英语本科毕业论文-TheOldManandtheSea”.doc

天津科技大学2007届本科生毕业论文1. introduction“the old man and the sea” is the masterpiece of hemingway, owing to which he was awarded the nobel prize in 1954. it recovered hemingways literary image when many critics believed that his talent was dead. life artistically recurred in the book and it revealed the philosophy of life. hemingways thinking about human life and society is contained in it. among all his works, hemingway liked “the old man and the sea” the most. he liked comparing writing to hunting and once said that the book was the greatest and most beautiful lion he caught. indeed, “the old man and the sea” makes a summary for hemingways literary career. compared with “a farewell to arms”, “the sun also rises” and “for whom the bell tolls”, it possesses a kind of transcendence. according to su shunqiang(2006), this transcendence is reflected from two aspects: the maturity of the world outlook and the perfection of character traits. “this book, however, is not nihilistic or deeply pessimistic. more than any of hemingways earlier works it reconciles us to our human condition. compare it, for instance, with a farewell to arms, and we see the distance hemingway has traveled” (hovey, 1966). the special type of hero in hemingways novel is called the code hero, which means “grace under pressure”. santiago, the protagonist of “the old man and the sea”, is the perfect code hero. “thats why he is more broadly representative of the human race than any other hemingway character. in fact, he is precisely the sort of figure so far absent from hemingways fiction” (hovey, 1966).why is santiago so prominent compared with other characters that hemingway moulded? why is santiago regarded as the perfect code hero who reflects the perfection of character traits? this paper will explain these questions through the analysis of santiagos character. the first part of this paper is a brief introduction. in the second part, the character of santiago was analyzed. the relationship between santiagos character and hemingways is analyzed in the third part. the paper comes to a conclusion in the fourth part.2. an analysis of the character of santiago“the old man and the sea” tells a story about an old fisherman, santiago. he catches nothing for some time and his bad luck lasts 84 days. although he has not caught fish for 84 days, santiago is still confident and trusts himself. he is brave enough to go far out, so he has the opportunity to catch the great fish, which is the biggest one he has ever seen and a good fortune he can show to his villagers. however, on the way home, he is attacked by sharks and the fish is changed into a skeleton. he keeps fighting his enemies with his weary body, and then at last, he is home again without losing his dignity.2.1 the courageousness of santiagosantiago is a courageous man. after 84 days of bad luck, he decides to do something to prove to others that he is still a good fisherman. he plans to go far out where others have never attained before, although he will face the perilous nature all by himself. “keep warm old man, remember we are in september” (hemingway, 1989). the boy says to him. the old man answers, “the month when the great come. anyone can be a fisherman in may” (hemingway, 1989). he is not afraid of challenge and is brave enough to face whatever will come towards him. when the big fish tows his boat, he does not know what it will do next. however, he is not afraid of the uncertainty. the old fisherman believes that there are plenty of things he can do. he just waits to see what will happen and find the chance to catch the fish. four hours later, the fish is still swimming steadily. now the old man can not see land anymore, but this makes no difference to him. “take a good rest, small bird. then go in and take your chance like any man or bird or fish” (hemingway, 1989) is what santiago says to a small bird that for a time rests on his boat. his courageousness is more obvious now: all the creatures, big or small, strong or weak, should face the reality and take the chance.with other fishermen, the protagonist has caught great fishes. now, however, he is alone and out of sight of land, his left hand is cramped, and the fish is the biggest fish he has ever seen and bigger than he has ever heard of. nevertheless, the idea of giving up never comes to his mind. “i am glad we do not have to try to kill the stars.” “imagine if each day a man must try to kill the moon, he thought.” “but imagine if a man each day should have to try to kill the sun? we were born lucky, he thought” (hemingway, 1989). under such a dangerous circumstance, santiago is thinking about how lucky he is. this optimism is a trait of a daring man. because of his bravery, the chance finally comes and the fish is caught.2.2 the perseverance of santiagoat the beginning of the novel, hemingway tells the readers that his old fisherman is a perseverant person. “everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated” (hemingway, 1989).because of courageousness, santiago goes far out and catches a great fish; because of perseverance, santiago can be home again without losing his honor. the fish tows the boat for a couple of days, and the old has to hold the line at the same time with the hands that have many scars. his left hand is cramped for some time, he has to bear pains of the body, he also feels faint and dizzy, but santiago just holds on and waits for the chance to kill the fish. when in desperation, someone does nothing and waits for the end to come, but someone just enjoys the pain and does what he can until the end. santiago, the man who has perseverant soul, belongs to the latter type.he finally catches and kills the great fish that will prove himself to the town, but his enemies, the sharks, keep damaging it. even the first time he is hit by a shark, he is full of resolution but has little hope. he then just hit the shark with resolution. each time a battle ends, santiago becomes more tired and is wounded worse, and the fish is mutilated worse. but he knows that more are coming. when the time comes, he fights with whatever he has left. several times, the old man regrets and becomes upset and depressed, he does not want to look at the fish and is ashamed of the damage the sharks do to his beautiful fish. he only wishes that he has been at home, in bed, and this has been all a bad dream. thinking of what he has experienced makes him painful, but he must think, because it is all he had left. while thinking, he looks for hopes for himself. he lashes his knife to the butt of one of the oars, so that he is still an old man, but is not unarmed. he regards the repeated loss of the fish as a good reason for sailing lighter for home. his perseverant mind keeps thinking and his perseverant body keeps fighting. 2.3 the confidence of santiagoa confident person never minds other peoples sarcastic words, because he knows they are wrong and what he does will be a best riposte to their remark. santiago and some other villagers are sitting on the terrace and many of the fishermen make fun of the old man and he is not angry. the confident old fisherman pays little attention to the stupid remarks. he has experienced too much things and is sure that he is still a good fisherman. “i may not be as strong as i think, but i know many tricks and i have resolution” (hemingway, 1989). alone on the sea, he suddenly realizes that he has been talking aloud. “if the others heard me talking out aloud, they would think that i am crazy, he said aloud, but since i am not crazy, i do not care.” (hemingway, 1989) after santiago sees that the fish is more able than him, for it is two feet longer than his skiff, he pays more attention to his intelligence with which he will be able to kill his great rival. he is confident that fishing is the thing he is born for. to kill it will cost him much strength. he is prepared and determined to prove to the boy that he is a strange old man.“the old man and the sea” is a novel with a simple plot, and the story it tells lasts only a little longer than three days. what really attracts the readers is how the writer describes the old mans courage while he is facing defeat and death. while a man is living in this world, the only certain thing is that he is going towards death and there is no other certain thing for him to rely on. now that peoples living in the world is an accidental phenomenon, the only thing that can sustain our courage is confidence.santiago is fishing alone on the vast and mysterious sea. at any moment, he will probably be devoured by the unpredictable sea and death is always surrounding him. nevertheless, santiago has absolute confidence. he has caught nothing for 84 days, but now he is still trying and even going farther, despising defeat and death. he dares to go beyond the life limit, this confidence helps him defeat death and safeguard human dignity. so the value of life is added to his tragic fate.2.4 the dignity of santiago santiago is a man of dignity. he compares himself to a turtle. a turtles heart will beat for hours after he has been cut up and butchered. “but the old man thought, i have such a heart too and my feet and hands are like theirs” (hemingway, 1989). even if he is destroyed, the beating heart will prove the everlasting dignity. holding the line, his left hand is cramped, santiago looks at it in disgust, “make yourself into a claw, it will do you no good” (hemingway, 1989). now that he is alone on the sea, facing a fantastic fish, he has to protect his dignity as a fisherman all by himself, but he can not do this because of the cramped hand. cramp represents a state of giving up, so it is a “treachery” as santiago sees it, who never gives up in pursuit of dignity. to protect the big fish from being hit by sharks, he does not mind sacrificing his life. although the fish is destroyed at last, the spiritual victory gives him a sense of dignity of being a man. he does what he thought, “but man is not made for defeat. a man can be destroyed but not defeated” (hemingway, 1989). 2.5 the respect shown by santiago like other protagonists of hemingway, santiago is brave and he fights all the way for his dignity. but different from novels like “the sun also rises” or “a farewell to arms”, the protagonist of “the old man and the sea” shows profound respect towards others. so unlike other previous characters, santiago sees the world as a harmonious one.santiago experiences a feeling of brotherhood and love not only for his fellowmen but for his fellow creatures in nature. the reason is that he regards his fellowmen and fellow creatures in nature as integral parts of his harmonious world and he respects their existence. santiago loves the boy. he teaches him how to fish, tells him his experience, and shares his ideas on baseball. he actually shares whatever he has with him. the first reason for he can do so is that he respects the boy. this respect is mutual, for santiago also receives respect from manolin and the boy loves him as he loves the boy. when he fishes alone on the sea, he says aloud many times that he wishes the boy has been with him. he has the right to long for the boy as a kind of hope which he can rely on, and he knows the boy will be worried about him. manolin goes to the old fishermans shack each morning after he goes out. at last he sees his badly wounded hands, and then he cries sadly. these are all proofs that, because of respect, santiago gains his friendship.santiago is sorry for the birds, especially the small ones that are delicate compared to the cruel ocean. the scene in which he talks to the small bird is a harmonious one. “how old are you? is this your first trip?” (hemingway, 1989) the bird looks at him when he speaks. santiago talks gently and sincerely as he does when talking to the boy. he then realizes the danger it will encounter and says, “take a good rest, small bird. then go in and take you chance like any man or bird or fish” (hemingway, 1989). he is encouraging it that instead of giving up, it should face the reality bravely as he will do himself. through this communication between the old man and the small bird, we can see that in santiagos eyes, man, bird, fish are all respectable individualities. he respects them and he thinks that they all have the right to fight for their dignity. even to his rival, the great fish, he is not a cruel killer. he treats him as a brother and respects him. “you are killing me fish, the old man thought. but you have right to. never have i seen a greater, or more beautiful, or more noble thing than you, brother. come on and kill me, i do not care who kills who” (hemingway, 1989). 