"The Old Man and the Sea", a world famous work, has aroused strong repercussions since its inception, and once set off a "Hemingway fever". Until now, its charm is still the same, and it has not declined because of the passage of time. The plot of the novel is simple, and Hemingway did not bother to construct a novel story, but chose a common cliché in literary history, but whenever you read it, you will be moved by the simple story.
The success of "The Old Man and the Sea" is inseparable from Hemingway's principle of iceberg creation, if the story is one-eighth of the iceberg exposed on the sea, then seven-eighths is hidden under the sea. Scholars have made various interpretations of the novel's thematic ideas based on seven-eighths of the underwater hiding.
Among the many interpretations, the recognized theme of the novel is the extraordinary courage and elegant demeanor displayed by the old man Santiago in the face of the inevitable fate, the "tough guy" spirit presented, and the ode to mankind's never-say-die. It inspired many people, and even Hemingway had a profound impact on American society as a "tough guy." The classic quote from the novel: "Man is not born of failure." A person can be destroyed, but cannot be defeated", and it is regarded by many people as the motto of life.
However, it is inconceivable that Hemingway, who is regarded as a "tough guy", eventually chose to commit suicide and left this world. In a sense, such an ending more or less means that he is disappointed in the world and has no hope for life, otherwise why would he choose to "surrender"?
Hemingway, who surrenders to life, and the old man who fights desperately in the novel, they have a certain common ground. They can all represent the elite in social relations, With Hemingway having a place in the literary world and the elder Santiago with superb skill and astonishing record in fishing. Their lives have been brilliant in their respective fields, but in the end they inevitably face failure.
In dealing with the relationship between man and the world, they all invariably chose to fight, Hemingway has been adventurous all his life, and his novels can almost be said to be soaked with most of his real life experiences, and the old man in "The Old Man and the Sea" is no exception. Santiago spent his life at sea, working as a sailor and crew in his youth, and fishing for a living in his old age, and experienced many dangers at sea. But they never wanted to get ashore and live a peaceful life. They are constantly seeking breakthroughs and pushing the limits in their respective fields.
This article will further explore the theme of "The Old Man and the Sea" by understanding the sea and the old man, these two symbolic objects and people, and their relationship.
In Western literature, it is not uncommon for the sea to be used to symbolize the mysterious and dangerous modern world. The British novelist Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe", Robinson always encountered danger when going to sea, and the second time he went to sea, he was trapped by the ocean on a desert island. American writer Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" also sets the main battlefield of the story on the sea. The 20th-century British writer Golding's "Lord of the Flies" is also a work that traps a group of children on a desert island, and so on, all of which are set against the backdrop of the sea.
Symbolizing the human world with the sea is also a very important tradition in Western literature, writers usually use the relationship between people and the sea to compare the relationship between people and the world, and the image of people on the sea refers to the existence of people in an uncertain living environment.
In Hemingway's later works, the story often lies somewhere between a "death" and a "tough guy." In Hemingway's eyes, the human world has never been free from violence. And throughout his own life, he also participated directly or indirectly in this violence. He has been directly involved in physical violence, such as experiencing two world wars firsthand, seeing first-hand the devastation of war, the violence of weapons, the horrors of prisons, and the horrors of death. And this tangible violence directly led to his mental trauma, and his mind and body were tortured because of the pain of participating in the war.
It can be said that his life has been alternated between peace and struggle, and thus constantly obtained such and such achievements from it, and this is also the eternal value of human beings in the world.
In "The Old Man and the Sea", we can also see that the old man is full of enthusiasm and curiosity about the sea, but also a little afraid and lonely. In the face of the sea, his mood is contradictory. He sometimes thought that the sea was a woman, and even if she did something rough or evil, it was because she couldn't help herself, just as a woman is influenced by the moon. Still curious about the sea, he wanted to sit on the plane and see what the sea looked like?
He pitied the big fish he had caught, but he did not waver in his determination to kill it because of a pity. He was glad he didn't have to try to kill the sun or the moon, but only to rely on the sea and kill our true brothers to make a living. He thinks there are our friends and enemies in the sea.
At the end of the novel, when he finds nothing, he thinks of the bed and says that the bed is a good thing. At the same time, I also think of failure:
You're easily defeated, he thought. I didn't know you were so easily defeated. Don't know what can beat you, he thought. "It's all right," he said, "I'm too far out of the sea. ”
The bed symbolizes stability, wrapping and comfortable space, and for an elderly person, the bed also means the destination of life. The old man was not willing to face failure, knowing that for the sake of the big fish, he almost took his life. But the sea did not show him the slightest pity, and in the end he found nothing.
For day 85, it is difficult to define whether it succeeds or fails. But in the face of the sea, the old man had to admit that the world of the sea was sometimes associated with violence, and his little fishing boat could not control the lonely sea.
"The sea is very big, and the fishing boats are very small and difficult to see," the old man said. He found it nice that someone could chat, and he never had to talk to himself or to the sea anymore.
From this, we can conclude that in the eyes of Hemingway and the old man, the relationship between man and the sea is both opposite and unified, which is also the relationship between man and the world, a pair of contradictions, there is a violent side in harmony, and violent resistance is for a certain short-term harmony.
The old man can not do without the sea, fishing for a living, the sea is his home for survival and activities. Whether the sea is peaceful or dangerous, he must go out to sea to fish. Because if you don't go to sea, you will lose your identity as a "fisherman" and lose the capital for survival. On the other hand, the "sea" is an objective existence that is not subject to the will of the old man. The ferocity and impermanence of the sea are often contrary to the wishes of the old man.
This also determines that people will always fall into such and such a predicament in the face of the laws of natural survival, but they have to fight. If we leave this living world, then humanity will never achieve anything.
In this sense, the relationship between the old man and the sea reflects the relationship between man and the world, and is a relationship of interdependence and mutual contradiction and struggle. If people want to meet their own needs, they can only constantly fight and compete to obtain their food, fame and status.
As the environmental symbol of the human world, even the experienced elite of the sea is facing threats and inevitable failures at any time in the unfathomable changes of the sea. Hemingway's old man is not only a symbol of ordinary people in the general sense, but also a symbol of the elites in modern society, as well as the mental state and behavior they present in society.
In a short space, Hemingway spent pen and ink to reminisce about the old man's past. The most impressive thing is the three-day and three-night wrenching game, which is a competition of willpower, and in the contest between people, the old man has willpower beyond ordinary people, there is no doubt about it. He had also caught an enviable and proud fish, but so what, all the past glory was just a thing of the past for the old Santiago.
In the face of never stopping survival, he still has to continue to work hard and struggle for continuous challenges, so as to once again gain the envy and amazing results of everyone. But many things in reality are always contrary to man's free will, and in the face of the unpredictable sea, the old man is far more likely to fail than he is to succeed.
But the valuable point is that he did not sit still, but chose to continue to fight for honor and disgrace for survival, because the old man knows very well that the needs of human survival determine that man's own needs can never be satisfied, and the value lies in human actions. Humanity will not achieve eternal satisfaction with a one-time victory.
At the same time, almost every progress of mankind is accompanied by various great disasters. The large-scale barbarian invasions of the European Middle Ages were more terrible than the great plague, and they killed people at the sight of others, destroying the achievements of many ancient civilizations. During the Renaissance, the Black Death and the plague took the lives of countless people.
Modern society has gone from the early days of capitalism to today, experiencing two world wars, which have seriously damaged human life and destroyed human nature. But it is precisely in various disasters that human beings have stubbornly grown and developed.
In the work, the reader can see the spiritual dilemmas and embarrassing situations faced by Westerners in the 20th century, as well as the helplessness and lamentation of the human elite in the face of difficulties. However, the old man Santiago did not escape in the face of the difficult circumstances of life, but chose to act, which gave human beings eternal value, which is the artistic portrayal of human development.
In our lives, we are always looking for idols and heroes in our hearts, because from their spiritual world, we can draw the nutrients we need, and we can also see the cruelty and indifference of reality. From their behavior, they gain the courage to keep moving forward and struggle.
The Western world in the 20th century is undoubtedly an era of great development of material civilization, at the same time, Western civilization has also encountered a huge crisis, how to understand the problems encountered in modern society, so as to learn from human beings themselves and individuals, "The Old Man and the Sea" is undoubtedly a very worthy of reference model.