《老人与海》中桑提亚哥的性格分析

李靖

【摘要】《老人与海》是海明威在晚年证明自己创作实力的中篇小说杰作，也是他最著名的一部小说之一，是他的代表作。《老人与海》的一个突出贡献就是塑造出临危不惧，不屈不挠，与命运抗争的硬汉形象，同时也向世人揭示了“一个人可以被毁灭，但是不能被打败”，只有精神上的胜利才是真正胜利的深刻哲理。本论文嘗试研究小说中的主人公桑提亚哥，通过分析他在重压下依然保持优雅风度，我们将更好地了解桑提亚哥的硬汉本色。最后阐明了桑提亚哥是海明威的化身。体现了海明威的人生哲学和道德理想，即不向命运低头，永不服输的斗士精神和积极向上的人生态度。

【关键词】海明威 桑提亚哥 硬汉 勇气 决心

【中图分类号】G640 【文献标识码】A 【文章编号】2095-3089（2017）39-0114-02

A BRIEF ANALYSIS ON SANTIAGO IN THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA

【Abstract】The Old Man and the Sea is Hemingways best-known novel. It is also his representative work. One of the outstanding contributions of Hemingways The Old Man and the Sea is that portrayed the image of code hero， who faced the danger without fear and indomitably fought against his fate. Meanwhile， it revealed the profound philosophy that “a man can be destroyed but not defeated” and the spiritual victory is the true victory of life. This thesis is a tentative research on the main character of Santiago reflected by the novel. By analyzing Santiagos grace under the pressures， we will get a better understanding of Santiagos code hero. At last， the relationship between Santiago and Hemingway will be discussed. It reflected Hemingways life philosophy and moral ideal—never yield to fate， never give up and optimistic attitude towards life.

【Key words】Hemingway； Santiago； code hero； courage； determination

I Introduction

Ernest Miller Hemingway （July 21， 1899 - July 2， 1961） was an American writer and journalist. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s， culminating in his 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature by The Old Man and the Sea. Santiago，the old fisherman，was the leading character of The Old Man and the Sea. He went out for eighty- four days，but he didnt catch a single fish. The old man was a strange-minded person with a sage temper，he never lost his courage and determination in the face of failure.Under the pressures， he still had the grace. On the eighty-fifth day，he went out alone to farther， deeper waters and through two days and two nights fight， he caught a large marlin.Unfortunately，this only capture of his was carved up by group of sharks.What they left to him was an eighteen foot long skeleton. The old mans story was very sad.Anyhow， from the end of the book we can see the old man did not lose his courage，he and the young boy prepared to have another fishing trip in the sea，and the old man dreamed lions again.

This thesis focuses on The Old Man and the Sea， by analyzing Santiagos grace under the pressures， we can know about his main character， we will get a better understanding of Santiagos code hero. Meanwhile， the relationship between Santiago and Hemingway will be discussed. It reflected Hemingways life philosophy and moral ideal—never give up， never lost his courage and determination.

Ⅱ Review of the Literature

Hemingway was a famous novelist who had an unique artistic style.The sentences that he used in his novels were brief，succinct and efficient.He strove to be concise in writing in order to make readers feel as if they were participant. He once lived in Cuba and he often went to deep waters to catch fish.He was an experienced fisherman. So in “The Old Man and the Sea”，the hero，Santiago，was portrayed so efficiently， minutely and vividly that even a fishing expert has a difficulty in finding any flaws from his writing. The novel，just as the author hoped，makes people see a real old chap，a real little boy，a genuine enormous sea and true fish.

Ⅲ Grace under the Pressure

3.1 The three layers of pressure

The success of The old man and the sea lies most in its perfect display—grace under pressure， which is a very important quality of Santiago. The quality is composed of two elements： pressure and grace. Pressure is the premise， only under pressure can ones graceful demeanor display.

