《老人与海》的主角分析

分类号： H31 单位代码： 104密 级： 一般 学 号： 6060122046本科毕业论文（设计）题 目：《老人与海》的主角分析 专 业：英 语 姓 名： 鲁 霞指导教师： 武竹青职 称： 讲 师答辩日期： 2008年6月2日ANALYSIS OF THE HERO IN THE OLD MANAND THE SEABYLU XIAA THESISSUBMITTED IN PARTIALFULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS TO SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGESYAN’AN UNIVERSITYJUNE 2008AbstractThe Old Man and The Sea is one of the most important works written by Hemingway. It describes that an old fisherman catches a giant marlin after 84 days. Having known that it is difficult to win, he still struggles to kill the fish. However, the fish’s blood attracts sharks. Santiago has a breathtaking struggle with sharks. As a result, the sharks leave him nothing but a huge skeleton. Santiago, the hero of The Old Man and The Sea, stands out the Hemingway’s greatest triumph of characterization. This thesis aims at analyzing the old man’s “tough guy”spirit, confident and optimistic attitudes towards life. In addition, the paper will discuss the realistic meaning of the spirit and comprehensive evaluation of the old fisherman. Thus we know that “man is not made for defeat, a man can be destroyed but not defeated”.Key words:spirit, confidence, optimism, realistic meaning摘要《老人与海》的主人公圣地亚哥是海明威塑造的最成功的形象之一。

小说描写的是老人在一无所获的84天后钓到了一条奇大无比的大马林鱼。

明知很难取胜，却仍不放弃最终将大鱼刺死。

然而血腥引来了鲨鱼群，老人与鲨鱼进行了殊死搏斗，结果大鱼仍然摆脱不了被吃光的命运。

最后老人筋疲力尽地拖回一副鱼骨头。

本文主要研究的是老人的硬汉精神以及自信乐观的人生态度，并探讨了这种精神的现实意义及对老人的综合评价。

关键词：精神；自信；乐观；现实意义Contents1. Introduction (1)2. Santiago’s grace under the pressure (3)2.1 The three layers of pressure (3)2.2 Santiago’s grace under the three layers of pressure (3)2.2.1 Grace u nder the first layer of the pressure (3)2.2.2 Grace under the second layer of the pressure (4)2.2.3 Grace under the third layer of the pressure (5)3. “Tough guy” spirit of the old man........................................................ (7)3.1 Conf ident and optimistic life attitude (7)3.2 Loneliness enduration (8)4. The relationship between the old man and the nature (10)5. The symbolic meaning of the old man (12)6. The active and realistic meaning of the old man (14)6.1 The understanding of the spirit of the old man (14)6.2 The confident and optimistic meaning (17)6.3 The old man in the readers’ eyes (18)7. The far-reaching influence on next generation (19)8. Conclusion (20)Bibliography (21)Acknowledgements (22)1.IntroductionErnest Hemingway (1899—1961), a famous American writer, is considered as one of the most important and outstanding writers of twenty century in the world. The Old Man and The Sea is the masterpiece in his decline life, which won the Pulitzer Prize in literature in 1953 and then the Nobel Prize in literature in 1954. Hemingway’s spoken language; natural uncluttered writing, deep psychological analysis and his ice-berg style create the simple and fresh characters. He once said, “no matter how artistic skills are superb, lose the mandate of such a carrier will not be suc cessful.”(顾振彪，2005，25) His works, such as The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms and in Our Time, describe that the wound-hearted young persons who come after the war are perplexed when confronted with the fate.For decades, experts and scholars at home and abroad study this novel in a comprehensive, profound and meticulous way, paying more attention to the image of a code hero, tragedy consciousness and artistic features as well as other aspects. In recent years, foreign Hemingway research has brought into perspective of ecological criticism and begun to study the relationship between Hemingway and the natural world. (肖文科，2005，124) The man loves the nature and wants to conquer the nature, but finally is punished by the nature. Ecoriticism is a study between literature and nature. The international commentators’ enthu siasm on the famous works has never ceased, and its significance goes far beyond the story itself maybe.In The Old Man and The Sea, an unvarying code, known as “grace under pressure”, which is actually an attitude toward life that Hemingway is trying to demonstrate in his works. The old man is finally in his lonely old age against the loss of his stress, poverty and the loss of luck. It is his indestructible spirit and attitude that make the man, the fisherman, a real man. In the realistic society, failure is inevitable in the struggle of nature. However, what really counts is not failure itself but what we think of failure and do after a failure. Most people do not seem to realize how much inner strength and ability they have; they don’t think they can cha nge their lives by themselves. But if they really have the desire and the ambition, then nothing is impossible.This essay aims at conducting an analysis of hero in The Old Man and The Sea in order