THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA——BOOK REPORT

Why did you choose this particular book? Typical reasons might be:

I like Hemingway and his books especially The Old Man and The Sea. The old fisherman is so brave and his spirit of the sentence “A man can be destroyed but not defeated” is so well. So I choose this book

一 Title

Abstract：

The Old Man and the Sea tells the frustrated experience that the old fisherman fishes in the course. The theme is deep, and it is a song of praise of heroism. “But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated” has been the classic saying and the old man also has been the most typical and the most representative of the Hemingway’s “tough guy”. When Hemingway talked about the successful factors later, the little boy was mentioned in the same breath with the old man. This paper starts with the details and it is divided into two main parts to discuss the indispensable roles of the little boy in the novel. It is him who helps to perform the theme of “grace under pressure”: during 40 days, the old man with the little boy went to fish but without taking a fish, when his situation was getting worse step by step, the little boy’s leaving was the heavy pressure that achieved the extreme stern for certain. However , it was so “heavy pressure” that his manner was graceful when the old man faced afterwards defeat and his optimistic, generous life attitude was worthy tasting by people carefully; it is him who plays the role of leading, inspiring to the readers, and increasing the appeal of the work, enriching the content of the work: although the little boy appears only at the beginning and the ending in the novel, there is nothing in his inner state but the old man, so his attitude and emotions towards the old man affects the readers’ emotions for the old man quietly and gradually. And it is unavoidable that his inner feeling leads and impacts the readers’ emotions.

Terse words, vivid images, copious emotions and profound thoughts were the outstanding features of The Old Man and the Sea. The novella was one of Hemingway’s masterpieces, which solidly confirmed the renown of him and made him one of the most influential writers in American history.

In this novel, two opposites existing side by side depended on each other and were unified, namely, Hemingway created the delightful characters and plots. On the other hand, he created tragic ambience in the whole novel. People could find the plot of tragedy from the old man. At the same time, they could also feel the inspiring strength from him; the big marlin lived in the Gulf Stream, a place far away from the old man, but it was doomed to be a tragedy when the old man went far out. It fought against the old man for three days and nights which was also inspiring.

This thesis has analyzed the old man and the big marlin separately to demonstrate that they contained both delightful and tragic facets, which brought about the novel’s success and novelty. The combination of the two facets was the soul of the whole story and gave the novel oneness.

Key word:

Code hero; pressure; grace; a set of values; undefeated; the little boy; the old man; grace under pressure; The Old Man and the Sea

二 Title

1. A brief introduction to Hemingway, Ernest

1899–1961, American novelist and short-story writer, b. Oak Park, Ill. one of the great American writers of the 20th century

Life

The son of a country doctor, Hemingway worked as a reporter for the Kansas City Star after graduating from high school in 1917. During World War I he served as an ambulance driver in France and in the Italian infantry and was wounded just before his 19th birthday. Later, while working in Paris as a correspondent for the Toronto Star, he became involved with the expatriate literary and artistic circle surrounding Gertrude Stein. During the Spanish Civil War, Hemingway served as a correspondent on the loyalist side. He fought in World War II and then settled in Cuba in 1945. In 1954, Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. After his expulsion from Cuba by the Castro regime, he moved to Idaho. He was increasingly plagued by ill health and mental problems, and in July, 1961, he committed suicide by shooting himself.

Work

Hemingway’s fiction usually focuses on people living essential, dangerous lives—soldiers, fishermen, athletes, bullfighters—who meet the pain and difficulty of their existence with stoic courage. His celebrated literary style, influenced by Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein, is direct, terse, and often monotonous, yet particularly suited to his elemental subject matter. Hemingway’s books are Three Stories and Ten Poems (1923), In Our Time (short stories, 1924), and The Torrents of Spring (a novel, 1926), attracted attention primarily because of his literary style. With the publication of The Sun Also Rises (1926), he was recognized as the spokesman of the “lost generation” (so called by Gertrude Stein). The novel concerns a group of psychologically bruised, disillusioned expatriates living in postwar Paris, who take psychic refuge in such immediate physical activities as eating, drinking, traveling, brawling, and lovemaking. His next important novel, A Farewell to Arms (1929), tells of a tragic wartime love affair between an ambulance driver and an English nurse. Hemingway also published such volumes of short stories as Men without Women (1927) and Winner Take Nothing (1933), as well as The Fifth Column, a play. His First Forty-nine Stories (1938) includes such famous short stories as “The Killers,” “The Undefeated,” and “The Snows of Kilimanjaro.” Hemingway’s nonfiction works, Death in the Afternoon (1932), about bullfighting, and Green Hills of Africa (1935), about big-game hunting, glorify virility, bravery, and the virtue of a primal challenge to life. From his experience in the Spanish Civil War came Hemingway’s great novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), which, in detailing an incident in the war, argues for human brotherhood. His novella “The Old Man and the Sea” celebrates the indomitable courage of an aged Cuban fisherman. Among Hemingway’s other works are the novels To Have and Have Not (1937) and Across the River and into the Trees (1950); he also edited an anthology of stories, Men at War (1942).Posthumous publications include A Moveable Feast (1964), a memoir of Paris in the 1920s; the novels Islands in the Stream (1970) and True at First Light (1999), a safari saga begun in 1954 and edited by his son Patrick; and The Nick Adams Stories (1972), a collection that includes previously unpublished pieces.

