The Old Man and the Sea
Submitted by Orian Greene (profile)

Title and Author: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Genre: Novella
Class type: Men

In preparing for my first CLTL program, I debated whether The Old Man and the Sea was fast-moving and timely enough to appeal to a dozen men in their twenties who I would not have characterized as easy readers. The discussion was lively, however, and some of the observations from the men surpassed anything I had gotten in the college classes I had taught. At the end of the program, I asked the men to name their favorite selection from the program and was astonished when two-thirds of them put The Old Man and the Sea first.

At the beginning of this last session, I ask the students to write for about ten minutes on the following question: What is the hardest thing you have ever done?

Before we began discussing the story, I read them the following excerpt from an April 1936 article by Hemingway in Esquire Magazine:

"An old man fishing alone in a skiff out of Cabanas hooked a great marlin that, on the heavy sash-cord handline, pulled the skiff far out to sea. Two days later the old man was picked up by fishermen 60 miles to the eastward, the head and forward part of the marlin lashed alongside. What was left of the fish, less than half, weighed 800 pounds. The old man had stayed with him a day, a night, a day and another night while the fish swam deep and pulled the boat. When he had come up the old man had pulled the boat up on him and harpooned him. Lashed alongside, the sharks had hit him and the old man had fought them out alone in the Gulf Stream in a skiff, clubbing them, stabbing at them, lunging at them with an oar until he was exhausted and the sharks had eaten all they could hold. He was crying in the boat when the fisherman picked him up, half crazy from his loss, and the sharks were still circling the boat."

Then we break into groups of three or four, with each group taking four questions. I ask students to mark the pages where they find the answers so we can refer to them quickly if needed.

Questions:

1. Why are there so many references to time and numbers in the first part of the story?
2. Describe the relationship between the old man and the boy.
3. What sports do the old man and the boy talk about and what is the importance of all the references to sports? Why is Joe DiMaggio so important?
4. What are the old man's recurring dreams, and what do they mean?
5. Why does the old man row so far out, what consequences does that decision finally have, and how does the old man view his actions?
6. List some details that point to the old man's precision and care as a fisherman. Explain what he means when he says, "It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact."
7. Tell how each of the following reveals some aspect of the conflict between the man and the fish: the old man's physical condition, his feelings, his memories, and his dreams.
8. Compare the description of the first shark with the description of the marlin and the old man's attitudes toward the two fish.
9. How does the old man first view the fish and what changes come over his view as the story progresses?
10. When and why does the old man keep wishing the boy were there with him? Is he just feeling weak and inadequate or is something more involved, and if so what?
11. What physical and mental resources does the old man summon to deal with the repeated attacks of the sharks?
12. In the beginning, the old man is hoping for a big fish that will bring him a lot of money. What is he hoping for at the end?
13. At the end of the story, the reader learns the reactions of the old man, the boy, the proprietor of the Terrace, and the two tourists. What is Hemingway's purpose in presenting these reactions?
14. Why does the story end with the old man dreaming about the lions?
15. What has Hemingway taken out of the original story and what has he added - and what difference do those changes make?
16. What is the difference between humiliation and humility? Which characterizes the old man at the end and why?

The classroom discussions generally focus on whether Santiago was wise to row out so far and/or to let the fish drag him so far out. It usually happens that a few of the men fish, and they share their knowledge and observations very freely, often pointing out places where Hemingway has it exactly right. We also generally spend quite a lot of time comparing the literal story with the novel and discussing the differences between truth and fiction. The discussions are lively and interesting.

Before dismissing the class, I ask the students to answer the following question: Is Santiago a winner or a loser - and why do you think so? Most see him as a winner; many say that if they had been asked that question at the beginning they would have characterized him as a loser, but after the discussion they began to see his behavior as much more courageous and admirable.

Notes: A very interesting exchange took place during the discussion of The Old Man and the Sea in my second group of probationers, a group characterized by their young age and general immaturity. One young man, who I will call Andy, identified himself as someone who hated reading, had never finished a book until this program, and wouldn't have been finishing them now except that he wanted to get his probation cut in half.

Andy was with me when we broke into small groups. Naturally, he hated The Old Man and the Sea; it was too long, too boring, no action, no point. However, he had finished the book, and he spoke especially scathingly about Santiago's stupidity in dragging that fish carcass all the way back to shore when it wouldn't do him any good.

Trying to find a hook, I asked Andy what he had written when asked to tell about the hardest thing he had ever done. He said it was something that had occurred that fall. Hunting with a bow and arrow about a mile from the road where he had parked his car, he had killed an 8-point stag, the biggest deer he had ever caught. Since it was illegal to leave the carcass in the woods, he had had to drag it all the way back to the car. It was huge and heavy, he said, and the antlers kept getting caught on the bushes, so it took him forever and left him exhausted.

I asked Andy why he hadn't cut off the head to make it easier. He looked at me dumbfounded. He wouldn't do that, he said, because then no one would believe he had killed such a huge stag.

After a long silence, Andy said, "I guess that's kind of like Santiago."

I'm not going to claim that insight or CLTL changed Andy's life, but I do think it made him think in a new way, look at himself more thoughtfully.

When I ask my groups at the final session what they have gained from the program, I get a surprising unanimity in their answers that convinces me that the program has affected their thinking. They say they learned that people have choices. For these men, seeing others' lives as a series of choices may help them see the choices in their own. I hope so anyway.