Old Man and the Sea question 5

5. The Old Man and the Sea reflects the history of Cuba in 1951 very well. There were a lot of fishermen, and most of them were not exactly the richest and best equipped. In the book Santiago often refers to the great DiMaggio and other famous baseball players of the time such as Dick Sisler, John J. McGraw, and Mike Gonzalez. Many times the old man looked up to DiMaggio for courage. When he thought about how badly he hurt, he thought of how DiMaggio was playing with an injury in his ankle. He thought if DiMaggio can continue to play while being hurt, he could continue to fish while he was hurting. Santiago was the poorest of the poor when it came to fishermen, but he always was trying to be positive. I think one of the social issues was poverty. I believe that poverty will always be a social issue. In the book the boy and Santiago both come from poor families. Santiago has to fish to make a living and for the past eighty five days he has caught nothing so that means he has eaten nothing. The behavior was correct to the time period. There were a lot of fishermen in Cuba at that time. Lots of people in that time period were interested in baseball, and to this day there are millions of people interested in baseball. In this book I think that the sea symbolizes life. In life you are given good things and good things are taken away from you. When you receive something good you usually have to work hard for it. In the book the old man has gone a long time without receiving something good. When he catches the fish it is the first good thing he has gotten in eighty five days. Santiago has to work hard for the fish, and once he has pulled it in there is no room for it in his boat. So he lashes it to the side. On his way back sharks come and eat away at the fish. So you work hard for something good and good things come; however good things are also taken away.