论文初稿 程颖范文.doc

论文初稿 程颖范文 The Definitionof humanspirit inThe OldMan and the Sea“The OldMan and the Sea”,a novellacreated bythe American writer Ernest Miller Hemingway,it describesaround the fight betweenan oldCuban fisherman and abig marlinin the sea.After the old mansubdues the big marlin,sharks devourthe fruitof the old mans victory.The seasymbolizes the human society,the big marlin symbolizes the humandesire and the lifeideal,the sharksymbolizes thetragic fatethat cant begot rid of,and the old manSantiago is a representativeof tough guys.The novelladiscusses humanbeings indetails andfocuses on the humans spiritualpower,and it is just the powerthat helpshuman make great achievements.A definitionof humanspirit prosecutesto theend in the work:Human canonly be destroyed,cannot bedefeated.Ernest MillerHemingway,a greatAmericanwriter,who haswon theNoble Prize for literature,creates the great work:“The OldMan and the Sea”.Ernest MillerHemingway wasborn in a doctors familyin1899,his motherwas fondof literaturevery much,which influencedHemingway alot in his futureliterature creation.Hemingways fatherdared to let go,after deeplythinking,he thoughthe shouldlet little Hemingway get ridofsome dependenceon himas earlyas possible,to cultivatehis independentability.In thisway,with hisfathers advice and encouragement,Hemingway beganhis independentactivities,and soonhe had a windrange ofinterest,he wasreally fascinatedby fishing,hunting and some adventureactivities.Then the littleHemingwayfell inlove withreading.Fishing,hunting andreading,the threehobbies formedfrom hischildhood,increased hisexperience,plays animportant roleon hisway ofliterature creation.Ernest MillerHemingway is a modernliterature master,has alot ofliterature workthroughout hiswhole life.Among the American writersin thetwentieth century,he is always mentionedin the same breath with Faulknerand Scott Fitzgerald.Hemingways fourfamous novels:“The SunAlso Rises”,“A Farewellto Arms”,“For Whomthe BellTolls”,“The OldMan and the Sea”.In additionto thefour novels,he alsocreated manyoutstanding shortstories,making hiscontribution tomodern novelmore thanScottFitzgeralds.After graduatingfrom highschool,he workedfor“star”as ainternship reporterfor sixmonths,at the same time,he alsowrote andcreated.He gotadviceandencouragement fromsome famousnovelists.For thenearly10years of time,he publishedmany works,the most famous was“The SunAlso Rises”.In1929,he published“A Farewellto Arms”,which is the bestwork amongthe“lost generation”literature creation.In1930,Hemingway published“For Whomthe BellTolls”,whose backgroundis theSpanish civilwar againstfascism.In1952,ErnestMillerHemingway publishhis novella“The OldMan and the Sea”,which made him win the Nobel Prizefor literature.He isproficient innarrative art,plays hisunique rolein thecontemporary style,leave manyprecious worksfor us.Here what I willstudy anddiscuss is just the novella“The OldMan and the Sea”.This bookis amedium-length novelwrote byHemingway inCuba in1951,published in1952,is one of themostfamousworks ofHemingways.The novellatalks aboutthat anCuban oldfisherman Santiagocaught nofish incontinuous84days,finally hecaught abig marlinby himself,but the fish wasso bigthat pulledhis littleboat on the seafor3days,finally itwas killedby Santiago and wastied bythe sideof the boat.But backto shore,it sufferedsharksattacks repeatedly,when backto port,only bonesleft.Hemingway wrotethe wholestory indetailed narration,through the description of the sinisternatural environment,he highlightedthe old mans tough guy image,praised thestubborn spirit in the old man.Although the novella is a simplestory,of anot longlength,but itsmeaning is rich.It beesone of the classicworks thatinfluence history,won thePulitzer Prizein1953,awarded theNobelPrizeforliteraturein1954.It istaken asteaching materialof heroismand humanspirit,being enduringclassic.Santiago is an oldCuban fisherman.We knowvery littleabout hispast,but we can observewhat the old man is like,what his life isat thevery beginningof the story.“The old man wasthin andgaunt withdeep wrinklesin theback of the neck.The brownblotches of the benevolentskin cancerthe sunbrings from its reflectionon thetropic seawere onhis cheeks.The blotchesran welldown thesides of his cords.But noneof thesescars wereflesh.They wereas oldas erosionsin afishless desert.”With thevivid pictureof Santiagojumping into our eyes,suspense immediatelypiled upin ourminds.Furthermore,Santiagoslifeis notin goodcondition.He livesin ashack inwhich there is only a bed,a table,one chairand aplace on the dirtyfloor tocook withcharcoal.He is so poorthat he had nopot ofyellow riceand fishto eat.For eighty-four dayshe fished in askiff withouttaking afish.Eighty-four days isalong periodof time,eighty-four days without afish isvery unfortunatefor a fisherman.For aweather-beaten,poverty-stricken andlonely old man likeSantiago,the miserymight bebeyond anyones intolerance,for a man cantolerate failure,but cannottolerate continuous failure.Too muchfailure willsure defeata maneven withstrong will.For thisreason,we mayarrive at the conclusionthat Santiagowill giveup fishing.From allmentioned above,we seeSantiago isgiven aspecific characterin aspecific circumstanceand isput ina verydifficult situation.For,the moredifficult the conditions are,the greaterspirits willbe shownin Santiago,the moreexhilarating thestory willbe andthe moreartistic appealthe old man willdisplay.As thestory proceeds,it speaksitself.Before talkingabout his fishing outin the sea,I willdiscuss theattitude of Santiago towardshis fate.He isunfortunate andeverything abouthim isold,but we can see his optimismand hopefulnessabout hisfuture fromhis eyes,“His eyeswere thesame color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated.”He ispoor,but he doesnt care,he wentfishing foreighty-four days and onlycame backwith“the sailpatched withflour sacks,looking like the flagof permanentdefeat”and withouttaking afish.But he still talked about hisbaseball and dreamed of the lionsonthebeach,which arethe sourceof strengthand courage,and continuesto sailout fishing.All thesereveals his personality,his optimisticattitude towardslife.We cannot onlyseehisconfidence,his hope,and hisstrong willin hischeerfulandundefeated eyes,but seehis greatambition andcourage to challenge natureand decidehis fatein hisnever-stopping pursuit in the sea.Santiago ispersistent andconfident,which isperfectly mingledin hisfighting against the marlin and sharks.In his eyes,“Every dayisanew day”,every daywill bringnew hope.After eighty-four dayswithout afish,he sailedout of the harborfor fishingagain onthe eighty-four days.This time,he waslucky enoughto hooka greatmarlin twofeet longerthan his skiff.Then the fight between the old manandhis rival,thegreatfish began.For twodays,the fishtortured the old manas itswam outto seaand triedto makeits escape.It madesurge to pull the old mandown onhis faceandtheblood randown hischeek,his handswere cut,leaving himterrible pain.He wasin dangerand ingreat trouble.Only bycutting theline andletting thefish gocould hegetridof histrouble immediately.The old man wasfacing hischoice.But the old mandidnt doso.The onlythought was“Fish,Ill staywith youuntil Iam dead.”When hungry,he atesome tuna,when tootired,he slepta bitanddreamedhis lionsonthebeach,when havinga crampin thehands,he clenchedhis teethand rubbedit againstthe trousersand triedto gentlehis fingers.He believedthat“Pain doesnot mattera man”.After theextremely hard and bitterstruggle whichmost peoplecannot bearfor twodaysandnights,he,at last,sueeded inkilling thegiant marlinand fasteningit to hisskiff.He wonthe victory.But the old manwas not allowed toreturn peacefully.If thishad happenedSantiago wouldnot havebeen so heroic andrespectable.Instead anunexpected andexciting storywhich perfectedthe figureof the old manin thereturning triptook place.In hisreturning trip,the moredangerous andterrible disasterspied upin him,schools ofsharks cameto attackthe marlinof the old man.The sharkswere soextraordinary that they werefish“built tofeed onall thefishedin thesea,that were so fastand strong and wellarmed that they had no otherenemy”.His rivalsweresopowerful andfearful that he couldnt escapehis defeat.But the old manhadnofear atall andprepared for the fight.Now anotherheart-stirring fight between the old manandthe sharks began.First hesueeded inkilling a shark,but thedead sharkmadehimlose hisharpoon and all theropes besidesforty pounds of hismarlin.He knewthat hisfish wasbleeding andmore sharkswould followthe freshscent totake hisfish anda verybad timewas ing.Since hisharpoons andall theropes hadgone,hehadto lashhis knifeto thebutt ofoneof the oarsas aweapon.As hehad expected,two sharkscame with the scentandwerekilled.Unfortunately,when hekilled them,the knifeblade snapped.It wasgetting dark.Again,many sharks headed straightfor theskiff swimmingside byside.Again,the old man defeatedthe sharks.But bythe midnight,the sharkscame ina pack.At thisvery moment,the old mans mindwas clearerthan ever.He knewhe wasdoomed tolose thefight andmore fightswere useless.Still henever stoppedfighting becausestopping fightingmeant he was defeated.How couldhe aeptdefeat?“But man is notmade fordefeat.A man can bedestroyed butnot defeated”.It waspitch dark.He hadno weapons,sohejerked the tiller freefrom therudder andbeat andchopped withit,holding itdown againand again.Finally,he sawone sharkcame againstthe headof hisfish,and heknew allwas over.He swungthe tilleracross thesharks headwhere thejaws werecaught in the heavinessof thefishsheadwhich wouldnot tear.He swungit onceand twiceand again.He heardthetillerbreak andhe lungedat thesharkswith the splinteredbutt.He felt it goinandknowing itwas sharphe droveitinagain.The sharklet goand rolledaway.That was the lastshark of the packthat came.There wasnothing morefor themto eat.What anexciting descriptionit is,what aperfect binationof courage and persistenceand dauntlessnessin Santiago.Now beforeus standsa fearlessand strong-willed man,a manof indomitablespirit,who isso touchingand unforgettable.At last,he sailedback into the harborexhaustedly,with askeleton ofhisfishandabroken skiff.He failed,however,he is not defeated,despite thefact thathe has been beaten,as hehimself admits,by hisviolation of the scaredcode.He pronouncesthat nothingbeat himreally andthat hisonly faultwas that“He wentso far”.Santiago is not justafisherman who onlyknows theskills offishing but amanwho pondersthe socialproblems andcares forthe developmentandthefuture of thehumansociety.He declared:The humanbeing maysuffer greatdisasters,but peoplehave anindestructible strengthto overethem andwele thebeautiful future,even theymight bebeaten many times.Many factswill provethatthe old manwas optimisticabout thefuture:Although hewas beaten,hewasstill hoping,he couldgo outsailing,his couragestill remained.In additionto the old man,another characterin thenovella is the little boy.Although thereis nolittle boyappearing throughout,in thenovella,he aountsfor aconsiderate length.The novellabegins withthatthe little boydidnt abandonthe old man,finally the boy andthe old man gottogether.In themiddle partof the work,the boydidnt appear,but in the threesofhardandtense seadrift,because of the feeling of longingto bepanied andother reasons,the old man thoughtofthe little boymanytimes,so readerscan alwaysfeel the boys existence.Later,when Hemingwaytalkedabout the factorsofthenovellas suess,he mentionedthelittle boy in thesamebreathwith theold man.He said,“My luckis thatI havea goodold manand alsoa goodlittle boy.”The little boy helpedto presenttheold mans graceunder heavypressure,make theold mans situationworse andworse,pressure heavierstep bystep bywriting thelittle boy.Under suchpressure,theoldmansfailureappeared especiallysolemn andstirring,andtheoldmans attitudetowards failurecould becalled“elegant”.Carlos Bakersaid that“InThe OldMan andthe Sea,the roleofthe boy makepeople moresympathy fortheoldman.”Because in the headandthetail ofthestory,we see theoldman through theboys reverenceand passionto theoldman.But infact,in thelittleboys innerworld,there isnttheonly astatic reverenceand passion,theboys feelingsabout theoldmandevelops alonga morein-depth trajectory,from sympathyto heartache,and this kind offeeling isstronger andstronger,and finallyup tolimit out.The boyhadasincere emotionto theoldman,respected butworried abouttheoldman.Besides,thelittleboys secondimportance liesin histraction forreaders.Through thedirect positivedescription ofthelittleboy,not onlyreveals theboys simpleand plicatedfeelings to theoldman,but alsodepicts theboys individualcharacter.The purposeis toenhance theappeal ofthe work,enrich theconnotation ofthe work.We cansay that,without theboy,theoldman cant bewhat wesee now;without theboy,theworkcant bewhat weread now.What thelittleboygives usis nota figure,theboys imagein the readersmind isclear,no matterhow detailedthedescriptionofthelittleboysis,only letthereadersfeel thepresence oftheoldman morestrongly.After analyzingcharacters,Id liketo talkaboutthe symbolic significanceembodied in“The OldMan andthe Sea”.The sea,inthe whole work,plays animportant role.It is the materialworld thattheoldSantiago livesin,is allcontent ofhis life.The seaprovides mysteriouslarge fishfor him,offers himthe platformto showhis courage and perseverance.While thevast mysterioussea,although she is beautiful,she sometimescan becruel.At that time,McCarthyism runrampant inthe United States,democracy andprogressive forceswere crazy,thewholeAmerica wasfilled withhorrible atmosphere.The seainthework is just thedark unrestsociety at that time.The seais alwaysdark,theseaissocruel,isntitthe symbol oftheUnitedStatesatthattime?As forthe big marlin theoldmancaught,huge marlinfishbone,astheprove ofthefight between theoldmanand sharks,it can be saidnot only the symbolof victory,but the symbolof failure.It isjust thetransformation ofopposition andunity thatlet usseethetoughguy spirit again.In theimage ofthe big marlin,all ofthe descriptionsinthenovella havemore richconnotation.There aremany differentkinds ofinterpretation aboutsharkssymbolic significance,such asthe symbolof death,the symboloftime,thesymbolof revengeandsoon.But inHemingways eyes,shark isthesymbolof evil forces,isthetragic fatethat cant begot ridof.Spontaneously,thereisa lionrepresenting energyand hopeagainsttheevilforces.Lion isbrave andstrong,hates theevil,can createthe miracle.The lionintheoldmans dreamisthereflection ofhis toughguyspirit and indomitablefighting spirit.After“The OldMan andthe Sea”publishing,people startto talkabout a“toughguy”spirit.In thisnovella,we can see anordinary peoplemakegreatachievements throughhis extraordinarycourageandself-control.The novelladiscusses humanbeing indetails andfocuses onhumans strength,it isjust the strength thathelp peoplemake achievements.I want to analyzeHemingways definitionof humanspirit fromseveral perspectives:Pride,Dignity,Suess andHeroism.First,Pride.Of course,84days ofbad luckisa kind ofhumiliation forSantiago,who iscapable offishing asa skilledfisherman.On thesurface,Santiagos prideforces himto deep-sea adventure,to capturemarlin.He triesto airinto theopen seato showhis ability,but tocause misfortune.Hemingway doesnt condemnhim because ofthepride hisheroine filled with.On thecontrary,Santiago beesa paradigmthat pridescan drivepeople achievesomething or more.Because theoldmanadmits thathe killsthe bigmarlin outof pride:“He doesnt killitin order to make aliving,to sellthefishto buyfood,he killsit becauseofhis pride.”Pride beesthe sourceofSantiagos strength,without strongsense ofpride,there wont be thefightbetweentheoldmanandthe marlin,ormorelikely,theoldman hasgiven upbefore.Santiagospridealso inspireshis desirebeyond naturaldestructive power.The wholenovella,no matterhow tragicthe environmentis,theoldman isshowing hisunremitting determinationto catchthe marlinand putit backtothe shore.When the first sharkes,Santiagos determinationis mentionedtwice.At thebeginning,Hemingway saystheoldman isfilledwithdetermination butalmost nohope.Then aftera fewsentences,he sayshe is full of determination butis attackedhopelessly.The oldman facesevery challengewiththesame unwaveringdetermination.He iswilling topay theprice ofhis lifeto pullback the marlin totheshore,he iswilling todie inorder todefeat sharks.It isjust the“To do,to fight,to neversay giveup”spirit thatmake Santiagoavoid failure.Although hereturned withoutthe bigmarlin,he proudlyand decisivelyforgives himself.Hemingway seemsto showthat suessis not theconditionof honor.Instead,honor dependson whethera personhas the courage to fight itout ornot.Even if theoldman returnedwiththebigmarlin,his honormoment,like theflesh ofmarlin,is short.The honorSantiago obtainsdoesnt efrom the struggle itself,but fromcourageanddetermination ofstruggle.Secondly,Dignity.Santiago isa strangeoldman.Here I want tosay he isa noble man.He neverworried aboutthe past,when eachnew situationappears,he alwaysthinks heneeds to prove himself.He thinksdignity ismade outby actionsinstead ofsaid out.Santiago istired outtopullthe marlintotheshore,the angryoldmanshouts:“You wantto killme,fish,you havethe rightto doso,I havenever seena morebeautiful,more clam,more noble,bigger andbetter fishthan you.To killme,I dont carewho willkill who”.It isinteresting thatSantiago doesnt mindwho killswho,it isliketherelationship betweenSantiagoandfish,it seemsthat todie inanoble opponents handsor to beat thenobleopponentisakind ofnoble behavior.It isshowed whenSantiago meetsthefirstshark,“It isashark,it isborn tobe thefish whoswims fastestinthesea.Everything aboutit isbeautiful buthis lowerjaw.Its backis asblue assword fish,its bellyis silver,its skinis smoothand beautiful.”In fact,“In additionto itshis bigchin it isjusta swordfish.”This sharkis nota filthor cruelanimal,it hasits ownunique nobleway,itisa predatoryshark.Then,Suess.Hemingway differstwo kinds o