They are unlikely companions; one is old and the other young, yet they share an insuperable amount of respect and loyalty for each other. ... When they speak it is usually about baseball or fishing, the two things they have most in common. ... One of the greatest and most obvious symbolisms in the story is Christianity. ... Hemingway's description of Santiago further illustrates Christian symbolism. ... Further symbolism is shown when Santiago arrives home and carries the mast across his shoulders as Christ carried the cross to Calvary. ...

• Word Count: 1434
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

The old fisherman is thin and gaunt; he has deepwrinkles, discolored clothes, but his eyes are perhaps the key to his soul: "They were the same colour as the sea water and were cheerful and undefeated." ... At night, he "dreamed of Africa when he was a boy and the long garden benches and the white beaches, so white they hurt your eyes, and the high capes and the great brown mountain." ... He goes "out into the clean early morning smell of the ocean," hearing "the trembling sound as flying fish left the water and the hissing that their stiff set wings made as they soared away in the darkness," ...

• Word Count: 2478
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

The writers considered themselves "lost" because their inherited values could not operate in the postwar world and they felt spiritually alienated from a country they considered hopelessly average and emotionally lacking. ... I see Christian symbolism in the story: Santiago means St. James in Spanish; the battle with the fish lasts three days; Santiago, arriving at the shore, carries his mast, like a cross, on his shoulders, and, like the biblical Christ, stumbles under its load. ... After not catching fish for forty-four days, they have decided the old man is bad, and they do not want it to r...

• Word Count: 1320
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School