An-Analysis-of-the-Old-Man-and-the-Sea.docx

An Analysis of the Old Man and the Sea Key words: Ernest Hemingway the Old Man and the Sea Santiago, writing style influenceAbstract: Ernest Hemingway was a famous American novelist. He was a myth in his own time and in American literature. He was a glamorous hero whose style of literature is very ingenious and very popular in Europe and American. In 1954, Hemingway got the Nobel Prize for literature according to his the great work the Old Man and the Sea. This essay analyzes simply the “writer”, “the image, spirit and the character of Santiago”, “the internal meaning”, the style of literature and influence of Hemingways masterpiece the Old Man and the Sea, aiming to understand the book deeply.I. Introduction The writerErnest Hemingway (1898-1961) is a remarkable writer. He was born on July 21st, 1899 at Oak Park, Illinois, near Chicago in American. Influenced by his father who was a successful physician with a relish for hunting and fishing, he loved the outdoors from childhood. In his childhood, he was interest in hunting, fishing and so on. His variety of interests especially the love fishing almost followed all his life and had important influences on his writing inspiration and helps to develop his special personality. He loved to take adventures. He went to Europe to take part in World War I. He joined a volunteer ambulance unit in France, gained transfer to the Italian front, suffered serious injuries but had survived. In 1922 he settled in Paris was famous in the 1920s. Disillusioned by the loss of faith and hope, the expatriate intellectuals group in Paris, who replaced former ideals and values only by despair or a cynical hedonism, formed the background of his first major novelThe Sun Also Rises published in 1926, when he was only 26years old. The book deals with the living attitude of the postwar generation especially those who thought that life was nothing and meaningless and Hemingway became a representative of the “Lost Generation”. Hemingways writing career began in high school and continued until his death in 1961 and beyond, with several of his works published posthumously when The Old Man and The Sea appeared in 1952, he had been an international literary celebrity for more than a quarter of a century.2. The plot of the storyThe Old Man and the Sea, for which Hemingway was awarded the Novel Prizes for literature, is one of the most influential novels of the literary treasure of the world. It is so widely read that people consider that wherever there is an intellectual, people know Hemingway without knowing his work The Old Man and the Sea. This very simple written novel has described as one of Ernest Hemingways best classical book. Famously known for his taut and short sentences, Hemingway created an interesting and unique style of writing that still fascinates readers today. This novel is very direct with the story of Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman that has been unlucky with trying to catch fish. A young man named Mandolin is almost like a son to him and tries to help him on his small boat called a skiff. Although Santiagos luck continues to dwindle down, Mandolin didnt lose heart. He thought the old man will succeed at last, so he continues to help the man. Even though hunger pervades him and money is not available, Mandolin makes sure that Santiago has food and blankets to sleep on. This novel explores man versus nature, internal conflict and, as is evident in other of Hemingways literature wars, the theme of being courageous. With Santiagos struggle to catch the marlin and his journey home, Santiagos courage is obvious as he faces these odds that just dont seem to end. He does not give up and even though he feels he has been very unlucky, there is hope instilled within him to keep going on. He is destroyed but not defeated.Analysis of the Old Man and the Sea The image, character and spirit of SantiagoAs we all know, the world of Hemingway is characteristically violent brutal, the world of war, of crime, of dissipation, of the bullring and prize ring of big game hunting and deep sea fishing, it is also a world of failure. The typical character always standings under the shadow of ruin. But it is just in this situation to which man has to face a man should conduct himself well in the losing battle and that is life.The old fisherman Santiago in the Old Man and the Sea is the finest and the best known of Hemingways heroes. The most important thing about him is that he behaves perfectly honorably, with great courage and endurance.Hemingway succeed in revealing the outstanding qualities of the old manself-confidence. The old man is thin and gaunt, he has deep wrinkles, discolored clothes, but his eyes are perhaps the key to his soul. It is clear that he has optimistic nature. He must be very disappointed while he does not lose hope. Instead, he is self-confident of catching a big fish the following day. It is hope and strong belief that encourage him to persist in going fishing. He no longer dreamed of storms, fights, contests. He only dreamed of places now and of the lion on the beach. He is old now and his youth or strength is left behind him. His dream gives him braveness, then, the book describes the detailed process when the old fished. All above shows the old man is steadfast.The second part of the novel begins with the early morning of the last day, hopefully, the old man sails silently on the black sea. It is very all around. He enjoys the beauty of nature, without considering the disappointment of previous days. To him, a new day is a new start. This is a kind of pure doctrine which ever flourished in ancient times. Also, it takes a rather important position in American literature. The old man believes in simplicity. He is simply dressed and sails alone on the sea, not using modern tools, neither a map nor a compass.Fortunately the man caught a giant fish on the afternoon of that day, he regards the fish as his brother, but he has to kill it. During the fighting the old man thought of the past, by describing the process of his fishing the marlin, Hemingway shows us another characteristic of Santiago as a tough man. That is, to display great tenacity and to show the death-defying spirit in the actual battle. Santiago fought with the marlin, which is immense and strong. Santiago and the marlin neither side is ready to yield. After two days, he manages to kill the marlin