to make the readers have a profound understanding of this works. First of all, discuss the old man’s dauntless and indomitable spirit and confident and optimistic life attitude. Then analysize the active and realistic meaning resulted from the old man’s characteristics. At last we know that “man is not madefor defeat, a man can be destroyed but not defeated”, man should learn to stand on his dignity and stay graceful even face some difficulties.2. Santiago’ s grace under the pressure2.1 The three layers of pressureThe success of The Old Man and The Sea lies most in its perfect display— the grace under pressure, which is a very important quality of Santiago. The quality is composed of two parts: pressure and grace. Pressure is the premise, only under the pressure can one’s graceful demeanor display. At the beginning of the novel, Santiago has gone eighty-four days without taking a fish and he becomes the laughingstock of his small village. This is an affront to a masterful fisherman, and it forms the first layer of pressure; as the story begins，a young boy, Manolin, stays with the old man, but after the fortieth luckless day, the boy’s father tells his son to go in another boat, leaving the skiff of which the sail is patched with four sacks and furled like the flag of permanent defeat. W hen the boy leaves the old man and fishes with another, they catch three good fishes in the first week. The boy’s good luck forms obvious contrast with the old man’s ill luck. If this happens to another boy, it is coincidental, but it happens to the boy who has got nothing with the old man for forty days and exactly when he leaves the old man for one week. This makes other fishermen believe that the old man is really unlucky enough. This is the second layer of pressure. When the old man hooks the biggest marlin he has never seen in the Gulf Stream, he is alone, without the benefit of modem technology. He endures a long and grueling struggle with the marlin and finally tries to kill the fish, then has a struggle with sharks in order to gain the fish. This is the third layer of pressure.2. 2 Santiago’s grace under the three layers of pressure2.2.1 Grace under the first layer of pressureAs the novel begins, we find Santiago definitely and finally fail, however, he keeps self-composed and has confidence in his dignity. So even having got nothing in the first eightyfour days, he continues to go out to fish. “The old man was thin and gaunt with deep winkles in the back of his neck. The brown blotches ran well down the sides of his faces and his hands had the deep-creased scars from handing heavy fish on the cords.”(Ernest Hemingway, 1997: 1) Such image often gives rise to people’s sympathy. However, the author’s tip is revolved, “Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated.”(Ernest Hemingway, 1997:2). We all know that eyes are the windows of one’s soul. It means the old man’ heart or soul is inconvincible. Santiago’s commitment to sail out shows his confidence to change his bad luck, because he clearly knows what he is born for. Yes, he is born for the conquering of the sea. In order to protect his dignity, he finally summarizes the famous motto “But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated” (Ernest Hemingway, 1997: 92).2.2.2 Grace under the second layer of pressureThe old man is in his adversity and the boy has got good fishes after he leaves the old man. Santiago doesn’t feel jealous but happy for him. The old man isn’t disheartened and firmly believes good luck is approaching. “But we have confidence. Haven’t we?” He may not be as strong as he thinks. But who knows? Maybe today. Everyday is a new day. The man brims with expectation and confidence. When talking with the boy who was not willing to leave, the old man said,“I know you did not leave me because you doubted?” And he feels it is quite normal. Though he would be lonely without the boy. When the boy asks if he could offer the old man a beer on the terrace and then takes the stuff home, the old man says,“why not, between fishermen .”All these details show that Santiago is reasonable, sensible, and kind-hearted. The old man’s grace lies in his gender feeling. Let us take a look at how the old man wakes the boy: he takes hold of one foot gently and holds it until the boy wakes up. When the boy is still sleepy, the old man puts his arm across his shoulders and says “I am sorry”. Just like Lu Xun said, heartlessness doesn’t make the hero; pity for children makes more the man. (金元浦，2000，79)With confident attitude toward life, the old man takes things philosophically. In fact he hopes the boy could come back to him and he needs the boy, but when the boy wants to be back,the old man refuses because it is the boy’s parents