Old Man and the Sea- History (Question 5)

During the time period in which the Old Man and the Sea was written, there was one thing that was becoming extremely popular in America. Baseball. Frequently throughout this book the old man makes reference to Joe DiMaggio, to whom he looks up to. The old man often thinks to himself about Joe DiMaggio and wonders "Would the great DiMaggio be proud of me?" We can tell by how much the old man looks up to him he must have been a pretty influential person during this time period. You can tell by reading this book that it was written in the time period that baseball was becoming more and more popular because of how much the old man and the young boy talk about it. They often have conversations about who the best coaches and the best players are. Back when this book was written, people like the old man only made money when they caught fish. It is the same situation with people that are farmers, they only make money off of what they harvest. This is how life was back then, people worked hard for every dollar they made. Nowadays people are millionaires and they work half as hard as the people who are struggling for money. Fishing was the main career for men if you lived near the ocean, and you had to earn all the money you needed to support yourself and your family. I think that the old man proves the saying "hard work pays off". The old man worked hard and suffered for three days and it all paid off because he did what he intended to do. I think the old man gives the term "hard work" a whole new meaning, what he went through had to be the biggest struggle of his life. I think the author, Ernest Hemmingway does a great job including both the behavior and social issues that were happening during this time period.

Bibliography

Hemmingway, Ernest. Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner. 1996. Print.