Old Man and The Sea "The great DiMaggio is himself again!"(21), in Ernest Hemingway's novel, The Old Man and the Sea, which takes place near Havana, Cuba in the Caribbean Sea, a very old, unlucky, fisherman sets out for the big catch. The great DiMaggio is seamed throughout the novel to symbolize the old man and his struggle to catch the big fish, yet also he poses as a role model for Santiago (the old man). The old man is using the great DiMaggio for a role model. At a certain point in the struggle to catch this great fish, the old man begins to cramp up in his left hand, do to the fish pulling so strenuously on the line. W