英语论文网

ught to fish from the age of five,still took care of the old man after he left. This kind of life was so pathetic that no one, who had heard his present condition, could feel at ease for him. As Santiago, alone in his boat, rowed out to the sea, he saw twice a bird. The second time he saw it, he uttered some words to let the bird stay with him so that it could be his friend on the sea to accompany him. This showed that he was lonely in his boat and how eager he was to have a companion even if it was just a bird. However, he did not keep the bird staying with him. It flew away when the line jerked and the old man had not even seen it go. In addition, it was a principle for the fishermen that people should not speak any word except when it was necessary. The old man broke this principle by speaking aloud several times unconsciously to the bird, the marlin, the sharks and himself .This was also tragic ambience during the period when he was on the sea. 2. The Tragic Nature--People and Objects Around the Old Man Brought to Him. Most of the fishermen considered the sea as a while the old man considered it as a female. He thought it was gentle and soft and forgave the wild or wicked things it sometimes had done. But it was unimaginable that it was the sea which he loved all along that brought groups of sharks continuously on his way home. The sharks followed him by blood of the dead fish and ate the fish indomitably. Moreover, they were ruthlessly destroyed the achievement of the old man gradually. Was this the favor that the sea had done the old man? He was a winner originally if these hateful sharks did not come to attack his fish, but the fact always came in a way that people did not expect. All that the sea brought to him was the things which made him an entire failure from a great success. The sea gave him a temptation that there would be several good days on the sea and it was advantageous for a fisherman to sail out with the ocean current. The old man thought it was a good chance to hook a big fish evidently. He planed to go out with the help of the ocean current and then came back home several days later. He did so. To his gratification, he did hook a big marlin. However, he sailed too far and he had no assistant so that he could not protect the fish when the sharks sent by the sea attacked it. He was destined to be a failure because of the seducement of the sea. This was a tragedy of the old man. Another one was the leaving of Manolin,a young boy whom Santiago taught to fish. Manolin had fished with Santiago when he was 5 years old. Manolin was Santiago's only loyal friend, always willing to obtain meals, coffee, and bait for the penniless old man, and, more importantly, to provide companionship. Despite his work in another boat Manolin still cared for the old man. He helped the old man a lot in the daily life such as eating, drinking, and he could only did this because he was forced to leave the old man by his parents citing the old man's fishless streak as the worst form of unluckiness. People around the old man had to do this to keep their lives going on although their work was endless. No one could care about this action and think it over. They were just busy with their own matters coldly and ruthlessly. The old man had to sail far out without the boy. He felt lonely and sometimes helpless on the sea. "I wish I had the boy (Hemingway, 41)”, "If the boy were here (Hemingway, 61)”, were the old man's often-said sentences whe