【正文】 er and beat and chopped with it, holding it down again and again…” Finally, he saw one shark came against the head of this fish, and he knew all was over. He swung the tiller across the shark?s head where the jaws were caught in the heaviness of the fish?s head which would not tear. He swung it once and twice and again. He heard the tiller break and he lunged at the shark with the splintered burr. He felt it go in and knowing it was sharp he drove it in again. The shark let go and rolled away. That was the last shark of the pack that came. There was nothing more for them to eat. At last, he sailed back into harbor exhaustedly, with a skeleton of his fish and a broken skiff. “She?s good, he thought. She is sound and not harmed in any way except for the tiller. That is easily replaced” (The Old Man and the Sea, Page109). All what the old man sees are good side. He failed, however, “he is not ?defeated?, despite the fact that has been ?beaten?, as he himself admits, by his violation of the sacred code. He pronounces that nothing ?beat him really and that his only fault was that he ?went out too far? ” (Elegant Demeanor under Heavy Pressure, Page90). 青島理工大學琴島學院畢業(yè)論文用紙 第 7 頁 Daring Spirit for Facing the Challenge The process of the old man?s fishing is just like the human?s whole life. Everyone in the world lives a hard life and has to face the vast and vast sea, the greedy sharks with sharp tooth, and along with himself is just a boat and his soul that support him live in the world. Facing with the respected but fearsome nature, the human being is so insignificant. However the author has raised such a question: by what the human being should have to live in the work? At the same time, the author answered this question by portraying the way that the old man faces the sea and deals with the sharks alone. “Just then, watching his lines, he saw one of the projecting green sticks dip sharply.” (The Old Man and the Sea, Page31) A big fish is hooked. At the first round of contest, the old man suppresses his own desire and waits the fish to eat the hook quietly. The old man?s silent sounds reflect his strong desire from the deep heart. “Eat them, fish. Eat them. Pleased eat them. How fresh they are and …” “?Come down,? the old man said aloud. ?Make another turn. Just smell them. Aren39。 when he is sleepy, he lies forward cramming himself against the line with all of his body, putting all his 青島理工大學琴島學院畢業(yè)論文用紙 第 10 頁 weight onto his right hand. Even his left hand cramps and his right hand is cut by the line, he just tries his best to endure. From the old fisherman?s point of view, any pain does not matter to a man. He makes resolution to stay with the Marlin until he is dead. Then Santiago meets with a more terrible disaster. The sharks spring on the Marlin and want to take his prize away. The old fisherman doesn?t fold his hands and wait for destruction. Instead, he bravely determines to fight them until he dies. Actually the old man?s head is clear and good now. He is full of resolution to fight with them until the sharks. But he knows that there is little hope for him to win since he is so weary and so tired. He knows the failure is inevitable. But he should behave as a man in the battle field. With his blood mashed hands he rams the harpoon down onto the biggest shark, but the shark takes his harpoon away. So he lashes his knife to the butt of one of the oars. Then he takes up the oar with the knife blade snaps. In the dark, groups of sharks spring onto the Marlin. He knows that his triumph is too good to last. But on the other hand, “man is not made for defeat,” (The Old Man and the Sea, Page89) this declaration clearly presents his characteristic as a Code Hero. “This fidelity to what he believes is part of his quixotic gallantry.” In facing so many sharks, Santiago doesn?t show any fear. He pulls himself together and fights the sharks more fiercely. Loneliness Endurance in the Long Fighting The author doesn?t tell us the origins of the old man, nobody knows where he es from, nor does no one know whether he has relatives. “He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff,” only a child panies with him. But after 40 days, the child is also going away ordered by his parents. The old man has to face the sea and the sharks. But these are not the most fearful thing, the greatest fear is loneliness. The feeling of loneliness is more fearful than loneliness itself. The only way the old man resolves it is to talk to himself. The author has many portrays that the old man is talking to himself: At the beginning, “he looked across the sea and knew how alone he was now.” But “he could see the prisms in the deep dark water and the line stretching ahead and the strange undulation of the calm. The clouds were building up now for the trade wind and he looked ahead and saw a flight of wild ducks etching themselves against the sky over the water, then blurring, 青島理工大學琴島學院畢業(yè)論文用紙 第 11 頁 then etching again,” (The Old Man and the Sea, Page22) “He did not remember when he had first started to talk aloud when he was by himself. He had sung when he was by himself in the old days and he had sung at night, Sometimes when he was alone steering on his watch in the smacks or in the turtle boats. He had probably started to talk aloud, when alone, when the boy had left. But he did not remember.” (The Old Man and the Sea, Page29) These portrays tell us that most of the old man?s life es with loneliness. If the boy was here, the old man is happy. When he is alone, he just talks to himself or sings loudly to make fun. “If the others heard me talking out loud they would think that I am crazy,” he said aloud. “But since I am not crazy, I do not care.” (The Old Man and the Sea, Page30) The old man even says to the bird “Stay at my house if you like, bird”, “I am sorry I c