Blog 5

The Old Man and the Sea was written in 1951. Many things in pop culture and history were going on then. According to "thepeoplehistory.com", The Big Bang Theory was first propounded, Albery Einstein refused presedincy of Israel, California had its second largest earthquake, and the great baseball player Joe Dimagio retired from baseball before the Yankees won the world series. Hemmingway makes many references to the great baseball player Joe Dimagio. Dimagio is said to be one of the greatest of all time in baseball. He is a hall of famer that was Santiago's "hero" in the book. At the time Dimagio really was a hero to many kids and baseball fans all over the country. The book takes place in 1951 which is before Dimagio retired, but it was written in 1952. Santiago makes a nice reference to the great baseball player stating that if Joe can play baseball with bone spurs than the old man can endure some pain and suffering through fishing(Hemingway 3).

The book does not really discuss many socials issues throught the story because the plot and storyline do not really have anything to do with social issues of the time.

I discussed the thematic significance in my previous blog. The thematic significane is that you should never give up because you will be rewarded for trying and about the struggle of defeat and death. A symbolic significance is that the old man is an underdog and sometimes underdogs do come through and pull out a victory. This question is hard to answer with a book like old man and the sea because it really has nothing to do with the social issues of the time period. The only thing remotely close is that people were kind and giving during the book and at this time the country was on its uprise out of a depression state and people might of had more money which would make them more kind because they were nicer in the book than most people are today and people do not have money today to just give away(Hemingway 2).

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.