Study on the Symbolism in The Old Man  and the Sea

摘要

海明威是一个非常伟大的公众英雄，他的创作风格独树一帜，在欧美非常盛行。作为20世纪最著名的作家之一，海明威是迷惘一代的代表。《老人与海》讲述了老渔夫桑地亚哥捕鱼过程中的令人沮丧的经历。三天没有睡觉，只有少的可怜的食物充饥，即将面临衰竭的时候，他捕捉到他所见到过的最大的马林鱼，他是如此的高兴，但不幸的却是大马林鱼被鲨鱼吃的一干二净。面临这样的情况，老人并没有抱怨自己的坏运气。本文主题深刻，是一部英雄主义的赞歌。1954年，海明威凭借着《老人与海》得到了诺贝尔文学奖。

这里有许多关于老人与海的研究，研究涉及很多方面。比如文体特征方面，硬汉形象方面和语言研究方面等。本文将从一个全新的角度对小说进行解读。

本文就《老人与海》中的象征意义进行分析，旨在探讨小说中各个人物或物象的象征意义，通过象征意义的解读，挖掘出小说的主题意义，推断出作者写这篇小说想要表达的人生哲学。

在全文研究基础上，我们可以推断出作者写这篇文章的动机和目的就是想要表达在恶劣环境下，勇气的重要性。小说的主题意义是在冷漠的世界里，大爱的力量是持久的。虽然生存条件非常恶劣,但在失望中始终还有希望。海明威正是通过这些象征手法表现出了主题意义。小说反应出海明威的人生哲学是不管环境多么恶劣，勇气可以带领你走向胜利，一个人可以被摧毁却不可以被打败。

关键词: 桑地亚哥, 象征主义, 人生哲学，创作动机

Abstract
Erneat Hemingway is a great public hero whose unique style in literary works is very ingenious and very popular in Europe and America. As one of the 20th century’s most famous American authors, Ernest Hemingway was noted for being the representative of “The Lost Generation”.The Old Man and the Sea tells about the frustrated experience of a fisherman – Santiago.When he fishes on the sea, he is very tired.He has little sleep and food for three days.Finally,he catches the marlin fish which is so big that he has ever seen.He is so happy about the big fish.But unfortunately, the big fish was eated by a shark. Facing this situation,Santiago did not complain about the bad luck. The theme is very deep and it is in praise of heroism. In 1954, Hemingway got the Nobel Prize for literature because of his great work the Old Man and the Sea.
There exist a large number of researches in the Old Man and the Sea from various perspectives, for example, the stylistic features,code hero problems and linguistic studies. The present thesis will interpret the Old Man and the Sea from a new perspective.
This thesis will focus on the analysis of the symbolism in the Old Man and the Sea, attempting to acquire a deep understanding of the novel. Through the discussion of the symbolic meaning of various characters in the novel, the paper tries to explore the theme of the novel and in so doing, identify Hemingway’s philosophy of life.
Based on the research, we can infer that the author’s motivation of writing this novel is to stress the importance of courage when people in the bad environment. We can also explore the main theme of the novel. Against the indifference of the universe, love is often the only force that endures.Although human’s condition is frustrated in the society, hope still exists in the bad environment. Hemingway just uses this symbols to reflect the theme.The last part is Heymingway’s philosophy of life: Courage is a way leading to success. In other words, a man can be destroyed but not defeated.
Key Words: Santiago, symbolism, philosophy of life, motivation.