3. the relationship between santiagos character and hemingwaysin many of hemingways novels that are released after the 1930s, the protagonists are undefeatable and show the human dignity, no matter how hopeless the adversity is. santiago is the development of these characters. with his weak body, he dares to fight the sea alone. he succeeds at last, because he tries to surpass his age and his limit. he, just like hemingway, is lost but strong. santiago and hemingway has the same characters. they are courageous and perseverant when they confront great challenge. being caught in a lonely life, they both become sensitive. hemingway uses his life experience to design his code heroes. as one of the code heroes of hemingway, santiagos character is justifiably designed after hemingways. 3.1 in the face of difficulties, they show their courageousness and perseverancehemingway likes talking about the courageousness of human beings. he once said, what he understood deeply was that in the face of danger, man should overcome it but not retreat. even someone should die of this, his death would not be in vain, for he had done what he should have done and had pursued what he loved. during the first world war, hemingway was severely wounded, but he still tried to carry an italian soldier on his back to take him to hospital. he was then shot at his leg twice. later it was known that his enemies actually saw the two men, but they admired hemingways courage that they chose to let the two men go.hemingway took part in the two world wars. on the battlefield, he found that one person was trivial compared to the whole war. he saw the cruelty of the war and the unavoidable death and defeat with his own eyes. but he chose not to give up and strove to be a courageous man in wars. this character actually finds its way in nearly all the protagonists of hemingway, including santiago. before santiago catches the fish, his boat is towed by it for nearly three days. the old man is tired. moreover, his left hand is cramped. he does not know what the fish is going to do. like in a war, he does not know if he would be killed. then he looks across the sea and knows how alone he is. he knows that it is too dangerous to be out of sight of land in a small boat during the months of sudden bad weather. “if there is hurricane you always see the signs of it in the sky for days ahead, if you are at sea. they do not see it ashore because they do not know what to look for, he thought” (hemingway, 1989). he then looks at the sky and sees white cumulus, what comes to his mind is the sweet ice cream. this brave old man is not disturbed by fear at all.after the second world war, hemingway came back to his country with great honor. his friends and admirers justifiably had high hopes on him, believing that the greatest writer, who was at the same time a legendary hero, would certainly produce greater works. hemingway himself was also extremely confident and ready to surpass the great writers at his time and then go on to surpass his previous self. he killed a “lion”, and others awarded him. he treated it as a good thing. but what he was really interested in was the next “lion”. he had caught a few “lions” such as “a farewell to arms” and “for whom the bell tolls”, and now he wanted to successfully hunt a bigger “lion”. however, the horrible ghost appeared: hemingway was haunted by some noises and then there was the terrible headache, he could not even think and talk well, his memory and ability to arrange his words seemed fading away. ringing in the ears was harmful to his auditory sense. he realized that these were the aftereffects of the war. hemingway was experiencing the hardest time as a writer. moreover, his fame was a bad thing for him now. his house was packed with editors, visitors, hunting-lovers and so on. to pursue a peaceful life and the recovery of his vigor, he went farther and farther for hunting. it was time-consuming and wounded him very often. once he was hunting the wild duck but wounded one of his eyes. using one eye, hemingway worked badly writing “across the river and into the trees”, which was later regarded as a bad one because of the writers lacking vigor and his points of view on the war. all these made hemingway despaired. being also caught in the physical misery, hemingway was getting more and more short-tempered. his wife was even afraid that a nervous breakdown was coming. but hemingway was hemingway. he stood up once again, and, as the cuban old man did, set sail for another moving and tragic voyage. having gone through physical and emotional misery, he wrote his book in a new style and got ready for new challenge.santiago, a good fisherman, catches nothing during 84 days. some villagers make fun of him. he then goes far out and catches a great fish. however, on his way home, he is attacked by sharks for many times, each time he fights with whatever can be used as arms. the fish is mutilated to a skeleton at last. being caught in the physical and emotional pain, the old fisherman strives to kill his enemies whenever they c