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AP Success - AP English Literature Prose Analysis: The Old Man and the Sea

The following excerpt is from Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, published in 1952. In the passage, the narrator describes the dreams and following morning of an old man, the story’s main character. Read the passage carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how the author uses literary elements and techniques to reveal the old man’s personality and character. 

In your response you should do the following:

•	Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible interpretation.
•	Select and use evidence to support your line of reasoning.
•	Explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning.
•	Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.

The old man dreamed of Africa when he was a boy and the long, golden beaches. He lived along that coast now every night and in his dreams he heard the surf roar and saw the native boats come riding through it. As he slept he smelled the smell of Africa that the land breeze brought in the morning.

He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of great events, nor of great fish, nor of fights, nor of contests of strength, nor of his wife. Now he only dreamed of places and of the lions on the beach. They played like young cats in the dusk and he loved their, as he loved the boy. He never dreamed about the boy.

He woke up, looked out the open door at the moon and unrolled his trousers and put them on. He went up the road to wake the boy. The door of the house where the boy lived was unlocked and the old man opened it and walked in quietly. He took hold of the boy's foot gently and held it until the boy woke and turned and looked at him. The old man nodded and the boy took his trousers from the chair by the bed and, sitting on the bed, pulled them on.

The old man went out the door and the boy came after him. He was sleepy and the old man put his arm across his shoulders and said. "I am sorry."

"Que va," the boy said. "It is what a man must do."

They walked down the road to the old man's shack and all along the road, in the dark, barefoot men were moving, carrying the masts of their boats.

When they reached the old man's shack the boy took the rolls of lute in the basket, the harpoon and gaff, and the old man carried the mast with the furled sail on his shoulder.

"Do you want coffee?" the boy asked.

"We'll put the gear in the boat and then get some."

They had coffee from condensed-milk cans at an early morning place that served fishermen.

"How did you sleep, old man?" the boy asked. He was waking up now although it was still hard for him to leave his sleep.

"Very well, Manolin," the old man said. "I feel confident today."

"So do I." the boy said. "Now I must get your sardines and mine and your fresh baits."

"I'll be right back." the boy said. "Have another coffee. We have credit here."

The old man drank his coffee slowly. It was all he would have all day and he knew that he should drink it. For a long time now eating had bored him and he never carried a lunch. He had a bottle of water in the bow of the skiff and that was all he needed for the day.

The boy was back now with the sardines and the two baits, and they went down to the skiff, feeling the pebbled sand under their feet. They lifted the skiff and slid her into the water.

"Good luck, old man."

"Good luck," the old man said.

Source 1.1: Excerpt from "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemmingway

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