从《老人与海》看人生悲剧.doc

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1、 ContentsAbstract(English)9Abstract(Chinese)101. Introduction112. On Mans Tragic End-Viewed From The Old Man and The Sea122.1 The Solitary Circumstance and Unfortunate Fate122.2 Indomitable Spirit and Despairing Fight132.3 The Ultimate Victory and Fruitless Struggle153.Conclusion16References18Acknow

2、ledgements19AbstractErnest Hemingway is considered as one of the most important and outstanding writers of the 20th century in the world. In his masterpiece The Old Man and The Sea, he mainly talked about a story about Santiago who was an old fisherman fished alone and struggled hard on the sea, and

3、 portrayed the protagonist as code hero. However, the novels ending that the old fisherman exhausted but only carried a skeleton of marlin gave the novel some tragic feature. This paper provides an analysis of the difficult process of old mans fishing to explore tragic feature the novel embodied, an

4、d then make the reader think about the tragedy of us human.Key words: Santiago; heroic character; tragedy摘 要厄内斯特 海明威，被公认为是二十世纪全世界最为重要和杰出的作家之一，他的代表作老人与海主要叙述了老渔夫圣地亚哥在海上孤身捕鱼、顽强斗争的故事，塑造了主人公圣地亚哥“硬汉英雄”的高大形象。但同时圣地亚哥精疲力竭却拖着一副空鱼骨架归岸的结尾也赋予了小说一种悲剧色彩。本文着力于分析主人公在出海捕鱼这一艰难过程，挖掘其中所蕴含的悲剧色彩，进而引发读者对人自身悲剧的思考。关键词：圣地亚哥；硬

5、汉英雄；悲剧171. IntroductionErnest Miller Hemingway (1889-1961), American novelist and short story writer, was regarded as one of the most important and outstanding writers of the 20th century in the world. On July 21, 1889, he was born in Oak Park, Illinois. He committed suicide in the summer of 1961 in

6、 Ketchum, Idaho(Keat George 1984). He was considered as the spirit monument of the United States, and was the founder of the “journalistic style” novel, and also was the spokesman of “the Lost Generation”. He was famous for “Hemingway Code Hero” in writing and the “Ice berg theory”. Hemingway exerte

7、d a significant influence on the development of twentieth-century fiction, both in America and abroad. Throughout his works, Hemingway sought to reconcile the ruination of his times with an enduring belief in conquest, triumph, and “grace under pressure”.Having experienced the two World Wars, Heming

8、way suffered a lot from it, not only physically, but also psychologically. He saw clearly how the wars destroyed humans life and what the wars brought wounds to people. He participated in the two World Wars, which he did different jobs, but finally got hurt seriously. Therefore, his works were deepl

9、y influenced by wars. Besides, many accidents made him a poor health in his life. All these factors made his works characterized by a strong tragic feature.We might can say that all of his novels were tragedy(Dong Hengxun 2003). His masterpiece The Old Man and The Sea published in 1952 can be a good

10、 example. This story is about an old Cuban fisherman Santiago and his battle against a giant marlin. For 84 days he just did not catch a single fish, but he still kept on trying without being despaired. Finally he caught a giant marlin. A desperate struggle happened in which Santiago managed to kill

11、 the fish and then tied it to his boat. However, more dangerous fighting was awaiting him. On his way home, many fierce sharks began to attack him, and he tried his best to fight but failed to prevent the marlin from being eaten. Nothing was left but a skeleton. In the end, the old man brought the s

12、keleton home and went to bed and had a dream.It is a simple story and it is not difficult to understand the literary meanings. However, what we get from reading the literal words compose only one-eight of Hemingways “Ice berg”, which means there is a small part on the surface. The other seven-eights

13、 of the deep meanings lies under the surface of the sea, in order to well understand the work, we need to make an intensive study of it.Santiago was considered as a heroic character by many scholars, while others have done some research on tragic feature of the work. However, few of them studied fro

14、m the point of the revelation did the work bring to us, therefore, l would like to do some research on it.2. On Mans Tragic End-Viewed From The Old Man and The Sea Ernest Hemingways masterpiece The Old Man and The Sea, enjoyed great prestige in literary world, it can be a feast for those who do rese

15、arch on them for its rich connotation. Santiago, an old fisherman, the protagonist was regarded as a heroic character by many scholars. However, we might can say he was not a hero but a lonely, depressed poor old man, he could change nothing of the harsh reality if we see him in another perspective.

