The Fictional World of Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and The Sea: Emic and Etic Perspectives on its Worldbuilding

Sammanfattning: Reading is a past time activity that is popular all around the world. It is something thathelps us escape reality and put our focus elsewhere. When immersing yourself in afictional world, it can be intriguing to think of how it was created. When we think ofworld-building, we think especially of fantasy works such as The Lord of The Rings orSF classics such as Dune takes place. But what about fictional worlds that are closer tothe world known by its readers? Ernest Hemingway based his novel The Old Man andThe Sea on the actual world, which makes it believable and relatable. Most previousstudiesfocus on underlying meanings of the narrative, on metaphors orstylistic choices.It is a novel that is narratively limited to one man and a fish out in the open ocean, butit still feels as if the world surrounding them is vast. Hemingway was known for usinga simple style when creating his fictional worlds and this essay will try to comprehendhow he managed to create such an intricate world by following one simple fishermanand his struggle with the biggest fish of his life. In this essay I will argue that the useof an emic point of view – using the perception of the protagonist Santiago – invitesthe reader to recenter to one point in this vast world, while the occasional intrusion ofan etic perspective establishes a connection between the narrator and reader thatlocalizes Santiago’s point of view.