Cultural Imperialism, Afro-Cuban Religion, and Santiago's Failure in The Old Man and the Sea

In The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway was profoundly affected by the Afro-Cuban religion of Santería and sympathetic to the idea that the sea was protected by saints and orishas. Secular faiths carry no remit in the novella and those who sail the Strait of Florida without ritual acknowledgement or acts of propitiation run the risk of being punished. Such is the fate of Santiago. His faith in baseball and his allegiance to the New York Yankees is an illustration of how mass culture was used by the United States to win Latin American hearts and minds in the post-war era and of the way such culture functioned as an instrument of social control in the fight against Communism.