symblizmin the OldMan and Sea.docx

1、symblizm in the Old Man and Sea 题目： Symbolism in The Old Man and the Sea 摘 要老人与海是20世纪美国著名作家海明威的代表作，被称为是海明威时期的最佳作品,是海明威生前出版的最后一部作品，可视为其人生哲学的总结。本文从社会历史学的角度，通过分析海明威主要的人生经历以及他的生活和作品，揭示了海明威并不是真的想要创造一个传统意义上的英雄，而是想要诠释生活的真谛:即生活是高于一切成功或失败的无止境的追求。老人与海中的象征因素，评论界意见不一。事实上，桑提亚哥的遭遇和生存环境就是海明威艺术化了的亲身经历。本作品中也反映出了海明威的

2、人生观。本文将从老人与海的主人公和其生存环境等方面着手，对作品中的象征和作品中体现出的人生观进行整体的剖析、归纳和总结。关键词: 海明威；老人与海；象征主义；人生哲学 AbstractThe Old Man and the Sea is one of the masterpieces of Ernest Hemingway, which is considered as the most outstanding work among that generation and is the summary of his philosophy on life. This paper, adoptin

3、g a socio-historical perspective covering Hemingways main life experience and his works, expounds that Hemingway does not really want to create a hero in the traditional sense of the word, but wants to interpret life as it is, that is, life is an everlasting pursuit rather than some kind of achievem

4、ent or failure. As for the symbols in The Old Man and the Sea, there is variety of opinions in the eyes of different critics. In fact, the undergoing and living environment of Santiago is the portrait of Hemingways own experiences. This paper will make an analysis on the symbols through such aspects

5、 as the heroes, the living environments, and so on.Keywords: Hemingway; The Old Man and the Sea; symbolism; life philosophyContentsChapter 1 Introduction 11.1 Ernest Hemingway and His Main Achievements 11.2 A Brief Introduction to The Old Man and the Sea 11.3 Previous Research about Hemingway and Hi

6、s Works 21.4 Purpose and the Significance of This Research 2Chapter 2 Symbolism 32.1 Definition of Symbolism 32.2 Development of Symbolism 3Chapter 3 Hemingway and Symbolism 53.1 Influence of the World Wars 53.2 Hemingway and the Lost Generation 63.3 Hemingways “Iceberg Theory” Related to Symbolism

7、63.4 Reason for Using Symbolism in the Novel 6Chapter 4 Symbols in the Novel 74.1 Symbolic Meaning of the Title 74.2 Symbolic Meaning of the Main Characters 74.3 Symbolic Meaning of the Sea and the Sharks 84.4 Symbolic Meaning of the Marlin 94.5 Symbolic Meaning of the Other Fishermen 94.6 Other Sym

8、bols in the Novel 10Chapter 5 Conclusion 11References 13Acknowledgements 15Chapter 1 Introduction1.1 Ernest Hemingway and His Main AchievementsErnest Hemingway, one of the most famous American novelist, short story writer and essayist, was born in 1899 at Oak Park, Illinois, near Chicago. His father

9、 was a successful physician with a relish for hunting and fishing. His mother taught music, and often took her six children to concert, plays, and painting exhibitions. At high school, Hemingway took a great interest in sports, and wrote regularly for the newspaper of the school and literary magazin

10、e 1During the First World War Hemingway joined the ambulance corps in Italian, and, a few weeks later, he was severely wounded, at the close of the war he returned to the United States. Then he worked as a report for the Toronto Star. When the war was over, he went to settle in Cuba. 2Besides his nu

11、merous short stories, Hemingway wrote several novels, of which the best known are: The Sun Also Rises (1926), A Farewell to Arms (1929), To Have and Have Not (1933), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), and The Old Man and the Sea (1952).The heroes, in his works are often the so-called “tough guys”, men

12、who show “grace under pressure,” who face up to tragedies with courage. 3In Paris, Hemingway along with Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, T.S Eliot and James Joyce, accomplished a revolution in literary style and language. He developed a spare, tight, reportorial prose based on simple sentence structure a

13、nd using a restricted vocabulary, precise imagery, and an impersonal, dramatic tone. His lean, economical style had an immense impact on his contemporary writers in America, England and other European countries. In a word, Hemingway has made great contributions to American literature.However, In Jul

14、y, 1961, Hemingway used a gun to take his own life. 41.2 A Brief Introduction to The Old Man and the Sea The Old Man and the Sea is one of Hemingways most enduring works told in language of great simplicity and power, it is the story of an old Cuban fisherman living on the coast of Cuba, who is thin

15、 and has many deep lines in the back of his neck and his skin is very brown, and his hands are marked by pulling heavy fish at the end of ropes , down on his luck and his supreme ordeala relentless agonizing battle with a giant Marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. The fish is so powerful that it pulls

16、 the boat after it. It takes the small boat far out to sea. The old man can no longer see the land.“Fish”, he says softly, aloud, “I will stay with you until I am dead.”On the morning of the third day, the end comes. Tired and full of pain, the old man throws his harpoon into the heart of the great

17、fish. The fish raises high out of the water, showing all its power and beauty. The next moment it is dead. Slowly and painfully, the old man ties the fish to the side of the boat. Then he turns back and sails towards the distant shore. However, the first shark comes and more sharks come. The old man

18、 fights against them with his oar and his knife .Then he uses a stick. When he sails into the little harbor and pulls his boat on the shore, no fish is left but the giant white backbone.Here Hemingway recasts in strikingly contemporary style the classic theme of courage in the face of defeat. This h

19、ugely successful novella confirms his power and presence in the literary world and plays a huge part in his winning the 1954 Nobel Prize for literature.1.3 Previous Research about Hemingway and His WorksNow, Hemingway is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential American novelis

20、ts of the twentieth century. “Time will show that this novel (The Old Man and the Sea) would be the most brilliant medium-length novel for our time” said Faulkner. 5 And also Hemingway considered the novel as his most successful masterpiece. Lots of critics say that Hemingway is essentially a negati

21、ve writer. It is very difficult for him to say “yes”. All of his works dramatize this concept of life, that it is dangerous and always ready to defeat and destroy you; but that, if you keep calm and stand on your set of principles (which Edmund Wilson calls this principle of sportsmanship is his The

22、 Wound and the Bow and Philip Young sums up as a “code of honor”). 6 While commenting on Hemingways career, critics have mostly adverted to the “masculinity” in his writings. His early fictions won high praise for the stoic, understated-“masculinity”- styled men and the depiction of male pursuits an

23、d attitudes. Hemingways early heroes are Jake Barnes, Frederick Henry, and so on. Such young men tried to cope with World War I and they had to face many unimaginable problems after the war. At the same time, Hemingways early women roles often suffer from same fate in spite of their different life e

24、xperiences and ways of life. They are all frustrated, thwarted, or dead. It is easy to see Hemingways positive attitudes only towards the docile, submissive types of women, such as Catherine Barkley and Maria. But, in Paris of the early 1920s, over eighty feminist societies represented more than six

25、ty thousand members, and many of these feminists would have agreed that the recognition of womens sexually amounted to liberation.By the end of the 1930s Hemingway forged a great literary reputation in America. He published his three famous masterpieces: The Sun Also Rise, A Farewell to Arms and For

26、 Whom the Bell Tolls. By general consensus, critics have concluded that Hemingway developed his depiction of women and of gender issues in his novels in their historical and biographical contexts.1.4 Purpose and the Significance of This Research About Ernest Hemingway and his famous short story, The

27、 Old Man and the Sea, there are many critics who have various points of view on the topics. But The Old Man and the Sea and its writing style and skills such as the use of symbolism and his “Iceberg theory” havent been studied completely, and some are just literal. Thats not enough. The Old Man and

28、the Sea is Hemingways masterpiece, and it is regarded as one of the most influential works in the American literary.This study will concentrate on symbolism and the main symbols in The Old Man and the Sea and the influence factors on the symbolism. Chapter 2 Symbolism2.1 Definition of SymbolismThe m

29、eaning of symbolism, originating from Greek, is that a plank or a kind of pottery is divided into halves which are owned by both parties of the host and the guest respectively. When they meet again, they put the two planks together to indicate the friendship and love between them. 7After long time e

30、volution, its meaning has changed into “use one concept to represent another to express ones meaning”.8 So today the meaning of symbolism is that according to the certain relationship between the things, use the specific image of somebody or something to show some abstract concepts, thoughts, and em

31、otions. In literature, a symbol is a thing that stands for or suggests something else by reason of relationship, association, convention or accidental resemblance, especially, a visible sign of something invisible. The symbol generally does not stand for the meaning, not for anything absolutely defi

32、nite; it evokes an object that suggests the meaning. It usually refers to the use of abstract concepts, as a way to obfuscate any literal interpretation, or to allow for the broader applicability of the prose to meanings beyond what may be literally described. Hemingway perfectly used “symbolism” in this novel writing.2.2 Development of Symbolism Symbolism was first identified as a literary movement by Jean Mor. In art, a loosely organized movement that flourished in the 1880s and 1890s and was closely related to the symbolist