书评

    In 1952, Ernest Hemingway published his finest work, The Old Man and the Sea. It is a treasure of the world's literature and the jewel of all Hemingway's creations.

    It is a novel about man's struggle with nature. The old man fought for two days and nights at sea and finally won only an empty fish frame. The moral of the work is symbolic, and the old man is still proud of his defeat. The novel shows the gracefulness of the old man Santiago under the pressure of fishing, and this man, who is invincible in spirit, has become one of the most famous "tough guys" in literature.

    Santiago is a symbol of the perfect man that Hemingway admired: strong, generous, kind and loving, even if he lost in the gladiatorial arena of life and faced with irreversible fate, he was still a strong man in spirit, a "tough guy". The "tough guy" is a frequent theme in Hemingway's works, and is also a frequent character in his works. They are still strong and unyielding when the outside world is under tremendous pressure and bad luck, and they go forward, even to death, despite their failure, but maintain the dignity and courage of people, with the poise of the victor.

    Hemingway did not let the old man achieve the ultimate victory, why? This is the main idea of the book: undeniably, as long as people will have flaws. When a person acknowledges this flaw and tries to overcome it instead of giving in to it, whether he ends up catching a full marlin or an empty skeleton, the result doesn't matter, because the value of one's life is fully reflected in the process of chasing the marlin. Once for their own ideal efforts to pursue, struggle, isn’t he a winner? Santiago is such a winner who dares to challenge his own defects and has courage and confidence. In the eyes of realists, he is not the final victor, because although he defeated the big marlin at the beginning, the big marlin was finally eaten by the shark, and he only returned to the shore with the white skeleton of the big marlin, that is, the shark is the victor. However, in the eyes of the idealist, he was the winner because he never compromised and surrendered to the sea, the marlin and the shark. As the musician Beethoven said, "I can be destroyed, but I cannot be conquered".

Human nature is tough, and human beings have their own limits, but it is because of people like Santiago who challenge the limits again and again and surpass them that the limits are expanded again and again, and a greater challenge is put in front of human beings again and again. In this sense, Santiago is such a hero, whether the result of their challenge to the limits is success or failure, is worthy of our eternal respect, because what he brings us is the most noble confidence of mankind!

    In our lives, we often encounter many difficulties, and may be brave to face them, or may be discouraged. Lu Xun once said: "A great mind should show such a temperament - to meet a tragic fate with a smiling face, to cope with their misfortunes with confident courage.

    In the end, the real victory of man can only be the victory of the spirit. No matter how much a man achieves materially, he cannot win our high esteem, but only the triumph of spirit and pluck moves us, and makes us, like the children who follow the old man, shed tears for his tragedy.

2023-01-31

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