The Old Man and the Sea

Author: Hemingway (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-09-01
Features: The Old Man and the Sea reflects a universal model of socio-economic development at a certain stage, a model that can still be seen in developing countries today. In Cuba, an agricultural nation in the 1930s and 1940s, traditional fishing culture (isolated from industrialized worlds, close to nature, detached from modern technology, constrained by large families and closely-knit villages) began to face the impact of the fishing industry (dependent on industrialized worlds, indifferent or disregarding the environment, relying on mechanical equipment for profit, with fewer constraints from large families and local villages). In The Old Man and the Sea, on the one hand, Hemingway portrays Santiago as a fisherman who perfectly integrates his fishing craft with his identity, behavioral, and the laws of nature; on the other hand, Hemingway depicts some young fishermen who adhere to pragmatism, selling shark livers to the U.S. liver oil industry and using the profits to buy motorboats and other mechanical equipment, treating fishing entirely as a means to improve material life.