This is the best work I can write so far. —Hemingway
In 1952, Hemingway, who was already a famous writer, published his novella "The Old Man and the Sea", which was not long, only about 30,000 words, however, after the publication of the novel, he won the Pulitzer Prize the following year, and the following year, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature. What is the magic of this novel, which can win two world literary awards at once?
The success of "The Old Man and the Sea" owes much to the "iceberg theory".
The so-called "iceberg theory" means that literary creation is like an iceberg, only "one-eighth" is exposed to the water, and the other "seven-eighths" is hidden underwater. What we see is just the tip of an iceberg, and the things under the iceberg are very large. Hemingway undoubtedly took this new style to the extreme!
The Old Man and the Sea is the pinnacle of Hemingway's "Iceberg Theory"!
The novella, though short in length, is also very simple in its main story— describing the thrilling three days of the old man Santiago's fishing at sea.
If the story is the "eighth" that emerges from the water, then the "seven-eighths" hidden deep under the water is the symbolic meaning behind it. Since the publication of The Old Man and the Sea, the interpretation of the symbolic meaning of several of the main images in the book has not stopped - the sea, the marlin, the old man, the boy.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="12" > symbol of the sea</h1>
The sea symbolizes the impermanent fate of mankind and the changing reality of society;
The sea symbolizes eternity, the invisible hand behind the Creator;
The sea symbolizes the life of mankind...
What the sea symbolizes, in fact, depends more on the reader's personal experience and life experience, and different people have different feelings.
The sea is mysterious and fickle, full of dangers and hidden life. The old man Santiago did not catch a single fish for 84 consecutive days, and on the 85th day, he decided to go deep-sea fishing, and finally caught an oversized marlin, however, under the nibble of sharks, the marlin became an empty fish skeleton.
Such a result, for the elderly, is undoubtedly a failure — if it is a failure.
In fact, failure has always been the theme of Hemingway's works, "life is just a game of failure in the end", why does Hemingway have such a pessimistic and desperate mood, and in his works from time to time?
For example, in "For Whom the Death Knell Tolls", the protagonist eventually leads to destruction; in "The Sun Also Rises", the protagonist can only passively accept the injustice and irrationality of life; the happiness and love of the captain in "Farewell, Weapon" are doomed to failure...
Hemingway participated in two world wars, and there is no doubt that the cruelty of war and the contempt for life brought him both mental and physical pain, so his sense of tragedy is very strong, perhaps in Hemingway's view, life is a cruel struggle, this struggle no matter how you try, it will eventually end in failure.
The sea is the carrier of the struggle, and anyone, in the face of the sea, is powerless, and in the end, it will disappear in the torrent of the sea, like a string of splashes.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="42" > second, the symbol of the giant marlin</h1>
It has been said that the marlin symbolizes a grand purpose, an extraordinary glory, a noble ideal and value.
It is also said that the marlin is the embodiment of the old man Santiago, or the embodiment of the author Hemingway.
Hemingway published his novel "For Whom the Death Knell Tolls" in 1940, and not a single work came out in 10 years, until he published "Crossing the River into the Forest" in 1950, but he was unanimously ridiculed by critics, believing that Hemingway Jiang Lang was exhausted and could no longer write anything new.
Such a situation is so similar to the situation of the old man Santiago, who is ridiculed by the old man Santiago for not catching a fish for 84 days, just as others laugh at Hemingway's lack of good works.
For the sake of dignity, the old man Santiago decided to go out to the sea to fish, but Hemingway waited bitterly, and finally wrote this article "The Old Man and the Sea", and from then on, until the shotgun passed through his body, Hemingway did not write again.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="43" > symbol of the elderly</h1>
A man can be destroyed, but he must not be defeated!
The old man symbolizes a tough guy spirit, symbolizes an indomitable hero in human society, or rather, the old man is more like the unyielding of human beings.
Hemingway lived in an era that was one of the most terrible dark ages in human society. The tragic lessons brought by World War I and World War II make people feel uneasy, even human beings who survived the war are full of confusion about life, unable to find the meaning of life, let alone the direction of life.
The trauma of war has left a shadow on all mankind, traditional values and outlook on life have been questioned, the loftiness and value of life have also been questioned, and the United States has spawned a "confused generation", and the times need a dose of strengthening. Thus, Hemingway created the image of the old man Santiago!
The old man was old, unfortunate, did not catch a fish for 84 consecutive days, people thought that he was doomed, however, the old man himself did not give up, on the 85th day, he drove the boat alone to the deep sea, in the end, he caught the biggest fish he had ever seen in his life, after three days and two nights of competition, the big fish was subdued, but on the way back, it was eaten by a group of sharks, although the old man and the shark had been fighting, still did not prevent the big marlin from being eaten, the old man exhausted all his strength, and finally failed.
"A man can be destroyed, but he must not be defeated!" This is the unyielding spirit of struggle in human beings, the quality of tenacious resistance, and although the old man has failed, he has won back his dignity.
If you know that you have lost, but you still fight, you will be defeated!
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="44" > symbol of boys</h1>
The boy, Manolin, symbolizes hope and future, symbolizes youth and vitality, and symbolizes the metabolism of human society.
Hemingway once said: "I tried to shape a real old man, a real child, a real sea and a real shark. If I can portray them as brilliant and authentic, they will mean a lot of things. ”
It can be seen that Hemingway's image of the boy was "premeditated" and not written in an essay, so the image of the boy also has a specific symbolic significance. At the end of the novel, the boy Manolin returns to the old man's ship, and this arrangement seems to have a profound meaning, which can be said to embody a inheritance of the human spirit, and also symbolizes the vitality and self-confidence of youth returning to the old man's body, and some people say that this is a critique of personal heroism in the Western world.
The old man will eventually die, but his life and the spirit of never being defeated will continue and flourish in the boy.