《老人与海》象征主义探究(1)(1)

《老人与海》象征主义探究(1)

Abstract

The Old Man and the Sea, praised by a famous writer as “the most excellent simple article in this generation”, is a masterpiece of

the unyielding man—Hemingway. But with regard to the symbolism, it has been talked differently, and was equivocal in the explanation by Hemingway himself. The Protagonist, the living environment, the sea, the Shark, the Marlin are not themselves but have significant symbolical meaning. Here the author will analyze its symbolism thoroughly through some aspects such as the leading character，the living environment and Hemingway’s philosophy of life reflected by the symbols, with a view to help the reader get a better

understanding of Ernest Hemingway's masterpiece．

Key Words

Ernest Hemingway; the symbolic factors; iceberg theory; the living environment； philosophy of life

摘要

被威谦、福克纳誉为“这代人最优秀的一个单篇”的《老人与海》是硬汉子海

明威的力作，而对于《老人与海》的象征主义，评论界各执已见，海明威本人

的解释也模棱两可。而小说中主人翁桑提亚哥和生存环境、大海、鲨鱼、小孩

等角色实际上并非角色本身，表面上简单的角色及故事情节有着深刻的象征意义，所以笔者希望从文章的主人公、其生存环境等各个方面对其象征主义进行

剖析、总结和归纳《老人与海》的象征手法以及海明威的人生观在各象征因素

中的体现,以期能帮助读者更好地理解这部作品。

关键词

海明威；象征因素；冰山原理; 生存环境; 人生观

Introduction

Regarded as a giant both in American literature and the world literature, Ernest Hemingway was born on July21, 1898, at Oak Park, Illinois. In the childhood, influenced by his father, Hemingway was interested in music, pictures, hunting, fishing and the like.

His variety of interest, especially the love of fishing extremely affected all his life and he drew much writing inspiration from his fishing experience. Taking adventures also plays a vital role in his life and for the reason that he experienced the two world wars. As a noticeable representative of the “Lost Generation”, Hemingway published the books of this sort, The Sun Also Rises at the age of 26. Because the book chiefly deals with the living attitude of the post-

war generation, especially the lives of those wounded soldiers and

the loneliness and disillusionment of the modern people whose ideal was shattered at the time when “God is dead”, they thought life was nothing and meaningless. In this case, Hemingway became the spokesperson for the The Lost Generation.

Actually the parable of a man’s struggle against the nature, The Old Man and The Sea was published in 1952. Acknowledged as his best works, the novel reinvigorated Hemingway’s literary rep utation after the violent attacks，he received from Across the River and Into the Tress. The positive reaction that followed the novel included praise not

only from the reviewers but also from a board spectrum of the mass, from ordinary readers to fellow men of letters. The publishing of

this work showed that Hemingway had shown he could still achieve a major triumph, whether or not the reviewers and critics or the public could appreciate the true value of his achievement. The Old Man and the Sea was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and Hemingway’s famous iceberg technique, which is a simple but highly suggestive style, was vividly embodied in the work, thus he was awarded the

Nobel Prize for his “mastery of the art of modern narration”.

I. Introduction to the Background

The old Man and the Sea is a fable of an old man’s life which was

told by Hemingway.

Hemingway is a famous American writer of modern times. He is also an international literary celebrity in the world. His father is a prominent doctor, and also a dab at fishing and hunting. The

influence of his father made him full of love with fishing and hunting. His life was active and adventurous, but it was full of pains. The First and the Second World Wars had affected Hemingway a lot, he had once joined the army and had injured in Italy, and he suffered much that was brought about by the war deeply. He was disappointed with the world and pessimistic about the fate of the man. In his early days’ novel, The Sun also rises depicts the war, describing the bewilderment of the European and American young people, then he was look down upon by someone around him and some writers. “You are all the generation that has been at a loss.” So, seeking way out and seeking the understanding of life is the theme that Hemingway wanted to explore. He was an unyielding man, so he

portrayed the distinctive individual character of “the character of unyielding man”. From all the works of Hemingway’s, we can find

that when Hemingway chose personage, he especially liked to choose beggar, hunter, solider and so on, they could protect their dignity

by resisting with the world which is full of hostility, they maintain a graceful demeanour under great force, but on target. The characters