【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 ject to the same eternal law: they must kill or be killed. As Santiago reflects when he watches the weary warbler fly toward shore, where it will inevitably meet the hawk, the world is filled with predators, and no living thing can escape the inevitable struggle that will lead to its death. Santiago lives according to his own observation: “man is not made for defeat .Man can be destroyed but not defeated.”[5]In Hemingway’s portrait of the world, fighting with rival is inevitable, but the best men as well as animals will noheless refuse to give in to its power. Accordingly, man and fish will struggle to the death, just as hungry sharks will lay waste to an old man’s trophy catch. The novel suggests that it is possible to transcend this natural law. In fact, the very inevitability of destruction creates the terms that allow a worthy man or beast to transcend it. It is precisely through the effort to battle the inevitable that a man can prove himself. Indeed, a man can prove this determination over and over through the worthiness of the opponents he chooses to face. Santiago finds the marlin worthy of a fight, just as he once found “the great negro of Cienfuegos” worthy. His admiration for these opponents brings love and respect into an equation with struggle, as their destruction bees a point of honor and bravery that confirms Santiago’s heroic qualities. Santiago, though destroyed at the end of the novella, is never defeated. Instead, he emerges as a hero. Santiago’s struggle does not enable him to change man’s place in the world. Rather, it enables him to meet his most dignified parallels exist between Santiago and the classic heroes of the ancient world. In addition to exhibiting terrific strength, bravery, and moral certainty, those heroes usually possess a tragic flaw—a quality that, though admirable, leads to their eventual downfall. If pride is Santiago’s fatal flaw, he is keenly aware of it. After sharks have destroyed the marlin, the old man apologizes again and again to his 山東政法學(xué)院外語系 06 屆本科畢業(yè)論文 5 worthy opponent. He has ruined them both, he concedes, by sailing beyond the usual boundaries of fishermen. Indeed, his last word on the subject es when he asks himself the reason for his undoing and decides, “Nothing. I went out too far.”[6]While it is certainly true that Santiago’s eightyfourday run of bad luck is an affront to his pride as a masterful fisherman, and that his attempt to bear out his skills by sailing far into the gulf waters leads to disaster, Hemingway does not condemn his protagonist for being full of pride. On the contrary, Santiago stands as proof that pride motivates men to greatness. Because the old man acknowledges that he killed the mighty marlin largely out of pride, and because his capture of the marlin leads in turn to his heroic transcendence of defeat, pride bees the source of Santiago’s greatest strength. Without a ferocious sense of pride, that battle would never have been fought, or more likely, it would have been abandoned before the ’s pride also motivates his desire to transcend the destructive forces of nature. Throughout the novel, no matter how idious his circumstances bee, the old man exhibits an unflagging determination to catch the marlin and bring it to shore. When the first shark arrives, Santiago’s resolve is mentioned twice in the space of just a few paragraphs. First we are told that the old man “was full of resolution but he had little hope.” Then, sentences later, the narrator says: “He hit the shark without hope but with resolution.” [7]The old man meets every challenge with the same unwavering determination: he is willing to die in order to bring in the marlin, and he is willing to die in order to battle the feeding sharks. It is this conscious decision to act, to fight, to never give up that enables Santiago to avoid defeat. Although he returns to Havana without the trophy of his long battle, he returns with the knowledge that he has acquitted himself proudly and manfully. Hemingway seems to suggest that victory is not a prerequisite for pride. Instead, glory depends upon one having the pride to see a struggle through to its end, regardless of the oute. Even if the old man had returned with the marlin intact, his moment of glory, like the marlin’s meat, would have been shortlived. The glory and honor Santiago accrues es not from his battle itself but from his pride and determination to fight. During the process of fighting with the powerful rival,the toughguy image of the old fisherman ismoreobvious and toughguy image not only reflects Hemingway’sideal of personality but also symbolize the courage of human beings fighting with the is to say,it embodies a kind of spirit which is health and serves as a contrast to somebody who is perplexed and whose value of life is so narrow minded .When human beings e acrossenormous tribulation,They should think of thetoughguys who fight with the strong rival on the sea lonely ans this ,thecan see that some difficulties easier to conquer than that of imaged 山東政法學(xué)院外語系 06 屆本科畢業(yè)論文 6 Chapter Four Grace Under Pressure Grace under pressure In one sence ,Hemingway wrote all his life about one theme,which is neatly summed up in the famous phrase,“grace under pressure”and created one hero who acts that theme fillowings deal with the problem of “grace under pressure”repesented by Santiago,the protagonist of the is endowed with this optimistic attitude towards lifecourage,confidence,dignity and never giving up through the “grace under pressure”. This chapter deals with the problem of＂ grace under pressure＂ and its revel ation to success of the Old Man and the Sea lies most in its perfect display the grace under pressure,hich is a very important quality of Santiago． The quality is posed of two portion :presure and