Symbolism in the Old Man and the Sea

【Abstract】The Old Man and the Sea is Hemingway’s masterpiece，and it is also a classical works in the history of literature. The adoption of symbolism is the most striking feature in the Old Man and the Sea. The essay will analyze its symbolism thoroughly through some aspects such as the leading character，the boy and the Shakes，aiming at helping the reader to get a better understanding of Ernest Hemingway’s masterpiece.

【Key words】Symbolism The old man and the sea Character Self－confident The boy Wisdom Shakes Lions

【中图分类号】I712 【文献标识码】A 【文章编号】1674－4810（2013）05－0072－03

I Introduction

The Old Man and the Sea was written by Ernest Hemingway，who is generally regarded as one of the greatest American writers of his age and famous for novels and short stories. One of the main themes of his works is the powerlessness of the characters when they are in the face of tragedy.

In 1899，Hemingway was born in Oak Park，Illinois. His farther was a highly respected doctor who liked hunting and fishing. His mother was not only a singer but also a music teacher，a lover of high culture. In his childhood，influenced by his parents，he took to music，hunting，fishing，boxing that shaped his resolute character and affected his life.

In 1917，he graduated from Oak Park High School and chose not to attend university as others did. Instead，he left home and became a member of journalist for the star in Kansas City. During this period，he laid the solid foundation of his concise and lively writing style by working hard and receiving strict training. But soon，the young Hemingway began to taste the suffering of life. In 1918，as an ambulance driver working with the Red Cross，he took part in the First World War and was badly wounded in the Italian battlefield. Although he recovered in time and awarded the medal from the Italian government，the trauma caused by the war made it difficult to heal. After the war，Hemingway began to publish his novels and found a position as the well－known famous writer. In 1926，Hemingway published his first important novel，The Sun Also Rises，which describes the aimless life of post－war generation from a young man’s eye whose ideal was shattered by the war. His next important novel，A Farewell to Arms， firmly established his reputation in 1929.

In 1952， Hemingway published his last important novel，The Old Man and the Sea. The book is a story about a fisherman，Santiago，and his fighting with the fierce sea and the greedy shark. It highlights the theme that a man can be destroyed but not defeated. The Old Man and the Sea was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and Hemingway’s famous iceberg technique，which is 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”.

Symbolism is used as one of the most important devices in modern fiction and is essentially an indirect mode of expression，which suggests much more than what is actually described or asserted. The application of symbolism has a strong and deep influence on literature. With the use of symbolism，the simple plots move more smoothly；the theme is better presented and the novel possesses more artistic charms.

II Symbolism in The Old Man and the Sea

The Old Man and the Sea was well known by the feature of symbolism. The Sea，the old man，the sharks，the lion and so on have their deep symbolic meanings respectively.

The old man is the most import character in the novel. He represents a stage，which is the ultimate development of mature of human being and symbolizes a highly philosophy of human spirit，an eternal existence beyond time and space. Through the description of the struggle among the old man，the marlin and the sharks，the author shows us the human being great spirit in the face of adversity. Although the novel just describes a brave，self－confident，modest and self－controlled man，the old man looks thin and haggard，being old and infirm，but his eyes are as blue as the sea，never depressed. Not catching a single fish for eighty－four days，the old fisherman still keeps on trying without being despaired and ready to go far out into the sea at the 85th day and this time he finally meets a big marlin. By the description of Santiago catching a huge marlin after three day’s patient struggle and fighting with the fierce sharks，Hemingway speaks highly of the courage of human being and the spirit to overcome various difficulties when in a unpleasant situation. For example，he looks weak，as a result of old age，fatigue，lonely，having left muscle spasm，and even facing death at any time，but he does not show any fear. He encouraged himself：“The Dentuso is cruel and able and strong and intelligent. But I was more intelligent than he was.”When fighting with the shakes at the third time，he thought that：“I am too old to club shark to death. But I will try it as long I have the oars and the short club and the tiller.”Santiago fights the shakes fourthly and cannot kill the two shakes with the result of his old age and continual fighting with them. However，he never reconciles himself to his defeat，because，in his eyes，he at lease had hurt them both badly and neither one can feel very good. He asks himself：“What will you do now if hey come in the night. What can you do？”“Fight them，” he said，“I’ll fight them until I die.”Even if he were dead，his spirit would had not gone. Through the narration and description of Santiago，Hemingway praises the spirit of man who does not succumb to failure. Hemingway puts the Santiago into the novel，who has an unyielding characteristic， and raises the old man to a higher role，giving the whole work an eternal life.

Besides the old man，the boy is also a symbol of human wisdom and spiritual that will be pasted from generation to generation. At the beginning of the novel，there is a brief conversation between the old man and the little boy，from which we can sense the little boy’s respect for the old man .For eight－four days，Santiago，an Cuban fisherman，had set out and returned empty－handed，Manolin’s parents forced him to leave the old man in order to fish in a more prosperous boat. Nevertheless，the boy decided to back to the old man and cared for the old man after earning some money. From that，we can see that the boy was moved deeply by the old man’s strong will and confidence. At the same time，the old man puts all hopes on the little boy and sees the hope of victory. As a result，the old man decided to go farther to fish to show that he is a good teacher. And Manolin cares for the old man in a way that he often talks the baseball with the old man and listens to the old man telling him about a great story of John JMcGrrow. Every time when the old man goes out into the sea to fish at the dawn， the boy always says：“Then if you look something truly big we can come to your aid.”Manolin is the only friend of the old man and he tries to keep the old man’s spirits high up. The boy helps him when the others desert.“If the boy were here.”The story mentions it for nine times，which symbolizes that the child is the strength for the weak man when he fails and is disappointed. The boy’s decision to stay with the old man to fish again and again，symbolizing the human spirit and wisdom will be passed from generation to generation.

Sharke is also a symbol in the book. It means the destructive force of the society and the world.

When fighting with the marlin，Santiago was astonished. “Never have I seen a greater，or more beautiful，or a calmer or more noble thing than you.”From the words，it seems that Santiago praises the marlin for being nobler and more strong than human. Nevertheless，in the sea，the marlin is the weak who can not escape the fate of being swallowed by sharks. When the sharks smell the taste of blood shed from the Marlin，they emerge one by one from the sea and destroy the harmony. In addition，they swallow the old man’s captured marlin greedily，like the predators. Santiago dislikes and hates them very much because they are sly thieves and the deadly creatures of the deep. So，the shark stands for the evil side of the natural world.

The last one is the lions.“The lions”appears many times in the novel，the old man has even dreamed“the lions”. The lions have close relations with the old man. Obviously，in The Old Man and the Sea，the lions are as a symbol of courage and power.

Santiago dreamed the lions three times that play on the golden beach of Africa in his dreams. The first time was the night before he departed on his three－day fishing expedition，the second occurred when he slept on the boat for a few hours in the middle of his struggle with the marlin， and the third took place at the very end of the book. Through the three dreams of lions，Hemingway endowed them with deep symbolic meanings．First， in the opening pages of the book，he had gone eighty-four days without catching a fish and laughed by all the people and considered as a loser. Against this background，the lions became his supporter in his heart，which were his source of strength when he was in difficulties．He was not defeated by the difficulties，on the contrary，his heat full of courage， bravery and power. Lion is the representation of power and the symbol of bravery． Secondly， in the novel，the sartor said that lions were Santiago’s only remaining dream. “When he slept，he no longer envisioned storms，women or fish，but only the‘young cats in the dusk’”．Here the lions are also the symbol of courage and power. The lions’ last appearance can be said to be the finishing touch of the novel. Santiago returns to the fishing village with the skeleton of the big marlin. He says to Manolin：“They beat me. They truly beat me.” Here，in order to echo the image of Santiago’s tough guy，Hemingway makes the lions appear at the end of the novel once again.“The old man was dreaming about the lions.”The lions in Santiago’s dream are the symbol of human beings’ most valuable of struggling.

Through the above systematically analysis of the use of symbolism，we know that The Old Man and the Sea is rich in symbolism which functions on several levels and in a variety of ways. Not only do those symbols used by the authors enrich the vividness of the symbols themselves but also convey the authors’ ideas to the reader on the right way. Symbolism functions a lot，which makes the setting rich，influences the characterization and also makes a great contribution to the richness of the themes of the novel. From the above detailed analysis，we can come to the following conclusion.

III Conclusion

To sum up，symbolism is a noted writing characteristic in The Old Man and the Sea. The old man，the boy，the sharks and so on，to a large degree have deep symbolic meanings respectively. Through the numerous symbols，we not only can get different kinds of interpretations of the book but also can attain different kinds of symbols from several respects. Just as Hemingway once spoke highly of his artistic achievement in the great work that The Old Man and the Sea is the only best work during his life long literary creation. The work is also rewarded as the best masterpiece for symbolism.

参考文献

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