who make him leave and he could not make the boy awkward and unlucky with him.2.2.3 Grace under the third layer of pressureAs the saying goes, “Where there is a will, there is a way.”On the eighty-fifth day, Santiago catches a magnificent fish: a giant marlin. The old man thinks: Never have I seen such a strong fish. When fighting with the marlin, he is driven by the two opposite forces between certainty and uncertainty. However, the fish dies. The fish’s blood attracts sharks. So a new disaster is awaiting him. Santiago’s struggle with the giant sharks is even more breathtaking than with the marlin. Despite Santiago’s resolute efforts to kill and beat the sharks off, sharks continue to close in, tearing flesh from the marlin again and again. Sometimes Santiago feels lonely and helpless, but he conquers all of them ultimately. This is obviously the declaration to the difficulties and adversities. How valiant the pledge encourages him to struggle with sharks.Santiago recalls the arm—wrestling episode to give him more confidence. The recall would allow him to forget a connection with the marlin that goes beyond the literal link of the line: his bodily aches attested to the fact that he is well matched. That fish is an excellent opponent. As a young man, Santiago enjoys single-minded competitive contests, as an old man he continues to enjoy them.The old man conveys us that we human beings should keep grace even under the fierce pressure, should face the difficulties bravely, and keep the spirit of unyielding integrity. These are the qualities with which we should be equipped, just as the motto of the man, “Man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”“Grace under pressure” is a theme reflected in Hemingway’s other works. Such as in A Farewell to Arms, Henry, the hero of the novel, is a young, American ambulance driver with the Italian army. However, he doesn’t have strong obligation to fulfill the cause, and certainly he is not out for glory. He turns from the horrors to a war to a passionate, escapist love affair with Catherine Barkley, and the love helps distract him from the brutality around him. Still, he is good at his job. He is a cool-headed, unselfish man who exercises grace under pressurewhen he is injured and when he must shoot an engineering officer. Henry fulfills the code of “Hemingway hero”, he makes his “separate peace” when he decides that he no longer has any obligation to the army and that his loyalty is to Catherine.3. “Tough guy” spirit of the old man3.1 Confident and optimistic life attitudeThe old man’s self-confidence and optimism first manifests in the struggle with giant marlin. When the old man’s ship is pulled to a distant place, he realizes the danger, but actually does not give up. “Fish, I love you and respect you very much, but I will kill you dead before this day ends.”He acknowledges and faces up to his bad destiny, and he finally believes that he is more intelligent than sharks, and he can defeat the sharks. When the fish’s flesh is snatched, the old man still displays the optimism. “Think about something cheerful, old man “, he says, “Every minute now you are closer to home. You sail lighter for the loss of forty pounds.” (Ernest Hemingway, 1997: 93) This is uplifting spirit when he is in front of the irresistible misfortune. Even if the last flesh is swallowed by sharks, he doesn’t lose his unique sense of humor; he spits into the ocean and says, “Eat that, galanos. And make a dream you’ve like killed a man.”The old man’s optimistic spirit also manifests in his dream. He begins to dream and he sees the first of the lions come to the beach and then the other lions. He waits to see if there will be more lions and he is happy. He only dreams of places now and of the lions on the beach. They play like young cats in the dusk and he loves them as they love the boy. The lion plays on the beach, which demonstrates power, strength, and joyness. The old man has nothing but a fish skeleton when he comes back successfully. He is sleeping and dreaming of his usual dream of lions which play on the beaches of Africa. The lion represents the exuberant vitality and the youth. The old man sails to the sea without taking a fish, depending on the lion to make his spiritual prop. So long as he dreams of lion, he always optimistically believes that there is hope.The old man’s self-confident and optimistic spiritual prop also has the leading strength. He appreciates the baseball team’s member DiMaggio. He once leads Santiago’s team to winthe champion. The old man has the confidence of this competition. Fishing and the competition are simultaneously carrying on and the old man wants to make great efforts to repay the hero in the term. It is his appreciation