16、 The tragic feature occurs between the lines. It was the conflict between the old man and irresistible nature that made the writer think about the meaning and value of life. 2.1 The Solitary Circumstance and Unfortunate Fate The name of the novel implies loneliness and dolefulness, a watery wilderne

17、ss and an old-aged man(Chen Yuanbin 2011). At the beginning of the novel, the author described the olds appearance and the living conditions. “The old man was thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck. The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflectio

18、n on the tropic down the sides of his face sea were on his cheeks. The blotches ran well down the sides of his face and his hands had the deep-creased scars from handing heavy fish on the cords. But none of these scars were fresh. They were as old as erosions in a fishless desert. Everything about h

19、im was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated”(Ernest Hemingway 1995). From this depiction, a visual image of Santiago is given. He was really an old-aged man and having experienced the hardships of life. And in order to survive, he had to set sa

20、il to fish.In the following paragraphs, his living conditions were portrayed. “The shack was made of the tough bud-shields of the royal palm which are called guano and in it there was a bed, a table, one chair and a palace on the dirt floor to cook with charcoal. On the brown walls of the flattened,

21、 overlapping leaves of the sturdy fibered guano there was a picture in color of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and another of the Virgin of Coble”(Ernest Hemingway 1995). The old mans house was very shabby and simple, and from the descriptions of the sail which patched with flour sacks at the very beginn

22、ing, we can learned that the old man lived a very poor and miserable life. Besides, the little boy who helped the old man get food and and the scene that they had dinner was another case in point. “They had eaten with no light on the table and the old took off his trousers up to make a pillow, putti

23、ng the newspaper inside them. He rolled himself in the blanket and slept on the other old newspaper that covered the springs of the bed”.On the other hand, he was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone 84 days and without taking a fish(Li Yuhua&Wu Dingxiang 2009).

24、In the first 40 days a boy had been with him. But after 40 days without a fish, the boys parents asked him to go some other lucky boats. For 84 days, the old man did not catch a single fish, so we can not say that he was a man blessed by God and he was fortunate. The boy had to leave him at last and

25、 he set sail to fish by himself. In the novel, the alone old man and the boundless sea formed a striking contrast. Furthermore, the old man was laughed at by other fishermen and obviously he failed to integrate into their world(Jackson Benson 1969). And when he fished on the sea alone, he thought an

26、d wanted the little boy to accompany himself not only once, this contrasted the old mans solitary circumstance again. All of these indicated that the travail of life. It is not difficult for us to read tragic feature between lines. Life is not easy.2.2 Indomitable Spirit and Despairing FightWe can s

27、ee the old mans indomitable spirit from the despairing fight with both the giant marlin and the sharks.For 84 days, he just did not catch a single fish and after a short rest, the old fisherman started off again in the next morning. This time he went far out and after one-day sailing, finally he fou

28、nd that he was already further out than he had hoped to be at this hour as it started to be light. At last, he caught a giant marlin but it was not easy to kill it at once. The fish moved steadily and they traveled slowly on the calm water. Nothing changed, the fish was still swimming steadily out t

29、o sea, towing the skiff, and the old man was still braced solidly with the line across his back. The old man tried his best to fight against the giant marlin. “He had pushed his straw hat hard down on his head before he hooked the fish and it was cutting his forehead. He was thirsty too and he got d

30、own on his knees and, being careful not to jerk on the line, moved as far into the bow as he could get and reached the water bottle with one hand. He opened it and drank a little. Then he rested against the bow. He rested sitting on the unstepped mast and sail and tried not to think but only to endu

31、re.”The giant marlin did not give up swimming and dragging the boat, and so did the old man, he grabbed the line tightly. They could do nothing with each other over the another night. Although the old man was hurt by the marlin, he did not want to give up for one second. He said that he would stay w

32、ith the marlin until he dead. The longer duration they fought, the worse the old man got hurt. His back had stiffened and his hands were bleeding and cramped. He was very tried but did not think about let it go. He spent another night on the boat and kept the position with the marlin. He could not k