At the beginning of the novel， Santiago had gone eighty-four days without catching a fish and had become the laughingstock of his small village. This is an affront to a masterful fisherman， and it forms the first layer of pressure. As the story begins，a young boy， Mandolin，stayed with the old man，but after the fortieth luckless day， the boys father told his son to go in another boat， leaving the skiff of which the sail was patched with four sacks and furled like the flag of permanent defeat. When the boy left the old man and fished with another， they caught three good fishes in the first week. The boys good luck formed obvious contrast with the old mans ill luck. If this happened to another boy， it was coincidental， but it happened to the boy who had got nothing with the old man for forty days and exactly when he left the old man for one week. This made other fishermen believed that the old man was really unlucky enough！ This is the second layer of pressure. When the old man hooked the biggest marlin never seen in the Gulf Stream， he was alone， without the benefit of modem technology. He endured a long and grueling struggle with the marlin and felt lonely and helpless. This is the third layer of pressure.

3.2 Santiagos grace under the layers of pressure

3.2.1 Grace under the first layer of pressure

As the novel begins， we find Santiago definitely and finally failed. He had gone for 84 days without catching anything. Therefore， the boy， Mandolin， who used to sail with him， is forced by his parents to leave the old man and catch in another “good-lucky” ship. However， Santiago kept self-composed and had confidence in his dignity. The old man was a strange-minded person with a sage temper，he never lost his courage and determination in the face of failure.On the eighty-fifth day，he went out alone to farther， deeper waters and at last， he hooked an eighteen-foot， giant marlin， the largest he had never known. It showed his confidence to change his bad luck，because he clearly knew what he was born for. Yes，he was born for the conquering of the sea. Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated. We all know that eyes are the windows of ones soul. It means the old man's heart or soul is inconvincible. In order to protect his dignity， he finally summarized the famous motto “Man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated”.

This is obviously the declaration to the difficulties and adversities. How spirited and valiant the pledge！ It encourages human to fight for dignity.

3.2.2 Grace under the second layer of pressure

The old man was in his adversity and the boy had got good fishes after he left the old man. Santiago didnt feel jealous but happy for him. When talking with the boy who was not willing to leave，the old man said， “I know you did not leave me because you doubted”， and he felt it was quite normal， though he would be lonely without the boy. When the boy asked if he could offer the old man a beer on the terrace and then took the stuff home， the old man said “why not， between fishermen”.

All these details show that Santiago was reasonable， sensible， kind with open mind.

The old mans grace lies in his gender feeling. Lets take a look at how the old man woke the boy： he took hold of one foot gently and held it until the boy woke up. When the boy was still sleepy， the old man put his arm across his shoulders and said “I am sorry”. Just like Lu Xun said， heartlessness does not make the hero， pity for children makes more the man.

With confident attitude towards life，the old man took things philosophically. In fact he hoped the boy could come back to him and he needed the boy，but when the boy wanted to be back，the old man refused because it was the boys parents who made him leave and he could not make the boy unlucky with him.

3.2.3 Grace under the third layer of pressure

During the days the old man sailed into deep sea with his outsized dream， no one companied with the old man， he felt so lonely. He missed his beloved wife and his good friend—the little boy， he wanted the little boy to help him and speak to him， but he could only speak to himself， the giant marlin， little tired bird and the deep blue sea.

When fighting with the marlin， he was driven through the two opposite forces between certainty and uncertainty. “He had gone out too far before”. There was goddess who waited to take revenge upon him on the sea. To his great excitement， on his third day at sea， he succeeded in catching the weakened marlin to the surface and harpooned it. On his way home， he lashed marlin alongside his boat because it was too big to be pulled into the boat. But， unfortunately， the sharks in different directions assaulted the old man and the giant marlin for four times. The old man did his best to fight with them but only to find a giant skeleton of his marlin which was eighteen foot from nose to tail left after his desperate defense. At last， Santiago， having lost what he fought for， reached the shore and struggled to his shack. Just at the time， he was exhausted， his hands and chest were badly wounded.Sometimes Santiago felt lonely and helpless，but he conquered all of them ultimately，which was best presented in his long monologue and recall about marlin， wrestling contest， such as “1 wish I had the boy to help me and to see this”，“1 wish the boy were here and wish I had the boy".

