This paper will explore the Hemingway Code Hero from his work the Old Man and the Sea. The significance of this research is that human beings can get some spirits’ callings from the Old Man and the Sea, not only to the inpidual but also to the nation when suffering great pains. “A man can be destroyed but not defeated” is the spirit called “Code Hero” that the nation needs to make the “China Dream” come true. Therefore, its significance is none of the sense.
II. Hemingway Code Hero
2.1 Definition
A book says, “The Code Hero is typically an inpidualist and free-willed. Although he believes in the ideals of courage and honor he has his own set of morals and principles based on his beliefs in honor, courage and endurance. A code hero never shows emotions; showing emotions and having a commitment to women shows weakness. Qualities such as bravery, adventuresome and travel also define the Code Hero”. In Hemingway’s works, he created the image of people with distinct characteristics, which combines the strong spirit that Hemingway has. It is the characters of tough guys that are called the Code Hero, such as soldiers, bullfighters, hunters or fishermen. They all have the characters of “grace under pressure” and their dignity, courage, persistence and endurance is obvious. The Code Hero is embodied in the sentence “A man can be destroyed but not defeated”, which is the belief of the hero. Man is spiritually indestructible in face with difficulties. It is this despairing courage that enables a man to behave like a man, to assert his dignity in face of adversity.
In Hemingway’s works, although the tough guys presented suffers setbacks in life and their spirits are very low, they still don’t lose courage, dignity or manners by showing their characters’ strong aspects (Diao 265). The book Selected Readings in American Literature written by Tao Jie says, “the tough guys are strong in face of difficulties regardless of their life and they adhere to the principles of life that one doesn’t bend before difficulties and doesn’t bend under the pressure. It gives us the point of view that in terms of principles of life, one should maintain dignity in failure thus gaining a moral victory. That is to say, one has his own principles in courage and endurance.” (Tao Jie 11)
Dialectical materialism supports “social existence determines social consciousness, social consciousness is the reaction of social existence and social consciousness has a motile reaction to the social existence”. Code Hero as a kind of spirit belongs to the social consciousness, of course, which will exert a motile function on the society. The last part will give its explanation in this paper. 《老人与海》“准则英雄”时代内涵(2):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_18736.html