Discussion Topic
Santiago's admiration for Joe DiMaggio and baseball's significance in The Old Man and the Sea
Summary:
In The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago's admiration for Joe DiMaggio symbolizes perseverance and excellence. DiMaggio, known for his resilience despite physical pain, represents the ideal of "grace under pressure," inspiring Santiago in his own struggles. Baseball serves as a metaphor for American values and a source of identity for Santiago, reflecting his solitary yet competitive nature. Santiago's discussions about baseball with Manolin highlight themes of hope, resilience, and the pursuit of greatness in the face of adversity.
In The Old Man and the Sea, how does Hemingway portray the old man's attitude towards Joe DiMaggio?
Santiago and the boy live in a world of great poverty, but support each other through participation in shared fantasy.
Take, for example, their daily ritual of asking about dinner and the cast net:
What do you have to eat?” the boy asked.
“A pot of yellow rice with fish. Do you want some?”
“No. I will eat at home. Do you want me to make the fire?”
“No. I will make it later on. Or I may eat the rice cold.”
“May I take the cast net?”
“Of course.”
There was no cast net and the boy remembered when they had sold it. But they went through this fiction every day. There was no pot of yellow rice and fish and the boy knew this too.
It’s not that they are delusional, but that by referring to things they used to have, like the cast net, or the yellow...
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rice with fish, they tacitly acknowledge to each other their poverty and express both their love for each other and the hope that things will get better.
“The Great DiMaggio” is possibly the best example of this sort of hope. DiMaggio represents a kind of moral and practical perfection. DiMaggio is the standard the old man strives to reach; he hopes to “be worthy” of DiMaggio, who “does all things perfectly” despite the pain of a bone spur, an injury the old man does not understand. DiMaggio becomes a kind of alter ego for the old man; he is constantly comparing his ordeal with the fish to DiMaggio’s athletic performance. He wonders if DiMaggio would have stayed as long with a fish as he has, or if he would have liked the way he hit the fish “in the brain.”
Of course, DiMaggio’s presence in his life is as much a fiction as the missing cast net. What he knows about the real DiMaggio is limited to what he can read in newspapers, but the reality of DiMaggio’s talent and fortitude is less important than the example he sets. In fact, Santiago endures far more than DiMaggio ever did, bone spurs notwithstanding. It is almost comic the disparity between Santiago’s lived experience and that of his hero, which nonetheless motivates him to hang on.
Joe Dimaggio represents excellence in performance, with the longest hitting streak in baseball history. He does not need for his team, the Yankees, to win, because winning is, in some ways, incidental to the individual's performance. Even if you may lose (the fisherman does lose the fish, and the fish loses its life) but each of them performs with courage, which Hemingway defines as "grace under pressure." You may win, you may lose, but you can ALWAYS define yourself by courage. Hemingway was much more interested in knowing how to live with honor than in trying to figure out what it all meant.
Santiago loved the sea. He appreciated the beauty of the colors and the form of some of the creatures in the ocean. At the same time, he recognized that it could change from a beautiful setting to a threatening and potentially dangerous body of water very quickly, so there was a healthy dose of respect mixed in with the affection.
He always thought of the sea as la mar which is what people call her in Spanish when they love her...the old man always thought of her as feminine and as something that gave or withheld great favours, and if she did wild or wicked things it was because she could not help them.
Santiago was proud of his skill as a fisherman. He was confident in his ability to locate fish, even after his long stretch without any luck. He knew his equipment and how to use it, but he also recognized the strength and importance of the marlin's life and intelligence. The landing process was a battle of strength, wits, and endurance and he completed it with an attitude of prayerful gratitude and admiration for the marlin, as well as resignation toward the sharks and physical exhaustion.
Today’s student is probably not familiar with the 1967 film “The Graduate.” The music for that film was written, as many know, by Paul Simon and performed by Simon and Garfunkel. One of the more memorable songs from the film is titled “Mrs. Robinson,” one of the film’s two key characters (a married middle-aged woman who seduces a younger man into an affair). Simon included in the lyrics to “Mrs. Robinson” a homage to the late baseball great Joe DiMaggio, centerfielder for the New York Yankees. DiMaggio took umbrage at the use of his name in the lines from the song, “Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.” Later, Simon explained that the lyrics were intended to honor this revered athlete. In an interview, the songwriter/performer said,
In the 50's and 60's, it was fashionable to refer to baseball as a metaphor for America, and DiMaggio represented the values of that America: excellence and fulfillment of duty (he often played in pain), combined with a grace that implied a purity of spirit, an off-the-field dignity and a jealously guarded private life.
