English 10 Summer Reading Guide, 2012 Old Man - Bishop ...

Sophomore English
The Old Man and the Sea Study Guide
Read The Old man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway. The novel is available at the
Columbus Library, Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, and Half-Price Books. You may also access
the full text of this work online, at no charge, at http://www.classic-enotes.com/americanliterature/american-novel/ernest-hemingway/the-old-man-and-the-sea/full-text-of-the-old-manand-the-sea-by-ernest-hemingway/.
As you read this novella, respond in writing to the study
guide questions which appear below. Bring your completed study guide to turn in as an
assignment for a grade on your first full day of classes. These questions are intended to focus
your concentration as you read, as well as prepare you for an examination which will occur on
your first full day of English class of your sophomore year. The examination will be multiple
choice, and essay. The completed study guide will be worth 5 points as a homework
assignment. The examination will be worth 50 points.
The Author
Ernest Hemingway was born July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. After graduation from
high school, he moved to Kansas City Missouri, where he worked briefly for the Kansas City
Star. Failing to qualify for the United States Army because of poor eyesight, he enlisted with
the American Red Cross, and drove ambulances in Italy during World War I. He was seriously
wounded, and was awarded the Italian Silver Star for his valor. After an extended hospital
recovery, he returned home and became a freelance writer for the Toronto Star. In 1921, he
returned to Europe and joined an expatriate community of writers and artists, while continuing
to write for the Toronto Star. At this point, he commenced his career as a fiction writer. His
novels The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms established Hemingway as one of the most
important and influential fiction writers of his generation. His later collections of stories and the
novel For Whom the Bell Tolls affirmed his extraordinary career. He was an unrivaled, largerthan-life
celebrity not only as a literary figure, but also as sportsman, big-game hunter, deepseas
fisherman, and renowned world traveler. The Old Man and the Sea was originally
published as a special edition Life magazine, which sold five million copies in just two days.
This final published work during his lifetime earned Hemingway the Pulitzer Prize, and was cited
as instrumental in his being awarded the Nobel Prize in 1954. Tragically, Ernest Hemingway
took his life in Idaho in 1961.
Day 1
1. What is the old man's dilemma
2. Who accompanies the old man for forty days
3. How do we know the old man is terribly poor

4. Where does Santiago read about baseball
5. Who does Santiago root for
6. What does Santiago dream about
Day 2
7. What is the old man's only form of sustenance for the day
8. In Santiago's opinion, what is the sea's gender
9. Why does Santiago think the other fishermen would consider him crazy
10. Why does he get excited when he sees the green sticks dip sharply
11. What problem does Santiago encounter when trying to pull up the fish
12. How do male and female marlins behave when feeding from a fisherman's hook
Day 3
13. What happens to Santiago's hands
14. What does the great fish look like

15. What prayer does Santiago say, and why
16. Why does he decide to re-bait the line
17. What was the outcome of the arm-wrestling match in Casablanca
Day 4
18. What type of motion does the fish begin to make
19. What happens when Santiago throws the harpoon at the fish
20. De scribe the first two shark attacks
21. What does Santiago say about sin at this point in the ordeal
Day 5
22. How is Santiago sleeping when the boy comes to see him in the morning
23. What are the fishermen doing around Santiago's skiff
24. What does Santiago tell the boy when he wakes up
25. What does the tourist woman believe she sees from the terrace