Analysis of the Old Man and the Sea 老人与海简析

Analysis of the Old Man and the Sea

Abstract The Old Man and the Sea, written by Hemingway, is a famous realistic novel, which tells the frustrated experience that the old fisherman fishes in the course. This paper starts with the details to discuss the indispensable roles of the boy in the novel. It is him who helps the old man get out of the troubles in spiritual; It is him who becomes the old man’s comfort and motivation especially 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. Key words: Roles；the Boy；the Old Man Contents 1. Introduction 2. The roles of the boy in the Old Man and the Sea 2.1Highlighting the humanity in the work of Realism 2.2Helping show the old man’s pressures 3. Conclusion 1 Introduction The Old Man and the Sea earned its author the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1952, and was instrumental in winning him 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 taking a fish. Therefore, the boy, Mandolin, who used to sail with him, is forced to leave him and catch in another boat. The old man insists on fishing alone and at last, he hooks an eighteen-foot, giant marlin, the largest he has ever known. But the fish is very powerful and disobedient. The fight between giant marlin and the old man has begun and fortunately the old man won. But, on his way to home, they come across sharks as much might and many weapons as he can summon, but only to find a giant skeleton of his marlin left after his desperate defense. At last, Santiago, having lost what he fought for, reached the shore and struggles to his shack. 2. The roles of the boy in the Old Man and the Sea 2.1Highlighting the humanity in the work of Realism The first roles of the boy in the Old Man and the Sea are to highlight the humanity in the work of Realism. At the beginning of the novel，Santiago had gone eighty-four days without catching a fish and had become the laughingstock of his small village．Everybody thought that Santiago must meet some bad fortune especially when the boy who went fishing initially with the old man was obliged to go with another boat and luckily caught three good fishes in the first week. And then they all didn’t want to contact with the old man except the boy who still believe in the old man and show his kindness and mercy to the old man. So when the old man was trapped by giant marlin on the sea and almost lost his life, he always thought of the boy and wished Mandolin could have been there with him. Comparing with others, the boy is the symbol of humanity in some terms, and highlights the deep theme of the realistic work by this literary character. With the help of this character Hemingway shapes the old man with more real and full. As a realistic literary work, it shows the cruel and tough environment of society or existence, so in the work we can hardly 2 come cross the feelings of warm humanity, however, the work of the Old Man and the Sea helps us to feel the sparks of humanity and shocks our inner side. 2.2Helping show the old man’s pressures The second roles of the boy in the Old Man and the Sea are to help show the old man’s pressure and his grace showed under those pressures. One of the brightest spots in The Old Man and the Sea is the perfect expression of Hemingway’s quality of grace under pressure, which is composed of two factors: pressure and grace. And pressure is the premise: only under the background of pressure will the hero have the elegant manners in the real significance. These two factors are mostly shown by the little boy. To show pressure, Hemingway describes the background of the story in four levels by picturing the details when the little boy leaves the old man. In this way, he stresses the heavy pressure at the very beginning of the novel, which lays a necessary premise and an atmosphere for the so-called grace.

To show the grace, Hemingway describes several details when the old man gets together with the little boy under the pressure at the beginning and the end of the novel, drawing the image and targets in describing the image of the old man. There are three layers of pressure in the work. At the beginning, the old man and the little boy sailed together every day, but they do not catch any fish for more than 40 days, which is quite “unlucky”, this is the first layer of pressure. At this time, the boy is f orced to leave the old man and catches on another boat followed his parents’ order, thus the old man is left alone in his boat which is a symbol of his failure. Obviously, failure and loneliness is the second level of pressure. The boy began to learn to fish following the old man when he is only five. The old man’s wife passed away several years ago, so the child is actual his only companion in his lonely life, and the departure of the little boy at this unfortunate moment is undoubted a heavy blow to him. Previously, it has said that the little boy does not appear in the material on which the story based. The little boy is imaged by Hemingway as the sole partner and assistant of the old man, and then takes him away from the old man mercilessly, which is the so-called “giving it before taking it”. In this way, the old man’s miserable 3 situation becomes even worse. Moreover, after the boy’s leaving, the old man does not catch any fish for 44 days which makes bear an almost desperate feeling. This is the third level of pressure. Although the first and third level of the pressure having nothing to do with the little boy, the boy’s leaving divides the 84 days into three levels to increase the pressure layer by layer, thereby creating a sense of more and more, dignified. 3. Conclusion From what we have discussed above can we draw a natural conclusion, in the Old Man and the Sea, the roles of the boy are key important. It can be traced through three or more significant roles; we cannot appreciate its literary charms without it. Hemingway depends on the character of the boy to enhance the old man’s image of “tough man” and then ensure the status of the Old Man and the Sea in the history of literature. Therefore, when we read a literary work, we might well think over every character the author has shaped in the work, and only if like that can we not neglect the every detail the author wants to convey