Baseball has been used as a metaphor for American greatness in many films, including “Field of Dreams.” Baseball is also extremely popular throughout the Western Hemisphere, including in many Caribbean islands like Cuba and Dominican Republic. It was common for Cubans (and Venezuelans, Hondurans, and so on) to avidly follow American baseball every summer.
This lengthy preface to the question regarding Santiago’s affinity for baseball and for Joe DiMaggio in Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea is offered to illuminate the depth to which baseball was absorbed into the psyche and culture of millions of Hispanics. Early in Hemingway’s novel, the titular “old man,” Santiago, is discussing fishing with Manolin, his young apprentice. As they discuss the day’s agenda, the subject of baseball and Santiago’s reverence for DiMaggio is on display. In the following passage, the boy is departing on an errand, but, before he leaves, he asks Santiago to talk about baseball when he returns. The “old man” immediately trumpets his beloved Yankees:
“When I come back you can tell me about the baseball.”
“The Yankees cannot lose.”
“But I fear the Indians of Cleveland.”
“Have faith in the Yankees my son. Think of the great DiMaggio.”
Later, after Manolin returns, he wastes no time asking for a conversation about baseball:
“Tell me about the baseball,” the boy asked him.
“In the American League it is the Yankees as I said,” the old man said happily.”
“They lost today,” the boy told him.
“That means nothing. The great DiMaggio is himself again.”
“They have other men on the team.”
“Naturally. But he makes the difference.”
. . .
“I would like to take the great DiMaggio fishing,” the old man said. “They say his father was a fisherman. Maybe he was as poor as we are and would understand.”
Joe DiMaggio, in stark contrast to many of today’s professional sports stars, was a model of quiet dignity and grace. He was also one of the greatest to ever play the game. If one loved baseball, as does the main protagonist in The Old Man and the Sea, then one must respect the New York Yankees. In the era in which Hemingway’s story takes place, respecting the Yankees means respecting DiMaggio.
Santiago is desperately poor. His pursuit of the marlin defines him. He views himself as similar to his idol DiMaggio in his own quiet dignity and in his pursuit of perfection. Manolin could enjoy greater success as an apprentice to other fishermen, but his love for Santiago keeps him loyal to the old man. Their conversations about baseball helps define their relationship. Baseball, as it often does (or did), serves as a metaphor for innocence and greatness—precisely the qualities the boy sees in the man.
References
What baseball team is mentioned in The Old Man and the Sea?
Santiago mentions the New York Yankees of the American League; however, he also alludes to a couple of other teams.
The old fisherman, Santiago, who has gone without catching anything for
eighty-four days, is in a dire situation. If it were not for the little boy
named Manolin, who steals or begs to be sure that Santiago has food and bait,
the old man probably would have died.
When Manolin brings his old friend food, they eat together and the boy asks
Santiago to tell him about baseball. Santiago's favorite player is the
legendary Joe (Jolti' Joe) DiMaggio of the New York Yankees. Santiago admires
DiMaggio for his athletic ability, of course, but also for the player's ability
to endure great pain from heel spurs and a shoulder that sometimes pops out of
its socket. He exemplifies the "grace under pressure" of the code hero, and
Santiago has great respect for him because he, too, possesses these qualities
of the code hero.
As the old man and Manolin talk baseball in the exposition of the novella,
Santiago also alludes to Dick Sisler. (While Sisler was in Havana he and author
Ernest Hemingway became good friends.) Sisler played first base for the St.
Louis Cardinals, then he went to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Still another team alluded to is the Brooklyn Dodgers, and another player is
John J. McGraw, star third-baseball of the Baltimore Orioles, one of the first
baseball stars, and, later, the famous manager of the New York Giants. He also
came to Cuba where he enjoyed betting on the horse races.
References
Why is Santiago interested in baseball in The Old Man and the Sea?