His awards:

During his lifetime, he was awarded with Silver Medal of Military Valor in World War I Pulitzer Prize in 1953 (for The Old Man and the Sea) Nobel Prize in literature in 1954 (also partly for The Old Man and the Sea). In 2001, two of his books, The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms, would be named to the list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century by the editorial board of the American Modern Library.

A simple version

The Hemingway code heroes and grace under pressure: They have seen the cold world, and for one cause, they boldly and courageously face the reality. They have an indestructible spirit for his optimistic view of life. Whatever is the result is, they are ready to live with grace under pressure. No matter how tragic the ending is, they will never be defeated. Finally, they will be prevailing because of their indestructible spirit and courage.

The iceberg technique:

Hemingway believes that a good writer does not need to reveal every detail of a character or action. The one-eighth that is presented will suggest all other meaningful dimensions of the story. Thus, Hemingway’s language is symbolic and suggestive.

2. Plot：

The old man and the sea "is no complicated plot of the story, it's being able to become a give a person with aesthetic feeling works of art, literature lies in the" multi-layer Hemingway confirm sex: is a foundation of works of art, and in the novel can be put to use. Just as he once said: "I am trying to model a real fish and real shark. If we can make them shaping excellently real, they will mean a lot. "Any a great work of art, its main dyke wager sun can be simply summarize. In the novel, he adopted various symbol, image, making the novel connotation heavy and complicated, full of rich subject.

Failure theme

Failure is most important in life creating Hemingway's theme. From his first film "we of The Times to the islands of current appeared posthumously, his hero are valiant struggle, but inevitably fail. "The old man and the sea" in the old man is such a fight loser. He works with Hemingway other similar characters and same, it is in the life the sea and doom indomitable struggle, finally ended in failure. He was a failure, but his failure completely different from that no goal, no price, meaningless failure because he was in consciously pursuit and finish his “born to dry” mission of failed, is in maintenance and defends their dignity "and" glorious "of failed. He failed, but it is only the physical strength and failure, his faith and hope but never burst he failed, yet he did not yield to failure. This in and failure in the struggle of failure only makes him mentally victorious; in the "towards failure of poise on" the victory. This is Hemingway to celebrate "butch" spirit, It is a kind of the human spirit, namely person mentally is indestructible and obtain good guarantee for the future. This is what works to express a theme - "person to bravely face failure."

3. Character Analysis：

The old man was optimistic. He still talked about the baseball and went to the Terrace to drink and chat though he was in a bad situation at that time. He used the lie to deal with the poor life. He still met the first sunshine every morning and went to fish on the sea no matter what the result was. He did not live on fishing, but fishing had already become part of his life and part of his memory. This was a true man, living, being tolerant to everything-- derision, solitude and even the leaving of the boy.

The old man was confident. His rich experience and skill of fishing acquired day by day made him confident. He believed that he would hook a big fish. He even wished to meet a group of fish which had lost their way. He left the sea shore and began his heroic voyage on the eighty fifth day.

The old man was patient. The fish which stayed in the 600 foot under the sea was clever. The fish under the quiet surface was competing with the patience against the old man and struggling against the old man as if this was the last moment of the peaceful world. The old man was enduring the danger bought by the fish. Moreover, he was enduring hunger, exhaustion, fatigue, hurt and loneliness. He was overcoming the fish. Moreover, he was overcoming himself. “Fish”, he said softly, aloud, “I'll stay with you until I am dead.”(Hemingway, 37) Life, at this time, was not a wager, but contending.

