Ms D’Andrea

English 9

Summer Assignment

Directions: Read the book, Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway and complete

the study guide questions. The study guide questions are listed below.

Please answer in complete sentences using the question as part of your

answer. The assignment needs to be typed. Your questions will be

submitted for a grade.

1. In what ways does Manolin help the old man, even though he is not allowed to go

fishing with him?

2. What does Santiago care most about in life?

3. Why does the old man lie about having things to eat at home, about having a cast net,

and about having washed before diner, and why does the boy knowingly go along with

these lies?

4. Why does Manolin prefer Santiago’s company to that of anyone else?

5. Do you feel the old man is justified in lying about having eaten and washed and about

owning a cast net? Explain your answer.

6. What specific signs in this section tell Santiago where the fish are?

7. In what ways does Santiago contrast himself with the rich fishermen?

8. What differences do you notice so far between the old man’s eighty-fifth day and

fishing and his eighty-fourth?

9. Santiago thinks that to be a fisherman was “that which I was born for.” What

evidence further suggests that he is indeed an expert fisherman?

10. Suppose Santiago were offered a position working with sea animals, including

dolphins, sharks and turtles, in an aquarium. How do you think he would react to the

proposal? Consider both sides of the question in your answer?

11. Name three things that Santiago does to prepare him to struggle with the fish.

12. What two injuries does Santiago receive to his hands that could hinder him greatly

fighting the fish?

13. Why does Santiago refer to his “treachery” in connection with his hooking the big

fish?

14. How do we know that Santiago is concerned about growing old and its effects on his

strength and mental outlook?

15. How do we know that Santiago is concerned about growing old and its effects on his

strength and mental outlook?

16. Name three signs in this section that Santiago is becoming more confident about his

struggle with the fish.

17. What two advantages over the fish does Santiago count upon?

18. Why does Santiago use the word “strange” to describe both himself and the fish?

What does this choice of words tell us about his feelings for the fish?

19. If his intelligence is one advantage he has over the fish, why does Santiago advise

himself not to think in the section?

20. Later in the story we learn that the coast guard boats had searched for the old men

when he did not return. Suppose the coast guard boat had found the old man at this

point in the story. How would you think Santiago would have reacted if the coast

guard boat had found him and strongly suggested that he cut his lines and return

home?

21. How does the old man finally kill the fish?

22. How does the old man plan to get home with his catch?

23. During the third and last day, in what two ways is the fish’s behavior different from

its behavior on previous days?

24. What does the old man say “Come on and kill and me. I do not care who kills who”?

25. If the fish had been small enough for the skiff to hold, what difference would it

probably have made in the homeward journey?

26. After the first shark hits, how hopeful is the old man about reaching shore with his

fish relatively intact?

27. How are the dentuso sharks different from the galanos, as far as Santiago is

concerned?

28. What generalization can you make about the kinds of thought that cause the old man

to say “Don’t think” or “You think too much”?

29. What evidence supports the idea that the old man remains optimistic about the future

despite all that has happened to him?

30. How do you think the fishermen who had made fun of the old man before he went

out on the eighty-fifth day might have reacted when they saw the skeleton of the

marlin?