It is interesting that Santiago is so interested in a team sport like baseball when his own profession as a fisherman is a solitary one. The only sense of being on a team is when Manolin is with him but that is significant. In general, Santiago appreciates baseball because it is a competitive sport and he is a competitive fisherman.
Perhaps more significant is Santiago's admiration for Joe DiMaggio. Santiago was once a great and certainly more consistent fisherman. Now he is older, has more health problems, and struggles to compete/fish at the level he did as a younger man. DiMaggio is also in the twilight of his baseball career, no longer the dominant player he once was. Santiago identifies with DiMaggio in this way: they are both older, trying to recapture the successes of their younger days, and in the end just trying to continue in their respective professions.
So, not only does Santiago identify with DiMaggio, DiMaggio is a role model for the old man. Santiago also notes that DiMaggio's father was a fisherman, another way for him to identify with DiMaggio. Even when the Yankees lose, Santiago never loses faith.
"In the American League it is the Yankees as I said," the old man said happily.
"They lost today," the boy told him.
"That means nothing. The great DiMaggio is himself again."
Since Santiago identifies with DiMaggio, to lose faith in DiMaggio would mean Santiago would lose faith in himself. Santiago continues to fish despite his bad luck of having gone 84 days without a fish. Santiago wants to be himself again; to be a successful fisherman again. He wants DiMaggio, his role model and parallel, to be himself as well. If DiMaggio can return to his former glory, so can the old man. In this way, DiMaggio resembles a figure with Christ-like potential: the potential to resurrect a career and/or to rise again. Santiago believes in the aging DiMaggio in order to believe in himself.
Also note that Santiago wants to get back to a consistent level of fishing. He has gone 84 days without a streak. One of DiMaggio's greatest records is that he went on a 56-game hitting streak in 1941 (The Old Man and the Sea was written in 1951, the last year of DiMaggio's playing career, and published in 1952). Santiago has faith that DiMaggio can at least approach the same sort of success and Santiago uses that faith to give himself the motivation to go on.
What does the old man's feelings towards Joe DiMaggio reveal about his character?
Baseball plays a big role in Hemingway’s story, and the figure of Joe DiMaggio represents a kind of manly ideal of competence and integrity for Santiago. In this he is like the bullfighters Hemingway shows his reverence for in "Blood on the Sand" or The Sun Also Rises: like the bullfighters, DiMaggio epitomizes the idea of “grace under pressure,” the notion that the highest expression of integrity is doing one's job even when in great personal danger or pain; as Santiago says, he hopes he will be “worthy of the great DiMaggio who does all things perfectly even with the pain of the bone spur in his heel.” Earlier he tells Manolin, who fears that the Yankees might lose to the Indians, to “Have faith in the Yankees my son. Think of the great DiMaggio.” DiMaggio’s talent and integrity is an inspiration to Santiago, but also a point of comparison: he constantly imagines how DiMaggio would think of him and his work. Later, he asks himself, “Do you believe the great DiMaggio would stay with a fish as long as I will stay with this one? he thought. I am sure he would and more since he is young and strong. Also his father was a fisherman. But would the bone spur hurt him too much?” Still later, after the fish is caught, he reflects, “I wonder how the great DiMaggio would have liked the way I hit him in the brain? It was no great thing, he thought. Any man could do it. But do you think my hands were as great a handicap as the bone spurs? I cannot know. I never had anything wrong with my heel except the time the sting ray stung it when I stepped on him when swimming and paralyzed the lower leg and made the unbearable pain.”
Of course, all Santiago knows about baseball and DiMaggio comes from the newspaper; his persistent concern for DiMaggio’s “bone spurs” suggests that he has no real idea of what this injury could be and so attaches a kind of fabulous meaning to it; whatever hardship he might face, it could not be worse than a bone spur, even the “unbearable pain” of the sting ray's sting. In this way, Santiago’s reverence for DiMaggio becomes ironic; in fact, Santiago’s struggle with the fish, or even the day-to-day details of his life, far exceed anything the historical DiMaggio might have had to endure. Santiago might idolize DiMaggio, but he himself is the real hero.
Ernest Hemingway writes in "The Old Man And The Sea:"
"The Yankees cannot lose."