and self-confidence that urges him not to be discouraged.Although senior fisherman is an ordinary fisherman, he is striving for success all the time.I am subdued by the old man’s self-confident and optimistic spirit. In the realistic life, we should treat the life with an optimistic manner when we come across some setbacks.3.2 Loneliness endurationThe author doesn’t confess the old man’s life experience, and the people don’t know where he comes from and whether he has family or not, only know that he is an old man who fishes alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream. The little boy, Manolin accompanying with the old man, is asked to go in another prosperous boat after fortieth luckless day. From then on, the old man confronts with the sea and sharks alone, but what the most frightening is the loneliness he comes across. For the old man, the only way to allay loneliness is internal monologue. He utilizes the internal monologue to demonstrate his inner world directly. In The Old Man and The Sea, more than fifty percent lengths are his internal monologue. He ponders on the sea lonely like this:He thought, “The birds have a harder life than we do except for the robber birds and the heavy strong ones. Why did they make birds as delicate and fine as those sea swallows when the ocean can be so cruel? She is kind and very beautiful. But she can be cruel and it comes so suddenly and such birds that fly, dipping and hunting, with their small sad voices are made too delicately for the sea.”(Ernest Hemingway, 1997: 21) The old man is sorry for the birds, especially the small delicate dark terns that are always flying and looking and almost never finding.In addition, inner world’s extension is represented through character’s exterior performance such as expression, the movement, the language as well as author’s narration.“Dolphin,” the old man said aloud. “Big dolphin.”“Stay at my house if you like, bird,” he says. “I am sorry I can’t hoist the sail and take you in with the small breeze that is rising. But I am with a friend.”(Ernest Hemingway, 1997: 46)He sighs with emotion. When he struggles with marlin, “I wish I had the boy,” (Ernest Hemingway, 1997: 36) which comes to the fore many times. His mention of the boy proves that he wants to overwhelm the loneliness and enhance courage and force to fight. The strong and confident Santiago breaks through all the difficulties. Under the brave fearless belief, he grows to a genuine man and becomes hero’s incarnation and the old man and the sea are wonderfully harmonious. His child-like simplicity, vast compassion and heroic spirit make him a fresh and full character. He is a man, an old fisherman, but we are actually unable to read out the senile implication from his language, movement and feelings.4. The relationship between the old man and the natureThe Old Man and The Sea has continued the natural subject in American literature and initiated a new dimension. And what the most noticeable is the old man’ contradictory manner toward the man and the sea, and the man and creatures. Hemingway always returns the relationship of human and environment, human and each kind of strength to the relation of competition and resist. In this point, there is no exception in The Old Man and The Sea. Competition inspires vitality, but when nature becomes the opposite of competition, human beings are no longer righteous in front of the morality and justice. The rationality of competition will be questioned since gaining the success means conquering the nature. However, the relationship between conquering and claim is full of slaughter and reeking of blood.The author describes like this: “The old man dropped the line and put his foot on it and lifted the harpoon high, he had just summoned into the fish’s side and pushed all his weight after it.”(Ernest Hemingway, 1997: 83)“When he rammed the harpoon down onto the shark’ head at a spot where the line between his eyes intersected with the line that ran straight back from his nose.” These details reflect Santiago’s cruelty. In this world, there is no families, no social relations; the human beings are simplified enormously. He confronts with the challenge lonely with muscular strength, courage and the survival wisdom. In some sense, the human beings are dissimulated by the competition.On the other hand, the old man is humble and warm-hearted in front of the nature. He always thinks of her as feminine and as something that gives or withholds great favors. A sea tired bird, jellyfish; the strip fish can draw his attention and long recollection. He talks with the nature and listens attentively. “How old are you?” the old man asked the bird. “Is this your first trip?” Marlin is also an important image in The Old Man and The Sea. It is marlin that creates a full and fresh character; it is marlin that makes us love life, bravely face the life. The marlin and the old man are contradictory and opposite, but exist in a unified world, the sea. The old man is human beings’ representative, and the marlin is nature’ representative.When he struggles with marlin, he can not but kills it. But on the other hand, he thinks the fish is his brother, his friend. “Fish,” he says, “I love you and respect you very much.” He admired the big fish’s beauty, he says, “Never have I seen a greater, or more beautiful, or a calmer or more noble thing than you.”