The Old Man and the Sea
Why do some fishermen call the sea "El Mar"?
Pages 1-30
Pages 1-30
Santiago thinks of the sea as a woman, thinks of it “as la mar, which is what people call her in Spanish when they love her,” while the younger fisherman think of the sea as the masculine “el mar ” and consider it “a contestant or a place or even an enemy.”
http://www.novelexplorer.com/the-old-man-and-the-sea/themes-and-characters-47/