The Old Man and the Sea was written in 1952. According to the website infoplease.com, in that year King George VI of England died leaving his daughter Elizabeth to become Queen, a stamp costs 3 cents, the Yankees (the year after Joe DiMaggio retired) win the World Series, Salk discovers the first dead-virus polio vaccine, and the Today Show debuts. Hemingway talks a lot about Joe DiMaggio, he is even Santiago's hero. I assume this book takes place in '51 since DiMaggio retired in 1952. He was regarded then, and now, as the greatest baseball player of all time. Having him play the role of someone the old man looks up to for inspiration and regards as a hero is a nice acknowledgement of how much big and famous the "great DiMaggio" (Hemingway 17, 21, 22, 68, 97, 104, 105) was at that time. Even for a old fisherman living in Cuba, DiMaggio was a big influence to him. The old man mentions how great DiMaggio is and how if DiMaggio can play baseball with a bone spur, then the old man can deal with a little pain and reel in the marlin several times throughout the book.
This novel doesn't really talk about the social and behavioral issues of the time period, unless you count how nice the vendor people were who gave the boy free coffee and food for the old man. That showed how neighbors helped other neighbors and had each others back. Not everyone does that in current times. Maybe the relationship between the old man and the boy counts as a behavioral issue. Manolin looks after the old man even though he isn't related to him. The boy provides Santiago with food, news about the Yankees and the "Gran Ligas" (Hemingway 68) religiously and would fish with the old man, but his parents do not allow it. Their relationship has a grandfather to grandson kind of feel because the old man teaches the boy about fishing and tells him about his past in Africa. That relationship shows the bond of family and friendship regardless of age that is as easily found now a days. People are very independent now and don't take the time to form bonds like the one showed in the book.
The theme of this book is discussed in my third blog post about The Old Man and the Sea and I just worked for 6 hours at the "4th of July party that is on the 3rd of July" at the pool and I am tired so I don't feel like reiterating everything for the other blog. Sorry.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.
"Information Please: 1952." Infoplease. Pearson Education. Web. 03 July 2011.
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