Long topics
- Do you consider Santiago as a tragic hero? Give reasons for your answer.
- Comment on the narrative style of Hemingway in Old Man and the Sea.
- Discuss the role of the sea
- Comment on Santiago’s relationship with Manolin.
- How does Hemingway imply that Santiago is a Christ-like figure?
- Comment on the title of the novel
Short topics
- What does Hemingway mean to suggest when he says in the last sentence of the novel, “The Old Man was dreaming about the lion?
- Consider the old man’s posture when he collapsed onto his bed do you think this meant to mirror the position of Christ on the cross?
- What is the effect on the reader of the final conversation between the tourists in thelight of your thoughts about the above?
- What are some of the symbols in the novel, and what do they represent?
- How universal are the ideas in The Old Man and the Sea?
- Who was El Campeon? How did he get that name?
- The old man apologizes to the big fish. (“I am sorry that I went too far out. I ruined us both.”) Why?
- Why is the image of DiMaggio brought in frequently and why is baseball talked of so much?
- How did Santiago think of the sea?
- Santiago often wishes the boy were there. Why?
- Explain the significance of “Take a good rest, small bird . . . Then go in and take your chances like any man or bird or fish.”