Student 1
Suzy Student (Your name)
Mrs. Teacher (Your 2014-2015 English teacher’s name)
7th or 8th Grade English (Grade you are entering)
13 August 2015 (Due date written in proper MLA)
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway – Chapters or Pages 9-30
1.) The Old Man and the Sea takes place in a small, poor fishing town near the Gulf. On page 1,
Hemingway tells the reader that the main character is “an old man who fished alone in a skiff
in the Gulf Stream” (Hemingway 9). It was a trustworthy town because Hemingway writes
that, “no one would steal from the old man […] he was quite sure no local people would steal
from him” (Hemingway 15). The old man lived in a shack and did not have much food or
running water (Hemingway 15-21). Other than the boy, Santiago said his other friends were
the flying fish. Hemingway writes, “He was very fond of flying fish as they were his
principal friends on the ocean (Hemingway 29).
2.) Hemingway introduces two characters in this section, the old man and the boy. The old man
is called “salao, which is the worst form of unlucky” (Hemingway 9). “The old man was thin
and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck. The brown blotches of benevolent skin
cancer the sun bring from its reflection on the tropic sea were on his cheeks. The blotches ran
well down the sides of his face and his hands had the deep-creased scares from handling
heavy fish on the cords. But none of these scars were fresh. They were as old as erosions in a
fishless dessert. Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color
as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated” (Hemingway 9-10). Hemingway also includes
information about the boy in this section. He says that “the old man taught the boy how to
fish and the boy loved him” (Hemingway 10). On page 11, Hemingway tells the reader that
Student 2
the old man was made fun of by some of the other fisherman and others pitied him. The old
man and the boy had not caught a fish in 84 days (Hemingway 9). Therefore, the boy’s
parents made him fish with another, more successful boat, which made the old man and the
boy sad (Hemingway 10). The boy likes to help Santiago. He tells him on page 12, “If I
cannot fish with you, I would like to serve you in some way” (Hemingway 12). Santiago and
the boy both love to talk about baseball (Hemingway 17).
3.) Hemingway uses a simile to describe the scars on the old man’s hands. He describes them
“as old as erosions in a fishless dessert” (Hemingway 10). Santiago compares the sea to a
woman when he says, “She is kind and very beautiful. But she can be so cruel […] He
always thought of her as la mar which is what people call her in Spanish when they love her.
Sometimes those who love her say bad things of her but they are always said as though she
were a woman” (Hemingway 29).
4.) I was sad to read that Santiago was made fun of by the other fisherman and that the boy’s
parents made him no longer fish with Santiago. I wonder if Santiago will catch a fish when
he goes out fishing.
5.) Santiago and the boy believe in both faith and luck, so it’s hard to determine if they believe
in God. They love each other and are loyal to each other like a grandfather and grandson. It
seems unfair that Santiago is such a good fisherman and has had such bad luck. The people
are the town did not steal from Santiago because he was old and they pitied him. Santiago
seems to think it is not right to borrow because it will lead to begging. Santiago says to the
boy, “But I try not to borrow. First you borrow, then you beg” (Hemingway 18). It is strange
though that he does not want to borrow because the boy borrows food, coffee, or bait for the
old man.