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Work #776 · Late

The Old Man and the Sea

Ernest Hemingway
1952 · English
Modern American novella · Mid-twentieth-century American modernism

Hemingway's 1952 short novel of the old fisherman Santiago — Pulitzer 1953, Nobel 1954

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute The Old Man and the Sea (Late)
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Both
Observer · Number Single
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Theistic
Observer · Moral Authority Experience
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

The Old Man and the Sea

The three-day battle with the marlin.

Space

The Old Man and the Sea

The Gulf Stream, the Cuban shore.

Matter

The Old Man and the Sea

The old man's body, the marlin, the sharks.

Observer

The Old Man and the Sea

Santiago in solitary effort.

Energy

The Old Man and the Sea

Energies of effort and endurance.

Information

The Old Man and the Sea

The unspoken code of dignity in defeat.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

The Old Man and the Sea

Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea: a paradigm of mid-twentieth-century American prose; an iconic statement of the Hemingway code.