Hemingway, E. (1952). The Old Man and the Sea. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons.
Summary: This novel is about an old and poor fisherman named Santiago who has not caught a fish in almost 3 months. His loving and young apprentice, Manolin, is forced to obey his parents to work with other, more successful fisherman. Santiago decides to go deeper into the gulf in hopes of changing his misfortune. There, he catches a giant fish, struggling with it for days before finally returning with it to shore. He's exhausted but satisfied by his perseverence and bond with the fish. However, the blood from the fish attracts sharks, eventually eating all of the fish he labored over, physically and mentally. Beaten with regret, he returns to his shack and falls asleep while other marvel over the skeletal remains attached to his skiff. Manolin cares for him upon his return to shore, promising that they will resume fishing together again.
Reading Level:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.1,2,3,4,7,10
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.1a, 3a, 3b, 3d, 3e, 6, 9
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.1
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.9-10.3, 4a, 5
Curriculum Suggestions:
Related Links:Awards:
Tags: friendship, classics, secondary, fiction
Summary: This novel is about an old and poor fisherman named Santiago who has not caught a fish in almost 3 months. His loving and young apprentice, Manolin, is forced to obey his parents to work with other, more successful fisherman. Santiago decides to go deeper into the gulf in hopes of changing his misfortune. There, he catches a giant fish, struggling with it for days before finally returning with it to shore. He's exhausted but satisfied by his perseverence and bond with the fish. However, the blood from the fish attracts sharks, eventually eating all of the fish he labored over, physically and mentally. Beaten with regret, he returns to his shack and falls asleep while other marvel over the skeletal remains attached to his skiff. Manolin cares for him upon his return to shore, promising that they will resume fishing together again.
Reading Level:
- Quantitative: Lexile 940
- Qualitative: Grade 9 / Medium. This novel is moderately complex because of the multiple layers of meaning and uncommon knowledge demands of the reader, including themes of man vs nature, perseverence, loneliness, hunger, friendship, survival, and religion. In structure, the shifts in points of view of Santiago varies as we get to see into his mind - he considers topics, such as his young apprentice, his wife, boats, women, conversations, food, the fish, his youth, and so on. Although it follows a linear sequnce of events, Santiago offers elements of foreshadowing through his words and expressions, such as when he said his bad luck would change that day (it did), and that something bad was going to happen with his fish (it did). The language conventionality is relatively straighforward and objective. Included are the brief but effective use of Spanish words in Santiago's thoughts and conversations with Manolin. However, something that may confuse the reader are the conversations between Santiago and Manolin, because they are long and do not reference who is speaking. And yet, the simple elimination of "he said" gives the impression that we are listening to their conversation, like the reader is there.
- Content Area: English
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.1,2,3,4,7,10
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.1a, 3a, 3b, 3d, 3e, 6, 9
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.1
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.9-10.3, 4a, 5
Curriculum Suggestions:
- Interpret/act out a scene
- Classroom debate if the old man is a success or failure
- Compare and contrast old man vs young apprentice to a personal experience
- Rewrite the ending of novel - how would have things been different if he brought the fish home?
Related Links:Awards:
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, 1953
Tags: friendship, classics, secondary, fiction