with his spear. He is extremely tried because he continues to fights and one neither gives up. In the old mans attitude to the fish there is the type the gallantry and heroism that Hemingway admires.The character of Santiago is complex in novel. Firstly, the old man is presented as a brave and courageous man. He reaches the sea where nobody has ever tried before. Surrounded by darkness, latent geographical dangers, fierce birds and sharks which may destroy him at any moment, he rows his boat on the sea for two days and two nights, really a unique and daring journey. Even when he is too exhausted and has no gaff and harpoon to kill the swamp of sharks, his bravery is not shattered. He still makes use of his strength and wisdom to boat home.Secondly, Santiago is a man of great wisdom, which sometimes compensates for currents: he knows when the hurricane will arise by looking at the clouds; he uses salt water to making baits and eating of white in the old mans wisdom so that he is able to tackle courage. Santiagos lifelong experience provides him bountiful resources of wisdom so that he is able to tackle all situations, whatever they may appear to be.Thirdly, Santiago is a man of dignity for which Hemingway shows his great interest and praise. To the old man, a mans most important quality is his dignity. He should safeguard it for all his life and under no circumstance can be he takes it lightly. He has confidence on fishing and dignity of himself; he is serious of his dignity. When the story develops, we are gradually led to see the wisdom and actions he takes to protect his dignity.In addition, the old man is not a saint he has his weakness of uncertainty and difference. He is driven through the two opposing forces between certainty and uncertainty, confidence and difference. This is best presented in his long monologue as he is fighting with the marlin and the sharks. The old man sometimes feels he needs companion to give him confidence and certainty about himself. His mentioning of the boy several times proves that he finds his weakness and uncertainty growing out of his strengths and weakness.In a world, when Hemingway creates the image of Santiago, a man of bravery, wisdom, dignity and diffience, he purposefully makes the old man different both from people of his age and all times, just as the text says, “There are many good fisherman and some great ones. But there is only you. ”2. The internal meaningThe Old Man and the Sea may be read on more than one level of meaning. On one hand it is an exciting but tragic adventure story. Sustained by the pride of his calling, the only pride he has left, a broken old fisherman ventures far out into the Gulf Stream and their hooks the bigger marlin ever seen in those waters. Then, alone and exhausted by his struggle to harpoon the giant fish, he is forced into a losing battle with marauding sharks; they leave him nothing but the skeleton of his catch.On another level the book is a fable of the unconquerable spirit of man, a creature capable of snatching spiritual victory form circumstances of disaster and material defeat. Hemingways hero as a perfectionist man tell us: To be a man is to behave with honor a dignity, not to succumb to suffering, to accept ones duties without complaint, and most importantly to have maximum self-control. At the end of the story he mentions, “A man is not made for defeat, a man can be destroyed but not defeated.” The Santiago completes the novel undefeated and still in possession of his dignity, so he is the true winner of his spirit. Hemingway draws a distinction between two different types of success: outer-material and inner-spiritual.Hemingways writing styleThe writing style of Hemingway is social. He usually describes his own true experience in this novel. Hemingway creates many “Hemingway heroes”. They live in great pressure, they suffer from painful physical wound and terrible mental wound, but they always keep stances of manhood, such as Santiago in the Old Man and the Sea.Hemingway uses simple, short sentence are often connected by “and”, “then” and sometimes “so”. They are easily understood and can express his feeling correctly. Hemingway uses few adjectives and adverbs in his novels and he never give over-embellish and abstract to the sentence.Hemingway also uses iceberg theory. The common sentences used by Hemingway always have special implication. We must understand the background of the story and Hemingway well, if we want to get the true implication of Hemingways novels. He had the ability to combine simple realism of narrative with complex symbolism of image at once. The implied meaning was left for various explanations and in a sense a far-reaching effect was obtained. For example, in the novel The Old Man and The Sea, there are many symbols. If we plainly understand the symbols as physical things, we might lose the essence of the novel and be misled to think that this is a simple story about the old mans fighting with the sharks. In the novel, Hemingway chooses an old fisherman as his hero, and he uses the old man to replace his real name Santiago. This makes us see that the old man is not a person solely of himself. Hemingway chooses sea as the background, the sea both as the opposing and harmonious force, but not simply a true sea. The influence of the bookIn some ways, it is Hemingways style that has had the most influence on American life, for American newspapers and magazines in the last half of the century reflect the controlled and understated prose that Hemingway learned to write as a cub reporter at the Kansas CITY ster in 1917, a style that he utilized throughout his life in the best of his work. Even television reporters in the United States speak a language that reflects Hemingways sparse style, devoid of florid excesses and rhetorical flourishes. The elegance of Hemingways prose derives from the specificity with he describes the sensory nature of human experience.ConclusionIn short, the Old Man and the Sea is an outstanding work in which Hemingways writing techniques have reached a very high degree. In this book, Hemingway created a brave heroSantiago with confidence that can not be defeated and found out the soul of “hard bone”, which is eternal value of human being.References1外国文学评论选 湖南人民出版社 1983年A Course in American Literature南开大学出版社 1995年宁倩美国文学名家 黑龙江人民出版社 1985年The Old Man and the Sea 外国教学与研究出版1996年打不败的失败者 人大复印报刊材料外国文学研究1984年第3期朱维之外国文学简编 中国人民大学出版社 1980年