37 pages • 1 hour read
Ernest HemingwayThe Old Man and the Sea
Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1952A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
The Old Man
Santiago, the “old man” of the story, hails from Spain’s Canary Islands, off the west coast of Africa. He has lived for many years in Cuba, where he recently mentored a neighbor boy in the skills of deep-sea fishing. Near the end of his lifetime as a sailor and fisherman, Santiago goes many weeks without catching anything sizable. On the 85th day of this bad-luck streak, he hooks the biggest fish he has ever seen, an 18-foot marlin that pulls his boat for two days. Although he finally defeats and kills the fish, during the return voyage the giant creature gets devoured by sharks. Santiago symbolizes the persistence, skill, endurance, and humility that, to author Hemingway, are the hallmarks of virtue and right living.
The Boy
Santiago’s boat mate, the boy Manolin, loves the old man, who taught him how to fish. He works at sea with Santiago until the boy’s father, fed up with the old man’s bad luck, sends him to another boat. Despite that, nightly the boy helps Santiago stow his equipment, shares dinner with him, and chats with him about baseball. The boy and Santiago treat each other respectively as grandson and grandfather. When the old man returns with only a giant skeleton for a catch, the boy cries; his tears are an eloquent expression of compassion for those who fight valiantly and lose. The boy’s admiration for Santiago stands in for that of the readers—who, if they’re honest, realize that they, too, are like children in the presence of greatness.
Joe DiMaggio
Santiago loves baseball, especially the New York Yankees, the dominant team of the early and mid-20th century. One of its star players, and Santiago’s favorite, is Joe DiMaggio, who overcomes the pain of bone spurs during the 1949 season and helps the team win the World Series. DiMaggio’s heroism impresses Santiago greatly.
DiMaggio crystallizes Santiago’s lifelong admiration for competence, hard work, endurance through pain, and achievement against the odds. Those qualities stand the fisherman in good stead when, in old age, he encounters the catch of a lifetime and must battle his own physical pain to reel in the fish.
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By Ernest Hemingway
