“He always thought of the sea as 'la mar' which
is what people call her in Spanish when they love
her. Sometimes those who love her say bad
things about her but they are always said as
though she were a woman. Some of the younger
fishermen, those who used buoys as floats for
their lines and had motorboats, bought when the
shark livers had brought much money, spoke of
her as 'el mar' which is masculine.They spoke of
her as a contestant or a place or even an enemy.
But the old man always thought of her as
feminine and as something that gave or withheld
great favours, and if she did wild or wicked
things it was because she could not help them.
The moon affects her as it does a woman, he
thought.”
— Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea