Some critics such as Sean O’Faolain, Leon Edel, Wyndham Lewis and Harry Levin have attacked the Hemingway‘s work, ‘ it is a ‘thin’ art, an art whose protagonists could only deal with complexity by running away from it.’ (Stanley 65) In the Hemingway’s work, the character was only eliminated without any consideration. So the result was an work based on failure of imagination.
While other critics insisted, ‘Hemingway’s work is ‘simple’ only on the surface; that his heroes are neither callous nor mindless, but possessed of enormous sensitivity both to human dishonesty and universal suffering.’ (66) For Hemingway, the ‘real’ world where human must struggle to face its own mortality.源-自/优尔+文,论^文'网]www.youerw.com
For me, whether for praise or blame, Hemingway is a remarkable write. Although The Old Man and the Sea has evoked many critical writings, it was a fact that the book gave us many imaginations.
II An introduction to the author
Hemingway (1899-1961) was one of the famous American novelists. He was born in July 21, 1899, in a rubber plantation town, Chicago. His father was a doctor and his mother was a singing teacher. When he was young, Hemingway devoted in hunting, fishing and so on. Later, he had been to France and other places to travel.
In 1921, Hemingway got to know two young writers Stein and Anderson and a poet Pound. Then, he published his debut Three Stories and Ten Poems and published The Sun Also Rises (1926), A Farewell to Arms（1929），Green Hills of Africa (1935), The Fifth Column and the Fist Forty-Nine Stories (1938), and the For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940).
In 1950, after Christmas, Hemingway was very eager to write novels. And he started to write The Old Man and the Sea in a suburban villa in Havana. This novel was based on a true story. After the Second World War, Hemingway moved to Cuba, and met an old fisherman, Gregory. The novel was derived from the man. In 1951, he finished the novel only in eight weeks. Then he published The Old Man and the Sea in 1952 and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. Sadly, on July 2, 1961, Hemingway committed suicide with a shotgun, for all kinds of diseases and mental depression.
.III Introduction to the background
After World War II, Hemingway met a fisherman, Gregorio in Cuba. And Gregorio ever helped Hemingway escaped from a big storm when it hit Hemingway’s boat.
In 1936, Gregorio was far away from sea to catch fish. Unlucky, on the way home, he met the shark and finally there only has a skeleton. Seeing that, Hemingway got a deep touched. He thought he could write a novel and insisted it would be a good novel.
Then in 1950, Hemingway started his writing. About two month, he finished the first draft. When he gave it to his friends, he gained a lot of praise. And Hemingway also said The Old Man and the Sea, ‘No good book was ever written that had symbol arrived at beforehand and struck in.’ (Stanley 49)
IV A brief introduction to the novel
The Old Man and the Sea was written by Hemingway in 1951 and published in1952. It also won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954.And it was one of the most famous works for Hemingway. It reflected the personal view of Hemingway. In the 20th century, it became the most influential work in European.
The story was set in twentieth century in Cuba. Santiago, a fisherman, was the leading character in the novel. He was a happy man. And Manolin, a kid was always stayed together with Santiago. For 84 days without catching a fish, Santiago was regarded as an unfortunate man. Even the kid’s parents also would not allow Manolin to stay with Santiago any more. On the eighty-fifth, Santiago got out of the harbor. He decided to go farther into the sea. Lucky, he found a big marlin. After two days and two nights, Santiago killed the fish. He ever said, ‘I will fight to the last minute.’(Ernest, 65) However, in the two days, the fish had already pulled the man further and further. On the way home, unlucky, the man met the brutal shark five times. The sharks ate the fish out quickly. And the man struggles against the sharks only use the harpoon, the knife, and the oar. Finally, when he back home, the fish became a skeleton . At the end of the novel, the man went to bed and dreamt a good dream. 分析《老人与海》中的“硬汉”精神(2):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_56896.html