The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Name _______________________________________
English I Honors
Published: 1952
Setting: Cuba, near Havana
Main Characters
 Santiago
 Manolin
 Marlin (18 feet long)
 Sea
Other Characters
 Martin – sends food and drink to Santiago through Manolin
 Rogelio – helps Santiago with fishing net
 Perico – gives Santiago newspapers
 Pedrico – Santiago gives him the marlin’s head to use in fish traps
 Mako Shark
 Shovel-Nosed Sharks
 Tourists at the end – think the marlin is a shark
Glossary to assist in understanding of the novel:
 Dick Sisler - famous baseball player and coach on numerous baseball teams (Cardinals, Reds, Yankees)
 Joe DiMaggio - famous baseball player who played for the Yankees and is widely regarded as the best allaround player in baseball history
 John J. McGraw - manager of the Giants from 1902 to 1932
 Leo Durocher - manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1939 to 1946 and 1948.
 Adolpho Luque - pitcher for the Reds and Giants and a native of Havana, Cuba
 Mike Gonzalez - catcher for the Cardinals (1916–1918, 1924) and a native of Cuba
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Mosquito Coast - region on the Caribbean coast of Honduras and Nicaragua
Canary Islands - group of islands in the Atlantic, off northwest Africa, forming a region of Spain
Virgin of Cobre - reference to the statue of Our Lady of La Caridad de Cobre (Our Lady of Charity at
Cobre), the most venerated in all of Cuba
Casablanca - seaport in northwest Morocco, on the Atlantic
Cienfuegos - seaport on the south coast of Cuba
Rigel - a supergiant, multiple star, usually the brightest star in the constellation Orion
Tigres - reference to the Detroit Tigers
Guanabacoa - one of the oldest European settlements in Cuba; now part of the urban conglomerate of
Havana
oakum - loose, stringy hemp fiber gotten by taking apart old ropes and treated with tar, used as a caulking
material
bonito - any of a genus of marine game and food scombroid fishes
flying fish - a warm-sea fish with wing-like pectoral fins that enable it to glide through the air.
big blue runner - any of various edible jack fishes of warm seas, as a bluish species and a striped bluish
species
yellow jack - an edible, gold-and-silver marine jack fish found near Florida and the West Indies
dolphin - a game fish with colors that brighten and change when the fish is taken out of the water
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
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man-of-war bird - a large, tropical bird with extremely long wings and tail and a hooked beak
plankton - microscopic animal and plant life found floating or drifting in the ocean or in bodies of fresh
water, used as food by nearly all aquatic animals
Sargasso weed - floating brown algae found in tropical seas and having a main stem with flattened
outgrowths like leaves, and branches with berry-like air sacs
gelatinous - like gelatin or jelly; having the consistency of gelatin or jelly; viscous
Portuguese man-of-war - large, warm-sea jellyfish that floats on the water and has long, dangling tentacles
with powerful stinging cells
carapace - horny, protective covering over all or part of the back of animals (shell of the turtle, armadillo,
crab, etc)
green turtle, hawk-bill, loggerhead - turtles
masthead - the top part of a ship's mast
shovel-nosed - having a broad, flattened nose, head, or bill
spring leaf - curved plate that supports the vehicle above the suspension components and allows vertical
suspension movement: also leaf spring; here the words are probably presented in reverse order as they
would be in Spanish
barracuda - any of a family of fierce, pikelike tropical fish: some species are edible
Spanish words
 Que va - No way
 la mar, el mar - sea
 brisa - breeze
 tiburon - shark
 juegos - games
 un espuela de hueso - a bone spur
 El Campeón - The Champion
 calambre - cramp (muscular)
 agua mala - jellyfish; Portuguese man-of-war
 Gran Ligas - the two main leagues of professional baseball clubs in the U.S., the National League and the
American League: also the Major Leagues
 dorado - gilding or gilt (literally); here a descriptive term for the golden dolphin
 dentuso - big-toothed; (in Cuba) a particularly voracious and frightening species of shark with rows of
large, sharp teeth; here, a descriptive term for the mako shark
 galanos - mottled ones (literally); here a descriptive term for the shovel-nosed sharks
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Reading Guide Questions
Review the following questions as you read the novel. Printing and answering on paper is not required,
though doing so many assist your understanding of the novel.
In order to understand the author, students should read a couple of online biographies of the author
before beginning to read the novel.
When school begins, the teacher will distribute questions for students to complete.
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Who is Santiago?
Describe his physical appearance and personality.
Who is Manolin?
Describe Santiago’s relationship with him.
In what month do the great fish come?
How old was the young boy when Santiago first took him on a boat?
Describe Santiago’s home.
What does it say about him as a man?
Why do the other fishermen make fun of or pity Santiago?
What does Santiago dream of?
Why is this dream important to Santiago?
Name at least 5 things that Santiago never dreams of.
How many baits has Santiago set in the ocean?
Why can the reader consider Santiago a superior fisherman? Give examples.
What does Santiago call the ocean? Why does Santiago see the ocean as feminine?
How does Santiago compare himself to a turtle?
How does Santiago feel about the marlin?
Santiago thinks to himself that no one should be alone in what?
What saddens Santiago when he catches a female marlin?
What does Santiago eat to give him strength?
How is Santiago similar to the warbler?
Describe the developing bond between Santiago and the marlin.
Is Santiago afraid of death? Explain.
Describe the marlin.
What is wrong with Santiago’s hand?
What part of his body does Santiago not trust? Why?
Why does Santiago worship baseball and Joe DiMaggio?
What physical ailment plagues DiMaggio?
What is man’s place in nature? What is his place in the life cycle?
Hemingway uses a simile to describe the clouds. What is the comparison?
At one time, why do people call Santiago the champion?
How does Santiago kill the fish?
How much does he think the fish weighs?
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
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How long until the first shark hits him?
What attracts the shark?
Describe the Mako shark.
How is the Mako Shark similar to the marlin?
How is it different from the shovel-nosed sharks?
How does Santiago feel about hope?
Why can Santiago not look at the mutilated marlin?
How does Santiago kill the first shark?
Santiago says, “But a man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” What does this
mean?
Although Santiago will probably never have the chance to catch another big fish, how does he transcend
“the death” of his fishing career?
Santiago says he will fight the sharks until what?
How does Santiago feel he violates his luck?
Why does the boy cry?
What is the measurement of the fish?
How does Santiago justify what he has done to the marlin? Is he justified?
Has the marlin died in vain? Why?
Explain the significance of the statement, “The boy keeps me alive.”
Why is it significant that the novella ends with Santiago dreaming of the lions?
How does Hemingway develop the theme that there is honor and beauty in defeat?
How does the novel illustrate the idea that life comes from death?
What does the marlin come to symbolize for Santiago and his life as a fisherman?
What is Manolin’s reaction when he finds Santiago asleep in the morning?
How does Manolin comfort Santiago?