4. Comment:

Hemingway's story began by depicting the interaction between the two primary characters as they prepared their fishing gear for the following day near a Gulf Stream harbor in 1940’s. The opening profile was Santiago, the “old man” in the title, and the character throughout the story. He was a Cuban fisherman, described as being old in every way except his eyes, which “were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated”（Hemingway, 4）. Although Santiago had not caught a fish for eighty-four days, he ignored the jeers and pity of other fishermen, and returned to the sea in his skiff day after day. Santiago's attitude seemed to be that although he was faced with tragedy -- as everyone was sooner or later in life -- he would not cease struggling. Relying on memories of his youth, news of the Great DiMaggio's recovery from injury, and thoughts of the boy, Santiago had the courage to resolutely go on taking pains throughout the story. By struggling against a big marlin for three days and nights, he finally killed it. But several groups of sharks frequently attacked the dead marlin on the way. He did not take the whole of it back at last but just its head, tail and the whole spine.  

This novel has been studied by so many people and given different perspectives as follows: Iceberg Theory Embodied in The Old Man and the Sea: “One eighths of an iceberg is above the water, while seven eighths is underneath the water. Profound levels of meaning and strong emotions will not enchant you until you dive into the water”.

Analysis on Metaphor Used in the Novel: “Ernest Hemingway employed metaphors. In the novels that Ernest Hemingway wrote, he used metaphors to reflect his life experiences and opinions. He believed that in life everyone must find their own niche and used the metaphor of the ocean and the boats on it to demonstrate this”

 The Role of Mandolin and His Relationship with Santiago:” Conversations between Santiago and Mandolin were added to the beginning and the end of the fishing tale. The conversational frame established a relationship between Mandolin and Santiago which let the old man complete his significant exploration and return with marlin carcass”. The Old Man Was the Incarnation of Christ:“ The old man had experienced two processes of being nailed by the crucifix. These plots showed he had no difference with that of Christ” Analysis of Heroism Reflected in The Old Man and the Sea:“ He hooked a big marlin. This was one of his successes. He drove away the sharks from time to time on his way home even though his fish was almost eaten up by the sharks. This was his second success-- the success in spirit”. Studies about these aspects mentioned above were really deep and comprehensive. They gave a lot of references to readers and helped them with comprehension this novel. The opinions were reasonable, receivable and valuable. However, few people have talked about the tragic ambience blended harmoniously in this novel. They had even ignored one thing-- everything has double characters. This novel was actually a combination of the tragic and delightful facet. The characters in the story contained the two aspects which were oppositions in logic, but unity seen from the whole story. So this thesis will give the novel new soul and provide another way of appreciating it to millions of readers.

5. Conclusion:                         

The old unlucky poor man-- Santiago had a tragic fate, but, at the same time, he was a winner who could not be defeated. When his big fish was eaten up by the sharks, he asked himself: “‘what beat you?' ------' Nothing,' he said aloud, ' I went out too far' (Hemingway, 92) ". The old man admitted his failure bravely. But he still believed his strength absolutely. He believed that he was still courageous although he was lost, and he believed that he was not defeated by the sharks in spirit because what had been exterminated was the sharks, not him. Then he finished the surplus work calmly.

The big fish could live happily in the deep ocean originally but it was killed by the old man although it struggled for many days. It could not escape this kind of fate. This was the tragedy for it. However, Hemingway showed its beauty and dignity during the whole process by describing its firmness and intelligence. It was nearly eaten up by the sharks after it was killed. But it’s beautiful backbone surprised people. Hemingway combined its tragedy and noble quality together to form the complete fish.

According to the author's experiences, he had experienced a lot and made contribution to his country. In this sense, he was also a hero. However, he was defeated by the pain of the illness. His health was worsening day by day. He finally shot himself to end this pain. In this novella, the author put his own image onto the old man-- Santiago. He described Santiago's tragedy, but emphasized that a man could be destroyed, but could not be defeated. He said Santiago was a success in spirit, which was also the way he used to deal with his own fate.

6. Famous remark:

1. Man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.

2. Man is not much beside the great birds and beasts.

3. Pain does not matter to a man.

4. Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.

5. But, then, nothing is easy.

6. The clouds over the land now rose like mountains and the coast was only a long green line with the gray blue hills behind it. The water was a dark blue now, so dark that it was almost purple.

7. Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is. 

8. It is silly not to hope, he thought.

9. But none of these scars were fresh. They were as old as erosions in a fishless desert. Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated.

10. They were strange shoulders, still powerful although very old, and the neck was still strong too and the creases did not show so much when the old man was asleep and his head fallen forward.

11. His shirt had been patched so many times that it was like the sail and the patches were faded to many different shades by the sun.