(Ernest Hemingway, 1997：82)However, in The Old Man and The Sea, the contradiction between the human and the nature has not solved basically. When the old man goes to the sea, and says that the sea opens kindness greatly for a while, but is not willing to show mercy strength. It doesn’t show mercy, and makes him fail when success is approaching. When the old man tows the exhausted stature to return to the ashore finally, he sighs: “I went to sea have been too far.” In front of the nature, the old man has his own attitude, objective and logic, but he doesn’t design and choose the nature itself. The old man’ attitude and choice in front of nature display the theme of human beings, which are finally proved to be fabricated, even hypocritical.5. The symbolic meaning of the old manSantiago, the protagonist of the story, is the symbolism of “life hero”. He is human beings’ spiritual power and the embodiment of braveness and confidence. People can see how human beings defeat difficulties and face up to the death when encountered with disasters. The old man is energetic, powerful as well as strong when he is young, but what if he is old? He dares to accept the fight with all kinds of difficulties of human beings; he dares to challenge and surpass the limitation of human life; he dares to exchange honor and dignity with life. In a word, the story displays human life’ value from an unprecedented angle, which is intriguing. In the competition among the sea, the shark and the marlin, he shows us a piece of beautiful melody by his self-confidence, braveness and powerful heroic image, asif accompanied with a violin.Fisherman lives on fish, but on the broad and endless sea, the lonely old man doesn’t catch a fish for 84 days, which is really unlucky. However, the old man doesn’t lose heart.“Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated.”(Ernest Hemingway, 1997：2)Just as the old saying goes, “Eyes are the windows of one’s soul,”the comparison between the ocean blue eyes and the ranked boat signifies the disaster, indicates the dauntless personality of the old man .In the meantime, the optimism and the indomitable spirit are also demonstrated by this comparison. His decision of going to fish on the eighty-fifth day is the old man’s pursue to his ideal, and the representation of human beings conquering the self-weakness. When he struggles with the giant marlin, he displays: Mine does not matter, I can control. But this pain could drive him mad.He does not kill the fish only to keep it alive. He kills him for pride because he is a fisherman.The fight is not only the competition of physical body, what is more important is the self-confirmation of spiritual power. This kind of spiritual power is the embodiment of “life hero” for keeping man’s dignity, of “life hero” for realizing human being’s value to be alive. However, as the development of the storyline goes on, Hemingway puts the old man on theedge of danger once again. Confronted with the free shark which can do anything, human beings have no way to control it, just let it go. But the old man fights with it by all personal means, like using fork, knife, stick and so on. When he feels hungry, he will take a slice of flesh. The author describes like this:He hits it with his blood mushed hands driving a good harpoon with all his strength. He hits it without hope but with resolution and complete malignancy.He jerks the tiller from the rudder and beat and chops with it, holding it in both hands and driving it down again and again. He leans over the side and pulls loose piece of meat of the fish where the shark has cut him. He chews it and notes its quality and its good taste.Santiago bares the challenges of unfortunate fate successively and it is his braveness and power that defeat the disasters. While faced with the skeleton of the giant fish which is bitten by the sharks continuously, the old man says: “man can not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” By the fight between the old man and the shark, we can realize that “life hero” is undefeatable in spirit; it is the pledge of human being’s bright future.6. The active and realistic meaning of the old man6.1 The understanding of the spirit of the old manWinning the competition is often regarded as the highest goal. The daawn game which respects each other’s bilateral dignity, is actually not their pursuit. The old person lives on fishes. According to old man’s evaluation, this very good fish is more than 1500 pounds, can sell at a high price.Taking on the big fish means having the livelihood, but losing the big fish means leading a more poverty-stricken life. From the realistic benefit's angle, the old man has been defeated, because he has lost the big fish. But do not forget, the old man also has the spiritual pursuit: he must prove that he is great. The old man has several famous monologues not to be forgotten by the reader: “man is not made for defeat, a man can be destroyed but not defeated”, the old man fulfills his promise through his behavior. From the beginning to the end, he is maintaining the soaring spiritual strength and the life vigor, and declares this strength and the vigor. He has also sought his dignity and the confidence, which win others' respect for him. Therefore, after his returning to the small shack, he can rest fragrantly. The fishermen crowd the big fish skeleton with tourist’s exclamation, which forms conspicuous contrast with the dream of his distant Africa .Therefore, looking from the spiritual power; he is also the winner, the dauntless man. In a word, The Old Man and The Sea is an ode, which praises person's strength, dignity and courage.On the other hand, the old fisherman Santiago is the last tragedy hero Hemingway molds, and also the final summary of the“tough man”. The poor and luckless fisherman Santiago’s destiny is sorrowful, but he actually is also an undefeated hero, “hits the loser who doe s not defeat”. Hemingway's dauntless character image closely clanks attachment in Santiago, which is the spiritual symbol of Hemingway type “the dauntless man.”The old fisherman's painful destiny is precisely the artistic diffraction of Hemingway's own bitter experience. Hemingway attended two world wars and the Spanish war during thattime; the people did not wake from world war's nightmare. The depressed picture, the war and all sorts of incredibly social phenomena brought the very deep suffering to Hemingway's spirit and the body, which is also precisely one of old fisherman’s performances.The character image carries on the Hemingway’s dual disposition. The tragedy has surmounted his defeat, sublimated the significance of existence. The spoken language and the behavior reflect Hemingway's outlook on life and the standard of conduct. The spiritual victory lets these losers keep person's dignity and the courage, simultaneously covers the heart by a mask to have the romanticism color and natural fatalism. Hemingway also looks at how the elder brother is waken up by shouting the young boy in early morning, “he grips a child's foot gently, then has grasped is waking until the child”. T his displays the old person’s exquisite and tender feeling .And it has been vigorously concealed at the same time by Hemingway; perhaps this point has the close relationship with his dual dispositions.The o ld person’s situation is increasingly worsened by Hemingway. Under such three heavy pressure, the old person's graceful demeanor only appears solemnly and stirring. At the very beginning, he goes to the sea daily, after eighty-four days he comes back without taking a fish. This kind of defeat suffices “bad luck”. Afterward the child departing, the final bitter experience lets the man feel painful, however under the defeated condition, the elder brother perfectly manifests the Hemingway’s dauntless disposition. When his big fish is eaten by the sharks except a skeleton, he self-examines: “but, is what defeats you?” Am I walking too far?”(Ernest Hemingway, 1997:109) The old man acknowledges bravely his own defeat, absolutely believes the self-strength and this spirit has not been lost to the shark. The elder brother realizes: “once gives is defeated, the matter also easy to have managed”.The First World War has cast Hemingway’ basic view to the human society. In the Hemingway’s eye s, the world has filled with the violence and false. Death is waiting for the first person inevitably. This is the another symbol of elder brother's painful destiny .Survival in this kind of society gets down, we must set up the survival principle, which is: in the life, if we cannot win, we may also not admit defeat, you may endure silently and live with every effort; this survival principle regards the dauntless disposition as the life prop. Hemingway molds successfully the model dauntless character image, the old man has been doomed to be。