The Old Man and the Sea: Setting

The setting of The Old Man and the Sea is in the 1950s in a poor village somewhere outside of Havana, Cuba. The time period and land are both incredibly important to the novel. The time period is important because it allows Santiago to relate to a baseball player of the period known as Joe DiMaggio. DiMaggio has an injury that slows him down but despite this he continues to play and be one of the best baseball players in the industry. This is a quality that Santiago greatly admires and it inspires and motivates him throughout his entire journey. The novel takes place mainly somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico in the ocean area around Cuba. The setting of the ocean is important because it is where the main conflict occurs and it is central to the plot often times saving the characters life by providing him with food and providing the main source of conflict for the novel. Despite the good it causes thought it also is the primary cause of the protagonist's defeat because it houses the sharks that devour Santiago's marlin. The sea provides Santiago with flying fish and dolphins to keep him alive when he is hungry and the store of tuna he brings with him rots in the sun. It's ability to provide and take away from the main character does make it a bit of a double-edged sword but that is the way the novel is written and how it has to be. The setting being at sea is really the main element of the sea (it's even in the title.) Without the sea the novel would not pack the same amount of punch that it does and it would be an entirely different novel altogether. The area where it takes m=place is much more important than the time period in my opinion. These are the reasons that the setting in this novel is so important and central to the events that transpire.