Zhao, Class Two, Grade Two.
People are not born to be defeated. You can destroy him, but you just can't beat him.
-The Old Man and the Sea
The old man and the sea tells the story of "a lonely old man, wandering alone in the waves and fishing by a broken fishing boat" Although this book is short and clear, and the story is not so ups and downs, it is a simple but profound work of life philosophy. The old man chewed Santiago carefully and saw loneliness, strength, courage and a touch in his vicissitudes.
Sleeping lion
The old man is so strong and brave physically and psychologically, like a lion, but all this makes the fishermen around him gradually jealous, thus alienating him and rejecting him; The old man's bumpy fishing trip-he didn't catch a fish for 84 days, and the fishermen around him laughed at him, belittled him and played tricks on him, in order to achieve the self-realm of "feeling good about himself". The lion is lonely in the forest, because he is the king of beasts; Goshawk is lonely in the sky, because it is the king of birds; The shark is lonely in the water because it is the king of the water. Because the old man is a lion, an eagle and a shark, he is lonely. None of this matters to the elderly. Most importantly, the relatives of the old man began to doubt him, gradually creating a gap between the two generations. At this time, the old man felt a sense of loneliness. Even sometimes when he can't find a communication partner, he can only talk to himself. In this case, can the old people not feel lonely and tired? Fate and God's tricks can only make him a sleeping lion for a while.
The rising lion
It is true that there are too many twists and turns in the life of the old man, but what we see is that the end of the twists and turns of the old man is not sadness and desolation, but seclusion. The old man who didn't catch a fish for 84 days forced him to summon up courage, regain confidence, forget the pain and sorrow in life, put aside setbacks and shackles, and go out to sea again to be a real man and a real roaring lion. On the day of sailing, God finally tasted the sweetness for the old man, and God finally gave him a stimulant to make him rise again. The old man accidentally met a marlin bigger than his boat. The old man didn't flinch, but faced it, despised it and defeated it. After three days of physical and mental struggle with Marin, finally, the old man defeated Marin and won the material and spiritual victory. At this moment, hunger and pain in both hands are intertwined with the old man, and the old man can't help feeling tired and tired. However, God deceived people. This is the beginning of the war, and the war has just begun. The bigger enemy, the shark, came to the old man and ate the fruits of his labor. The old man hated them, their weakness and lack of progress, so he thought, "I can't stop it from attacking me, but I may be able to kill it." -I seem to read the firmness, tenacity and persistence of the old man. In desperation, the old man is still as steady as Mount Tai. He extracted green hope from life and relied on that immortal hope.
However, fate continued to ravage San Diego, and the marlin caught by the old man was eventually eaten up by the small shark, leaving only a skeleton. However, I think the old man won, because "the spiritual victory is far greater than the material gain", and the old man completed his task-sublimated his spiritual realm. The old man is not fighting for Marin, but for human dignity. In the end, he had nothing, but he gained the backbone, bone marrow and dignity that money could not buy. This makes me feel very admired and revered, because I feel very much. At this moment, I saw the old man is a lion rising in Ran Ran, a lion who knows dignity.
An old lion
"If the sky is sentimental, the sky is old", and the years are ruthless. After years of relentless carving, the old man is covered in gullies and vicissitudes. Although the old man can beat the shark, he can't beat the years. The old man can only "lament his life" and feel that the years are ruthless. "They really beat me." What a feeling and sadness this is! San Diego, as an old man, can no longer "aim at a thousand miles" and "go forward bravely". The old man can only admit that he is beyond his power. Finally, the soul of this old lion was ruthlessly taken back by God.
final result
A philosopher once said, "As long as the sun rises in the east, never give up hope." I think we should learn from San Diego, learn to be a brave lion, work hard for 1% hope, constantly sublimate ourselves and evolve into a real man!
abstract
Santiago is an old fisherman in Cuba. When he was young, he was excellent and strong. He once wrestled with a black man, and after a day and a night, he finally defeated his opponent. In his later years, his experience and reaction were not as good as before. After his wife died, he lived alone in a humble cottage by the sea.
Once upon a time, the old fisherman fished alone in a small boat. He fished for 84 days, but he didn't catch any fish. Originally, a boy named Manorine accompanied him all the time, but after a long time, Manorine's parents thought the old man was unlucky and ordered his children to take another boat to sea. Sure enough, they caught three good fish in the first week. Every time the child sees the old man go home by boat every day, he feels very uncomfortable and always helps him with his things.