33、ill the giant marlin at once but keep fighting. He was faint and exhausted as the sun was rising for the third time since he had put to sea, he thought that the fish almost killed him not only once. At last, he felt faint and sick and tired and he could not see well when he killed the fish(Deng Lina

34、 2009). However, more dangerous fighting was awaiting him. This time it was a fiercer fight than the one with marlin, it was the fight with sharks. His fight with sharks developed in four stages.On his way home, many fierce sharks began to attack him. He lost the harpoon and all the rope when he kil

35、led the first shark that it tore off about 40 pounds of flesh. Although he knew that the sharks were very fierce, he did not lose confidence, just as he said aloud:“But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeatedThe dentuso is cruel and able and strong and intelligent. But I

36、was more intelligent than he was”.At the second stage, another two sharks came. Santiago killed one with his knife that was lashed to an oar, then he killed the other with greater difficulty. But a quarter of the best marlin meat was gone. Later, he killed a third shark, which has destroyed more of

37、the marlin, and in the process his knife blade breaks. The third stage, two more sharks came at sunset. The old man was unable to kill them but injured them with a club made from an old broken oar. The fourth age, sharks came in a pack. Santiago fought them with a club and even the skiffs tiller, bu

38、t the fight was turned out to be useless. Finally, the sharks have eaten the marlin, leaving him only a skeleton.In the novel, the old mans understanding of the relationship between human and nature, human and the society is different. His understanding of nature was to live or die, but it failed to

39、 work in humans society. Peoples success was not judged by his courage, but the result. Santiago, who was born in Mexico and was a sailor when he was young, he wanted to conquer nature at that time. Tired of the sea life, he settled down in Cuban. Having lived the simple life with nature, he failed

40、to integrate into the local society. After his wifes death, his confidence was hurt, and he lived in his isolated world. In fact, the essence of catching a big fish was that to make up his depressed confidence (Tian Hua 2010).Finally, although he fought persistently, his failure was inevitable. The

41、only confidence left in his heart was broken, and with the failure of being approved by others finally defeated him.2.3 The Ultimate Victory and Fruitless StruggleSantiago, the tragic character was presented by the result that the failure of fishing. It seemed that he won this battle with the sharks

42、, he was not defeated by them. However, the old man did not defeat the sharks if we see from the perspective of the result. Although he tried his best, which we could see from the description of how he was on shore and went home, he failed to prevent the marlin from being eaten. He was not a winner

43、but a loser from the reality aspect. After suffering from all the hardships, such as loneliness, hunger, weakness, cramp and and so on, he brought nothing else home but only his exhausted body and a skeleton. In our real life, peoples success judged by the achievements he accomplished but not how mu

44、ch effort did he make in the process. He was not accepted by other fishermen for his misfortune that he could not catch a single for several days, they did not care about no matter how skillful he was, but the result, the fact. He was a winner in spirit, not in real life. In most case, although what

45、 is accepted by others in general that as if the process of doing something is important, it always turns out to be that the result is more important because people will pay more attention on the result. There are many examples in our life, the other people have no idea of how much effort you make a

46、nd how many hardships you overcome, they just simply see the result. It looks like it is unfair to judge a person, but it is the truth, it is the reality, the harsh reality. Maybe only you know whether it is sweet or not.The novel ends with the long backbone of the great fish was just now garbage wa

47、iting to go with tide, and the old was dreaming about the lions with the boy sitting by him. Nothing changed and the life seemed as same as before. It proved the tragedy again.3.ConclusionThe Old Man and The Sea is an outstanding work in which Hemingways writing have reached the peak. The perfect co

48、mbination of his language traits, iceberg principle and symbolism contribute to the great success of the work. In the novel, Hemingway blurred the novels background, time and space was ambiguous, he only made nature as the symbolic setting, and described a story about a old man fished on the sea(Yan

49、 Xiaoling&Zhang Heng 2010). The end was a tragedy, it naturally reminded us of the life. “Santiago, he was the representative of the human spirit. He was more than 60 years old and alone, weak and lived in a small shabby shack, all of the furniture was only a bed, a chair and a desk. He was farouche and he spoke more wi