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 of 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 [29] 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.