What is a rhetorical analysis in The Old Man and the Sea?

A rhetorical analysis looks at the author's use of
language, his rhetorical devices, style, and tone.  Hemingway has a very distinct style:
Walker Gibson calls his style "Tough" and "Plain," which is to say that he tells a story
as simply and directly as possible without much adornment (adjectives, complex
sentences).  This style is, according to Professor Don
Nilson:

1.
the language of intimacy, the language of no pretensions.  The words are simple and the
grammar is simple.

2. the writing is not planned, but just
happens, in a stream of consciousness kind of way—you are
there.

3. the sentences are short and choppy.  If there is
conjunction it is coordination, not subordination.

4. it is
the language of the loosened tie and the rolled up shirt sleeves, with no
pretentious multi-syllable or low-frequency
words.

A rhetorical analysis
looks at diction, sentence complexity, use of dialogue, point of view, and purpose--as
well as the effects of all these upon an audience.  So, Hemingway, an old man himself,
is trying to humbly tell a story of another old man, Santiago, using a third person
omniscient point of view (we know the old man's thoughts) and a
sparse, minimalistic narrative.  Hemingway adopted this style from being a journalist;
he had to meet word counts and deadlines.  His style is also very masculine: concrete
word choice (not the flowery prose of a Romantic, let's
say).

Hemingway's sentences are very simple.  Many are
compound: he uses "and" a lot to string together short sentences.  This is called
polysyndeton, the repetition and pairing of conjunctions ("and") in
close succession for rhetorical effect.  Observe the title: "Old Man
and the Sea" and the first paragraph:

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But after forty days without a fish the boy’s
parents had told him that the old man was now
definitely and finallysalao, which is the worst form of
unlucky and the boy had gone at their orders in another
boat which caught three good fish the first week. It made the boy sad to see the old man
come in each day with his skiff empty andhe always went
down to help him carry either the coiled lines or the gaff and
harpoon and the sail that was furled around the mast. The
sail was patched with flour sacksand, furled; it looked
like the flag of permanent
defeat.

Hemingway's use of
"and" gives the narrative a rythym like the sea: it flows.  It's also a bit of stream of
consciousness, like thoughts floating onto paper.  Hemingway uses everyday words, much
like a fisherman would use, to achieve ethos, or a sense of trustworthiness in
character--both his (as author) and Santiago (his protagonist).