Book review
The Old Man and the Sea, a short heroic novel written by Ernest Hemingway, published in 1952 and awarded the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It was his last major work of fiction. The story concentrates on an aging fisherman who engages in an epic battle to catch a giant marlin. The novel illustrates people ’ s desire to happiness and their persistent pursuit to ideal, by means of presenting the battle between human and resistant nature. Meanwhile, it also praise the bravery towards hardship and the perseverance after failure.
After reading this book, I was deeply impressed on the main writing technique Hemingway used in this novel that is symbolism. An American art historian called Wendell Berry once said that Hemingway is an true artist who is neither symbolized nor allegorical but to make his literature both symbolize and allegorical. It’s a way of using symbols to represent ideas, especially in art and literature. For instance, the old man symbolizes human’s tenacity. In the novel, the old man bravely rises to the challenge given by fate and keeps battling against hardship under poor circumstances. It’s impossible for him to give up even if he hasn’t caught any fish for 84 days. That appropriately shows his tenacity and backbone of human being. Additionally, the ocean represents a truly extraordinary person in life. Either when Santiago is fishing or when he is battling against shark, the ocean is always in an uneventful state. That’s a tru ly strong man in life who can keep calm no matter what have happened. Except giant symbols above, there are some small symbols like Marlin, which means a idealistic life pursuit.
The usage of symbolism not only vivifies the abstract concept, but also implies profound theme. Theme behind this novel also attracts me a lot. Hemingway was famously fascinated with ideas of men proving their worth by facing and overcoming the challenges of nature. When the old man hooks a marlin longer than his boat, he is tested to the limits as he works the line with bleeding hands in an effort to bring it close enough to harpoon. Through his struggle, Santiago demonstrates the ability of the human spirit to endure hardship and suffering in order to win. In our daily life, we call for this spirit. With the development of society and economy, challenges comes along with opportunities. Faced with difficulties, many people try to escape from realism. However, only those who make an effort to tackle with problems can eventually succeed and reach to their pursuing pinnacle.
“But man is not made for defeat.A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” This saying can encourage me most of time when I am in trouble, as I learn from it that I can fail in the end but should pay exertion first. In addition, a person with a strong will will never be defeated. Though such a person will undoubtedly die in the end, his spirit remains to give a far-reaching impact on others. This kind of person has taught others how to battle against difficulties until the last minute. Furthermore, he provide others with his bravery and tenacity. Just like what the author has said in the novel, “ Most people are heartless about turtles because a turtle ’ s heart will beat for hours after he has been cut up and butchered. ” The turtle ’ s heart represents brave person ’ s strong will, which will never disappear.
Among many novels, the main character’s personality reflects the author’s. An American author named Saul Bellow said that Hemingway has a strong desire to impose his views on others so as to characterize a dauntless and unyielding figure. He also said that when he yearn for success in fantasy, it will surely appear complete triumph, great battle and satisfactory ending. To be specific, Hemingway is a man with perseverance so that he can portray figures with willpower to motivate more people to chase their ideals and realize their life values. His succinct and lucid prose had a powerful influence on 20th century fiction. Hemingway’s works explore love, war, wilderness, and loss. The theme of emasculation is also prevalent in his works, most notably in The Sun Also Rises. Holsta, an academician of Swedish Academy, once said that The Old Man and the Sea is an extremely powerful but exceedingly concise work, with irresistible beauty. Hemingway used explicit words to extend profound mental world, which stimulates people to rise to the challenge and to regard failure as experience instead of excuse for giving up.
Simply put,the novel is compact , but the influence is widespread and significant. As for me, this book has taught me how to fight against trouble instead of escaping for fear. Facing with others ’ mockery and invincible sharks, Santiago never gives up and wins spiritually. The spirit he has is edifying enough for everyone to model after, especially who always runs away from difficulties.
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