"But I fear the Indians of Cleveland."
"Have faith in the Yankees my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."pg 17.
Santiago's attitude toward Joe DiMaggio is one of fondness and honor. He thinks Joe is great and has faith in the Yankees because they have the "great" Joe DiMaggio. Hemingway also shows us Santiago's respect for DiMaggio through Santiago's remarks about Joe while he is fighting to catch the big marlin. On page 103-104 Santiago states that he wonders how DiMaggio would have liked how he hit the marlin "in the brain." Santiago is a man who honors men who work hard, have confidence in themselves, and have integrity. He respects DiMaggio so much he says he would like to take him fishing sometime.
Why does Santiago idolize Joe DiMaggio in The Old Man and the Sea?
Ernest Hemingway's novel, The Old Man and the Sea, was first published in 1952, a time when baseball was America's favorite pasttime. At that time, the premier baseball team was the New York Yankees, and the premier player was none other than "Joltin' Joe" DiMaggio, also known as "The Yankee Clipper." Here are some facts about Joe DiMaggio:
At the time of his retirement, he had the fifth-most career home runs (361) and sixth-highest slugging percentage (.579) in history. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak (May 15–July 16, 1941), a record that still stands.]A 1969 poll conducted to coincide with the centennial of professional baseball voted him the sport's greatest living player.
In the setting of the narrative, Joe DiMaggio was a baseball icon that many fans, especially Yankee fans, adored because he led the team to nine titles in thirteen years. His popularity was so great that he was often referred to in literature, film, television, and art. Interestingly, Joe's father, Giuseppe DiMaggio, Joe's father, was a fisherman, so perhaps this fact influences Santiago. After all, the Cuban fisherman declares, “I would like to fish with the great DiMaggio. They say his father was a fisherman.” Indeed, DiMaggio is the perfect baseball hero for Santiago.
DiMaggio's biographer, Richard Ben Cramer, wrote about both DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe, whom he married,
And inside those personages . . . these two . . . were only small and struggling, fearful to be seen. And alone—always. . . . In their loneliness, they might have been brother and sister.”
This alienation and loneliness is also something with which Santiago is intimately familiar, as well. Clearly, then, Santiago can relate to Joe DiMaggio.
What is the significance of baseball in Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea?
In Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, we hear a lot about baseball and especially Joe DiMaggio, who is Santiago's favorite player. The game and the player are important symbols throughout the story.
As you begin preparing for your essay, you will have to develop your thesis statement. You might focus on the symbolism of baseball and DiMaggio. For Santiago, DiMaggio is something of an ideal, someone who has overcome great hardship to find success. He can turn to DiMaggio in times of difficulty and be inspired to keep on persevering and working even when he has not caught a fish in eighty-four days or when the marlin nearly defeats him. DiMaggio provides hope.
Baseball also symbolizes the connection between Santiago and Manolin. Manolin looks up to Santiago the way Santiago looks up to DiMaggio, and the two discuss baseball all the time. It is through baseball that Santiago teaches Manolin about faith and hard work.
Finally, you might talk about how baseball represents comfort. Santiago thinks and talks about baseball in the more difficult times of his life. It calms him and comforts him, helps him do what he must without panicking or giving up.
You can use some of these ideas in your essay, but make sure you have a strong thesis statement that is supported by reasoned argument and evidence drawn from the story.
Which baseball player did the old man in The Old Man and the Sea support?
Santiago's favorite baseball team is the New York Yankees, and his favorite baseball player is Joe DiMaggio. Santiago refers to his favorite player as "the great Joe DiMaggio" and often thinks about what Joe DiMaggio would do in difficult situations. Santiago believes that Joe DiMaggio would be able to understand him in a way that Manolin cannot, because of their similarities. Santiago relates to the fact that Joe DiMaggio's father was a fisherman and that he also succeeded in spite of physical ailments like bone spurs. When Santiago begins to suffer from severe cramps and exhaustion out at sea, he thinks about what Joe DiMaggio would do in his situation, which motivates him to continue struggling with the enormous marlin. Santiago also hopes that one day Manolin will become as great as Joe DiMaggio. Overall, Santiago admires the great Joe DiMaggio and uses his accomplishments to motivate him while reeling in the gigantic marlin.