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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSSantiago is an aging Cuban fisherman who has gone eighty-four days without catching a single fish, earning a reputation around the harbor as permanently unlucky. His young apprentice Manolin has been moved to a more successful boat by his parents, though the boy still sneaks food and supplies to the old man out of loyalty and affection. Determined to break his losing streak, Santiago rows far out into the Gulf Stream alone on the eighty-fifth day, sets his lines at precise depths, and hooks an enormous marlin that begins towing his skiff steadily out to sea.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Old Man and the Sea
SPOILERSEvery one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about The Old Man and the Sea. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.
Where in the book they come from
- Early in the book
In what book is a boy ordered by his parents to leave an unlucky fisherman called salao?
✓ Answer
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Manolin's parents call Santiago salao, the worst form of unlucky, and force the boy onto a luckier boat after forty fishless days.
- First half
In what book does a character recall a male marlin staying beside the boat after his mate was killed?
✓ Answer
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Santiago remembers gaffing the female while the male stayed alongside, then leapt high to see where she was. He calls it the saddest thing he ever saw at sea.
- First half
In what book does a tired warbler land on the taut line connecting a fisherman to a hooked fish?
✓ Answer
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
A small exhausted warbler rests on the taut line. Santiago talks to it kindly and invites it to stay at his house, but he says nothing to it about the hawks that come out to sea to meet migrating birds.
- Second half
In what book does a fisherman call a giant marlin his brother as it circles his skiff?
✓ Answer
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
As the marlin circles, Santiago calls it the noblest thing he has ever seen even while he strains to kill it. He says, "Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who," expressing his strange affection for his prey.
- Second half
In what book does a fisherman lash an enormous marlin to bow, stern, and middle thwart?
✓ Answer
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
After killing the marlin, Santiago ties it tightly to his skiff. He calls it slave work, knowing the catch is too big to bring inside the boat, and ties its lower jaw to its bill so they sail cleanly.
- Near the end
In what book does a fisherman drive a harpoon into a Mako shark's brain after it tears at his catch?
✓ Answer
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Santiago kills the first attacking shark, the dentuso, by spearing it at the point where lines from its eyes and nose would intersect. The shark takes about forty pounds of the marlin and the harpoon with it as it sinks.