His mention of the boy several times proved that he wanted to overwhelm loneliness and enhanced courage and force to fight.

Santiago recalled the arm—wrestling episode to give him more confidence. The recall would allow him to forget a connection with the marlin that went beyond the literal link of the line： His bodily aches attested to the fact that he was well matched that the fish was a worthy opponent. As a young man，Santiago enjoyed single-minded competitive contests， as an old man he continued to enjoy them.

3.3 Sum up

The old man conveys us that we human beings should keep graceful even under fierce pressure， should face the failures bravely，and keep the spirit of unyielding integrity. These are the qualities with which we should be equipped，just as the motto of the old man“Man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated”.

Ⅳ The Relationship Between Santiago and Hemingway

To take a further review of this， Santiago was the incarnation in art of Hemingway，the hero in life.

As a young man，Hemingway was eager to do well in everything.He hankered after being the first in every activity.If he couldnt be the champion in one game， he would give it up. When the First World War began， he left the middle part of America for the front in European. Only in one month，two hundred and twenty—seven broken pieces of shells were “inlayed” in his body.Because of this he got praise and prizes from every aspect. He did not give up all his hope for he had firm characteristic of “strong-minded， unyielding person”.He ardently loved contesting with ox，fishing.hunting and all kinds of adventure.He especially loved the lions in the open country in Africa.In his opinion，lions were the symbo1 of braveness，power and success. Just as Santiago，he also loved the struggle in 1ife—the struggle on the sea，the struggle in hand game and the struggle on court. In the mean time，he did all his best to pursue success.He constantly met with defeat and so he often felt sad， yet it was not necessary for us to censure him because it was not his fault.He had already made all his effort，and he never really abandoned it.He did not admit his failure just like Hemingway did.In the l 930s，when the civil war broke out in Spain， he took part in it actively.At first，he worked as a reporter，then he joined the International Bridge which fight against fascists directly.But this just war failed.He was very disappointed and he thought “For everyone the funeral hell rings；”（John Dunce）.In the following Second World War， his characteristic that was unwilling to fail was manifested legendarily— He once drove his own armed fishing vessel to track down the German submarine alone for two years，and he was ready to die fighting the enemy at any time；he once sat in an America bomber to bomb fascist Germany.His head was badly wounded because of the plane accident.What was more imaginable was：at the critical moment of counter attack， he led a group of French guerrilla forces and rushed into Paris which was entrenched in by fascists.His behavior was really vigorous.

Comparing Santiago with Hemingway， Santiago was only more artistic， more abstract and more allegorical.

Ⅴ Conclusion

Above all， Santiago， the old fisherman was a man who never lost human dignity and he never compromised or hung back no matter how grave the situation was，how tremendous the difficulties were， or how terrific the God of death was with all those terrible things. Even if he suffered transient setback or defeat， he didnt lose his courage or determination. He was a real portrait of Hemingway， the hero in life.

Santiago，a defeated fisherman，was a real hero， an admirable hero.His persistent and dauntless spirit was just the sparkle of human spirit. Yes， a man can be destroyed， but never be defeated.What could be destroyed is only mans body， his belief and spirit could never be defeated. This is the inspiration given by the esteemed old man to those so called “go through all hardships and difficulties” but always groans and sighs in the modern world.

REFERENCES：

[1][美] 海明威著.《老人與海》，吴劳，译.上海：上海译文出版社，2004.

[2]孙大重.论《老人与海》中桑提亚哥的硬汉形象.齐齐哈尔大学学报，2009，5.

[3]王晓宁.《老人与海》中桑提亚哥的性格分析.《电影评介》，2009，18，108-110.

[4]赵一宇.Grace under Pressure—The Analysis of Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea. 《语文学刊》2007，4，71-72.

[5] http：//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway.