20 Discussion Questions for The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (With Analysis) | Chapterly Blog
Quick Answer: The Old Man and the Sea explores endurance, pride, dignity, and humanity's relationship with nature; the best book club discussion questions focus on whether Santiago's struggle has value once only the skeleton remains, what "a man can be destroyed but not defeated" really means, and why he calls the marlin his brother. Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea is one of the most beloved novellas in American literature, and The Old Man and the Sea discussion questions push readers beneath its deceptively simple surface into questions about human endurance, the cost of pride, and what it means to struggle against forces you cannot defeat. Whether you are in a high school or college literature course, leading a book club, or revisiting Hemingway as an adult, these questions will open the text up in ways that surprise you. Published in 1952, the novella follows Santiago, an aging Cuban fisherman who has gone 84 days without catching a fish. He sails far out into the Gulf Stream and hooks a giant marlin, then battles it for three days before finally killing it. On the journey home, sharks devour the marlin until only the skeleton remains. Santiago returns to...