Hemingway’s Writing Style and Techniques in The Old Man and the Sea.doc

Hemingways Writing Style and Techniques in The Old Man and the Sea AbstractAmong many great American writers, Hemingway is famous for his objective and terse prose style. As the last novel Hemingway published in his life, The Old Man and the Sea typically reflects his unique writing style. This paper aims to discuss the writing style and techniques in The Old Man and the Sea. Of course, Hemingway has used many techniques in this novel, such as realism, the creation of suspense, monologue, etc. And this paper focuses especially on the language style and one of the important techniques-the way to use facts in this novel. Keywords: Facts; Simplicity; Artificial; Iceberg Theory Introduction As you know, The Old Man and the Sea (1952) comes round at the end of Hemingways writing career. With its vivid characterization, its simple language, and the profound implicating it carries (With its vivid characterization, simple language, and the profound implicating), it stands out as one of the excellent books(加个比较范围). The Old Man and the Sea earned its author the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for 1952, and was instrumental in winning（honoring）him with the Nobel Prize for Literature two years later. It is a short novel about Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman who has gone for 84 days without a catch. Being distinguished from Many of the greatest writers in the United States, Hemingway is noted for his writing styles. With much care and effort( many concerns and efforts), he created a very influential and immediately recognizable writing style. “The style he created in his early work, such as In Our Time and The Sun also Rises, was almost too good. Like the style of certain painters, it tended to become a manner, rather than a flexible way of responding to experience and conveying fresh insights through words.”1 （这是对他写作风格的评价，最好换成他写作风格是什么）Among all his works, The Old Man and the Sea is the most typical one to his unique language styles. Its language is simple and natural, and has the effect of directness, clarity and freshness. This is because Hemingway always manages to choose words “concrete, specific, more commonly found, more Anglo-Saxon, casual and conversational.” 2 He seldom uses adjectives and abstract nouns, and avoids complicated syntax. Hemingways strength lies in his short sentences and very specific details. His short sentences are powerfully loaded with the tension, which he sees in life. Although he does not use a simple and short sentence, he connects the various parts of the sentence in a straightforward and sequential way, often linked by “and”. But Hemingways style is deliberate and artificial, and never as natural as it seems to be. (这段很繁琐杂乱，开始直接指出论点即他的风格特点是什么，再展开)When(去掉when) compared with the other works of Hemingway, the language styles of The Old Man and the Sea is(are) extremely unique. This is because the novel is an English version of the Spanish that Santiago and Mandolin would speak in real life. “Now that we come to realize that Santiago and Mandolin could not possibly speak like the way we do, because English is not his tongue anyway, in reality we are more likely to accept other artificiality of the dialogue. Using the device of a pretended translation, which would be bound to stilt in any case, Hemingway can poetize the dialogue as he wishes.”3 The speaker has a certain degree of alienation to readers. When it comes to the iceberg theory(最好先介绍下这个理论。这段开头过渡不自然), the legend of the Santiago is considered to be the most typical, in all his works. The author seldom expresses his own feelings directly, nor does he make any comments or explanations. On the contrary, he tries to narrate and describe things objectively and blend his own feelings harmoniously to（with） the natural narration and description. This gives readers a pictures(语法错误) compression, from which-the 1/8 of the iceberg above water, they can learn the implying meanings and feelings of the author- 7/8 of the iceberg under water. When Hemingway said of this story, “I tried to make a real old man, a real sea and real sharks”, he then went on to say, “But if I made them good and true enough they would mean many things.”4 So this novel has a great and significance(语法错误) conveyed by a compressed action.ConclusionAll in all, Hemingways language in The Old Man and the Sea is simple and natural on the surface, but actually deliberate and artificial. “The language is rarely emotional. Rather, it controls emotions: it holds them in.”5 The forming of this distinct style is related to Hemingways own experience. The facts in the novel are selected and used as a device to make the fictional world accepted. Unlike other novelists who add allegorical meanings to their facts, Hemingway uses the facts simply and naturally, without any emotion. Besides what have been mentioned above, other techniques in The Old Man and the Sea, such as realism and monologue are also very successful. All these show Hemingways superb artistic attainments as a Nobel Prize winner.Notes 1.Kenneth Graham. “Commentary” in York Notes: The Old Man and the Sea. Beijing: world Publishing Corporation, 1991, p41 2.Chang Yaoxin. “Chapter 14” in A Survey of American Literature. TianJin: Nankai University Press, 1987, p304 3. Ibid. p45 4. Times.13 December 1954. 5. Peter B. High. “Chapter 11” in An Outline of American Literature. New York: Long man Inc., 1986, p147 References1. Chang Yaoxin. “Chapter