Santiago is thin and haggard, with wrinkles on the back of his neck and zits on his face, but his eyes are as blue as the sea, without a trace of melancholy. He and his children have forgotten each other. The old man taught his children to fish because the children loved him very much. Many fishermen in the village make fun of the old man because he can't catch fish, but in Manorine's eyes, the old man is the best fisherman. They fish not only to make money, but as a hobby. The children prepared meals for the old man and commented on the softball game with him. The old man especially worships the softball player DiMaggio. He is the son of a fisherman. Although he has a bone spur in his heel, he is full of energy when playing ball. The old man realized that he was old and his physical strength was not as good as his prime, but he knew a lot of fishing tricks and was determined, so he was still a good fisherman.
The day after the old man and the children met, that is, in the early morning of the 85th day, they went out to sea together. After waking up in the middle of the night, he stepped on the moonlight to wake up the child. They took two boats separately and sailed for the sea area of their choice after leaving the port.
The old man has put down the bait before dawn. The belly of the bait is wrapped in the handle of the hook, and the protruding part of the hook is wrapped with fresh sardines. The bait is delicious and fragrant.
While Santiago was staring at the fishing line, he saw a green pole sticking out of the water and soon attached to it. He gently pinched the fishing line with the thumb and forefinger of his right hand. Then the fishing line moved again, but the tension was not strong. The old man knew that a marlin was eating sardines caught by a fish at a depth of one hundred fathoms. He felt a slight pull on the bottom and was very happy. After a while, he felt something hard and heavy, and he decided that it was a big fish. This aroused his determination to challenge it.
The old man let go of the fishing line first, then shouted and tried his best to take it in, but the fish refused to give in easily. It didn't swim up an inch, but swam slowly. The old man carried the fishing line on his back to increase the tension on the marlin, but it didn't do much. He watched the ship drift northwest. The old man thought that the fish would die soon if he pushed too hard, but four hours later, the fish dragged the boat to the vast sea, and the old man still carried the fishing line on his back without any slack. They are fighting.
At this time, the old man looked back and saw that the land had disappeared from his sight. The sun sets in the west and the sky is full of stars. According to the observation of the stars, the old man judged that the big fish had not changed direction all night. It was very cold at night, and the old man's sweat dried up. He felt cold all over. He put a sack under the fishing line on his shoulder to reduce friction, and then bent down and leaned against the bow. He felt much more comfortable. In order to persist, he kept talking to fish, birds and the sea, constantly recalling the past and thinking about Manorine. He said to himself loudly, "if only the child were here, so that he could help me and look at all this."
It was very cold the day before dawn, and the old man leaned against the wood to keep warm. I can keep it as long as it wants. He said loudly in a gentle tone, "Fish, as long as I don't die, I will fight you to the end." After the sun rose, the old man found that the fish was not tired, but the inclination of the fishing line indicated that the fish might jump, which was exactly what he wanted. He said, "Fish, I love you and respect you very much. But I must kill you before dark today. " The fish began to get restless, and suddenly it rocked the boat. The old man touched the fishing line with his right hand and found that his hand was bleeding. After a while, his left hand began to twitch again, but he tried his best to stick to it. He ate several pieces of tuna meat to strengthen his strength against big fish.
Just then, the fishing line slowly rose and the big fish finally surfaced. In the sun, it is bright and dazzling. It is 18 feet long, which is bigger than his boat. Its beak looks like a softball bat and is as sharp as a slender sword. After its sickle-shaped tail entered the water, the fishing line dropped rapidly.
The old man and the big fish kept at loggerheads until sunset, playing for two days and one night. The old man can't help recalling the experience of playing with a wrench with a black man in Casablanca when he was young. They put their elbows on the table with chalk lines drawn, their forearms straight and their hands clenched, so they embraced each other for a day and a night. After eight hours, there will be another referee every four hours, and they will take turns sleeping. He and the black people are bleeding under their fingernails. The fisherman who gambled on black people drank rum and tried to hold his hand down nearly three inches, but Santiago pulled his hand back to its original position and tried to hold it down again at dawn the next day. Since then, he has become a "champion" in people's minds.
The protracted war between the old man and the big fish lasted from night to dawn. The big fish jumped twelve times and began to circle around the boat. The old man was dizzy and saw the black spot shaking in front of him, but he still clung to the fishing line tightly. When the fish swam to him, he put down the fishing line, stepped under his feet, then held the harpoon high and plunged into the fish. The big fish jumped up, fully demonstrated its beauty and strength, and then fell into the water with a bang, splashing all over the old man and wetting the whole boat.
The fish turned upside down, its silver belly was up, and the blood from its heart was red with blue water. The old man tied the big fish to the side of the ship and successfully returned home. But after more than an hour, the shark smelled the blood of the big fish and followed it to grab the fish. The old man saw the blue back of the first shark that swam over. He prepared the harpoon and killed the first shark. A few hours later, two sharks approached the stern and bit the big fish's tail. The old man tied a knife to the paddle and killed two invading sharks, but in the subsequent struggle, the knife broke and he used a short stick. However, when sharks swarmed in the middle of the night, there was nothing he could do. Instead, he kept fighting and even broke the rudder. Finally, the shark ate up the old man's hard work for two days, leaving only the fish head and tail. ...
The boat sailed into the hillock and the old man returned to the shack. After dawn, people saw the huge white fish spine by the boat, and everyone was amazed at the old man Santiago.
The next morning, the child came to visit the old man, so tired that he couldn't sleep and couldn't help crying. When the old man woke up, the child brought him a steaming cup of coffee. The two met in a few days and went fishing together. The child said that he still had a lot to learn. After the child left, the old man fell asleep. He dreamed of lions in Africa. ...
Hemingway, a modern American writer, wrote a story about an old man trudging between success and failure. Santiago has been fishing all his life, and now he is old. He is "skinny, with deep wrinkles on his neck", with long-term sunburn and yellow spots on his face; After years of fishing, my hands are scarred. He didn't get rich because of old age. The humble shack is his home, with a bed, some old newspapers, a table and a chair on the bare board. All the belongings are here, except fishing gear, such as sails mended with surface pockets. The old man lives by fishing, but he is unlucky. He didn't catch a big fish for 84 days. Life has lost its source, and food rations have gone wrong, so that the children who started fishing with him have to pay for him, or have a full meal with his imaginary children to solve his hunger. Even more embarrassing, the fishermen began to laugh at or sympathize with his bad luck. Although the old man has no brilliant deeds in his life, he is an excellent fisherman. Now, this is suspected. Although the old man is quiet, the author disdains to let these trivial troubles torment his heart, but readers can imagine his situation.
People should have a rest when they are old. However, San Diego is not ready to rest. He has an active life and clear eyes. He went to sea for the 85th time. The day before going out to sea, he discussed with his children to buy lottery tickets. The children suggested that he use the first record of not catching a big fish for 87 days as the lottery number, which inadvertently violated the taboo of the old man. He said, "It won't happen again." He decided to use "85" as the lottery number. I haven't caught a big fish in 84 days. "85" should be the end of the old situation and the beginning of a new situation. Since fate prevented him from catching a big fish in 84 days, he should be allowed to catch a big fish in 85 days. The old man seems to have entrusted his hope to God, but in fact he is convinced of his own strength. The old man's persistence and competitiveness in fishing, his concern for American baseball teams, and his early wrestling with others to win or lose, that is, his concern for winning or losing, and his desire for competition, are a spirit. Now, he wants to catch a big fish and prove his strength again, and prove that he has the ability to gain something between heaven and earth.
The decisive battle first started between him and the marlin, and then the fierce shark joined in. The old man used his life's wisdom, but his fatigue has been holding him back. Marlin is a spiritual behemoth. Sharks are fierce and cruel, and both sides are evenly matched. In diamond cut diamond, this battle is extremely difficult. After two days and nights of fighting, the marlin was stabbed in the key by the old man's fork. After several struggles, it died under the harpoon of the old man. Seeing victory in sight, the appearance of sharks turned the tide. The shark launched a fierce attack on the old man's prey. Although the old man tried to protect it, he finally lost the shark and the marlin was bitten to the bone.
Who won? Who lost?
The highest goal of the game is to win. Although a draw takes care of the dignity of both sides, it is not what both sides want to pursue: the old man wrestled with others and remained deadlocked for a day and a night, still refusing to make up with his opponent. The competition for survival is more intense. The old man lives by fishing. According to the old man's estimation, this excellent big fish weighs 1500 kilograms and can fetch a big price. Catching a big fish means a livelihood, and losing a big fish means a more embarrassing life. From the practical interests, the old man failed because he lost a big fish. But don't forget, the old man still has a spiritual pursuit: he wants to prove that he is good. Readers will never forget the famous monologue of the old man: "Man is not born to be defeated" and "Man can be destroyed, but not defeated". The old man fulfilled his promise with his actions. He persevered in the face of setbacks, maintained high spiritual strength and vitality from beginning to end, and declared this strength and vitality; He also found his dignity and self-confidence and won the respect of others. Therefore, after he returned to the shack, he could sleep so soundly. At present, the fishermen's onlookers and tourists' amazement at the rare big fish skeleton are in line with his dream of distant African lions. So mentally, he is also a winner, a strong man and a tough guy. Nobel Prize in Literature's award speech praised this work as "an eulogy for the indomitable spirit of struggle even if nothing is achieved, and an eulogy for the moral victory despite difficulties and obstacles and failure", which is absolutely true. By extension, The Old Man and the Sea is an ode to human beings, praising their strength, dignity and courage.
In the gloomy sky of western literature in the 20th century, The Old Man and the Sea is a bright color, because people's understanding of themselves and the performance of this understanding in literature have changed a lot here. In ancient Greek literature, there was a god above man, and man struggled and was often teased by God. For example, the protagonist of Oedipus was bound, tortured and exiled because he violated great power; But it also reflects that human beings have the courage to fight against fate, and the tragic and lofty appreciation shown in the struggle. Man has not been crushed by God, but in opposition to God, he has also made himself a figure of God. From the Renaissance to The Romantic Period, people constantly challenged the divine power, and then replaced God and became "the essence of the universe, the primate of all things". In Faust, the transcendence of the soul seems to be never perfect; Whitman takes himself as the center of heaven and earth, and in the process of searching for "identity", he puts his own brand on everything in the universe; Robinson Crusoe promises wealth and shows the charm of overseas colonization and adventure. /kloc-since the middle of the 0/9th century, with the deepening of capitalist contradictions, people's confidence in themselves has been frustrated, manifested in European literature, and their internal and external expansion has gradually disappeared. The protagonists are mostly ordinary people, with secular sufferings, ordinary people's defects and humble desires. At the beginning of the 20th century, western society experienced an unprecedented spiritual crisis, and two world wars dragged mankind into the abyss of disaster. As a reflection of reality, western literature is generally pessimistic and desperate about people, so all kinds of obscene freaks and perverts do everything they can. In such a literary situation, The Old Man and the Sea published by 1952 shows a tendency to return to traditional human beliefs and shows cautious optimism about human courage and strength. This is very rare, and it is a good medicine for mankind to heal the wounds of war and recover from the double disasters of material and spirit after the war.
Nobel Prize in Literature's award speech reminds readers of "American identity and spirit" in Hemingway's works. Although American culture was born out of European culture, it gradually formed its own national characteristics in the course of hundreds of years of development. Many western scholars believe that the westward movement and frontier development play a decisive role in the formation of the American nation and its culture, and the westward movement and frontier development are largely manifested as the struggle to conquer nature. The vast territory and rich resources have nurtured, moistened and enriched the American nation, and also provided a broad imaginary world for American writers. It is at this point that American literature and European literature show great differences: American literature pays attention to the relationship between man and nature, while European literature pays attention to the relationship between man and society. In the history of American literature, writers such as Cooper, Emerson, Mark Twain, Whitman, Melville and Jack London all wrote that nature has become a stage for people to display their ambitions in various ways. Cooper's "noble barbarian" represents the desire and ideal of abandoning the concept of civilization and returning to nature. Emerson's transcendental view of nature advocates experiencing natural spirituality and living in harmony with nature. Whitman's poems have a wide understanding of nature and realize the king's reign and rule over nature. Melville's novel Moby Dick highlights the antagonistic relationship between man and nature and shows man's arrogance and retribution in the face of unfathomable nature. People's fear and desire to conquer fear.
The Old Man and the Sea continues the theme of nature in American literature and creates a new dimension. One of the most striking is the old man's contradictory attitude towards the ocean and its creatures. Hemingway usually attributed the diverse and complicated relationship between man and environment and between man and various alien forces to the relationship of competition and confrontation, and The Old Man and the Sea was no exception in this respect. Competition stimulates the vitality of life, but when the opposite of competition is nature, people will no longer have moral legitimacy, and the rationality of their competition will be questioned, because victory means conquering nature and taking, which is full of killing and blood. In the novel, Santiago kills dolphins "from the anus to the tip of the lower lip". When he killed the marlin, he "raised the harpoon as high as possible, ... and plunged the iron fork into the side of the fish, just behind the big pectoral fin stuck in the air and as high as the old man's chest. The man ... put it on the fork handle, dipped it deeply, and then pushed it in with the weight of his whole body. " These details reflect the cruelty of San Diego. San Diego thought of the profit after killing the big fish: "There is 1500 pounds, ... take out two thirds, cut it and wash it, and sell it for 30 cents a catty." How much is it? " The shrewd calculation of utilitarianism. The world only recognizes the winner, and even the question of good and evil becomes irrelevant. In this world, without family and social relations, people are greatly simplified. He only needs strength, courage and wisdom to survive. He faced the challenge alone and took on everything. In a sense, people have also been alienated by competition. On the other hand, the old man is humble and full of warmth in front of nature. He said that the sea is negative and he likes it. A tired bird, a jellyfish and a fish in the sea can arouse his love and long-term memory. He talks to nature and listens to their voices. When he struggled with the marlin, he had to kill it, but at the same time he repeatedly called the big fish his brother and friend. He marveled at the magnificence of the big fish and said, "I have never seen anything bigger, more beautiful, calmer and nobler than you." The above two contradictory attitudes show that Hemingway is difficult to choose between the subjective standard and the natural standard, so Santiago chose two opposing aspects: asking for gifts from nature and getting along with nature on an equal footing. He is not blind and arrogant, but he has not put himself in a position of submission. Nature is his supplier, and he wants to take it; But he also respected natural life, and tried to take responsibility for nature and realize the value of individual life without infringing on others' right to exist.
However, in The Old Man and the Sea, the contradiction between man and nature has not been fundamentally solved. When the old man went out to sea, he said that the sea is "a force that is generous at one time and unwilling to show mercy at another." This time, it failed without mercy. When the old man finally dragged his tired body back to the shore, he could not help but sigh: "I went out to sea too far." Facing nature, the old man has his attitude and purpose, but nature itself is not designed, chosen or even understood by the old man, and it has its own logic. The old man's attitude and choice in front of nature shows man's subjectivity, but it is finally proved to be illusory or even hypocritical, which naturally leaves us with eternal confusion and dreams.
The Old Man and the Sea has achieved great artistic success. Hemingway won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954, which had much to do with the novel published in 1952. Nobel Prize in Literature praised Hemingway as "proficient in modern narrative art", and British writer Herbert said that Hemingway's novels triggered a "literary revolution". These praises are equally deserved by the old man and the sea. The greatest artistic feature of the novel is symbolism. Although Hemingway hates researchers to associate his works with any symbol, The Old Man and the Sea is indeed a profound novel. Hemingway chose fishing and hunting, the most primitive and natural life activity of human beings, as the object of expression, and filtered out all specific social and times factors, and set off a lyrical monologue with a gorgeous and pure sea background. By doing so, Hemingway made the whole structure of the work point directly at the archetype of ancient mythology, thus expanding the coverage of the work and making it possible for the work to derive and deduce richer meanings in the broad human background. Another example is the recurring image of the African lion. Africa is an important image in American culture and literature, which is closely related to the composition of the American nation. The old man has been to Africa in his early years. From the metaphorical analysis of the novel, this is his pilgrimage and root-seeking journey. Therefore, the African lion has become a symbol of strength and an inexhaustible source of life, and its individual behavior is linked with the spirit of national ancestors. He draws strength from it and shows this spirit. Another artistic feature of The Old Man and the Sea is conciseness, which has also become the biggest feature of his style. Hector Bates wrote vividly on this point: "He cut down the redundant words of the whole forest, and he restored the refreshing appearance of the basic branches. He deleted explanations, discussions and even discussions; Cut off all colorful metaphors; Clear the old sacred and lifeless article prejudice; Until the end, through sparse and thousands of words, my eyes suddenly became clear. " As a result, the "academic style", which reached its peak with Henry James' complicated and tortuous works, was "cut clean" by Hemingway just like the "loose hair" attached to literature. Reading The Old Man and the Sea will undoubtedly leave a deep impression on this point.