symbolism  of this is when Santiago carries his mast up the hill which symbolizes when Christ marched carrying his cross. One last way Santiago symbolized Christ was the way he fell asleep after it was all over. He fell asleep with his arms out and palms up which is the way Christ was crucified.

"The Old Man and the Sea: Background Info." LitCharts.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 June 2012. http://www.litcharts.com/lit/theoldmanandthesea/backgroundinfo.