After doing some research on the time period of the book, which seems to take place in the 1940’s despite the book being published in 1952, I was able to notice many of the references to that time period that there were in the book. One reference that was very often referred to was the “great DiMaggio”, who was a famous baseball player of the 1940’s. I went online on infoplease.com to find out what happened between the years of 1940 and 1952. According to that site, the Yankees won the World Series in 1952. Many times, Santiago talks about DiMaggio with praise. “Have faith in the Yankees my son. Think of the great DiMaggio.” (Hemingway 17). “I would like to take the great DiMaggio fishing.” (Hemingway 22). It seems that the Yankees and baseball in general are one of the only things that truly interests Santiago and makes him happy. Baseball was big back in the 40’s and 50’s, so it would make sense that Santiago knew so much about it. Santiago’s adoration for DiMaggio also helped him work through the pain he felt while trying to reel in the massive marlin. “But I must have confidence and I must be worthy of the great DiMaggio who does all things perfectly even with the pain of the bone spur in his heel.”
Another thing I noticed was that Santiago was a very poor man. Back then, especially in Cuba, fishing was a big thing. That is what most people had for food, so the fishing industry was pretty big. Santiago’s eighty-four-day-long hiatus would have really affected him, as shown in the book. This shows that Hemingway understood how such a long pause of work could affect a lowly, old fisherman. Even though in the 1940’s the Great Depression had just ended, the boost of money again had not seemed to reach Cuba yet.
As for social and behavioral issues of the time, we did not receive enough communication between people to see how things were like during that time. The only people we really heard from were Santiago and Manolin. They were very friendly to each other, but that was more because of their grandfather/grandson like relationship. The vendors in the town were also very friendly by giving Manolin free food for him and Santiago (Hemingway 20). That could just be a sign of neighborly kindness, which is not necessarily affected by the time period.
As I stated in my 3rd blog, one of the main themes I found throughout the book was perseverance against all odds, even though you may be limited by age or strength. I feel like this was the main theme Hemingway was trying to show to his readers. The time period this book took place in was while everyone was recovering from The Great Depression. Everyone was getting back on his or her feet. The old man must have gained a lot of perseverance as he worked through the Depression, so that was how he was able to persevere in this novel.
"Information Please: 1940(-52)." Infoplease. Pearson Education. Web. 20 June 2012.
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