摘要：《老人与海》是美国作家海明威于1951年所写的一篇中篇小说，它奠定了海明威在世界文学中的突出地位。这篇小说相继获得了1953年美国普利策奖和1954年诺贝尔文学奖。该作围绕一位老年古巴渔夫与一条巨大的马林鱼在离岸很远的湾流中搏斗而展开故事的讲述。在该部作品中，相继出现马林鱼，狮群和鲨鱼等意象.本文从这三个意象出发，深刻分析其背后的文化内涵，从而使读者能够更进一步了解该小说。

关键词：老人与海 文化意象 文化内涵

Abstract： The Old Man and the Sea is a 1951 novella by American writer Earnest Hemingway that establishes Hemingway’s prominence in world literature. The novella won the 1953 American Pulitzer Prize and the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature. The work follows the story of an elderly Cuban fisherman fighting a giant Marlin far offshore in the sea. In this novella， Marlin， lions and shovel-nosed sharks， these images appear successively. Starting from these three images， this paper deeply analyzes the cultural connotation behind them， so that readers can further understand the novella.

Key words：The Old Man and the Sea  culture images  cultural connotation

Introduction

The Old Man and the Sea tells the story of an old fisherman Santiago not fishing for 84 consecutive days and catching a big fish on the 8-fifth day. The old man was attacked by sharks and fought tenaciously through many difficulties and obstacles， but returned with only a fish head， tail and a spine. Although Hemingway’s old man is tragic， he has the quality of “superman”， calmly accepting failure， bravely facing death. These “tough man qualities” embody Hemingway’s life philosophy and moral ideal， namely the spirit of never yielding to defeat and never bowing to fate and positive attitude towards life.

Imagery Analysis of Marlin， Lions， and Shovel-nosed Sharks

1. Marlin

Santiago and the marlin had a relationship of mutual respect. Although Santiago’s plan he hooked the marlin was to kill it and sell it， he grew to respect the marlin as a fellow man. This relationship develops as Santiago fights his worthy opponent for here days， until finally pulling it in. Santiago’s attitude toward the fish is also changed as he fought off predators. Santiago’s relationship with his greatest catch in 8 days developed into respect and mutualism. After Santiago hooked the marlin， he felt a bond with it， as if they both suffered the same situations. After hooking this 18-foot marlin， Santiago and his small boat were pulled around. Each time the marlin pulled and attempted to free itself caused deep wounds into the old man’s hands. During this time that he was linked directly to the marlin， he showedhis feelings of connection with the marlin. The fishing line around his hands and hooked into the marlin emphasize on this bond even more. The fact that the old fisherman felt every tug and pull that the fish gave showed that they were as one.

Santiago wishes that he could feed the marlin as he ate his meal in this portion of the story. After all of the abuse that this fish has been giving him for he long time at sea， sympathy is felt by the old Santiago. This shows a link as if they were father and son as he calls the fish in another section of the story. Santiago even tells and thinks to himself that the villagers were not worthy enough to eat the meat off of this creature. The idea of this bond diminishes for a brief period as Santiago finally allowed the marlin to tire itself out and be pulled in. Instead of just capturing and letting the majestic creature die， as Santiago says， he takes his spear and kills the marlin.

In these images， marlin is the old man， and the old man is marlin. The old man’s search for marlin is actually a search of self. Marlin’s exist as a mirror image of the old man’s self. In a world in which “everything kills everything else in some way，” Santiago feels genuinely lucky to find himself matched against a creature that brings out the best in him： his strength， courage， love， and respect.

2. Lions

In this work， the author directly describes the image of “lions” for five times in concise language. For the first time， in the conversation between the old man and Manolin， the old man told the little boy that he was working as a sailor on a ship bound to Africa at the same age of his little boy， when he also saw the lions coming to the beach in the evening. The second time was in the dream of the old man preparing to sail to the deep sea： “He now just saw some unknown places and the lions on the beach.They play like kittens in the dark dusk， and he loves them as he loves the child...”. The third time， a day after the old man’s struggle with the marlin， he hoped that the big fish could sleep briefly， so that he could rest and dream of the lions again. The fourth was on the second night when the old man fought the big fish with his weapons. “After that he began to dream of the long yellow beach and he saw the first of the lions come down. . . he waited to see if there would be more lions.”The last time， the lions ended in the novella. The old man returned home and fell asleep： “In the thatched hut over the road， the old man fell asleep again... when the old man is dreaming of the lions.”

“Lions”， as another name of power and courage， constantly appears in the novella， forming a very clear symbol： a symbol of the old man’s pursuit of strength and courage. This fighting spirit is the embodiment of the tough guy character of “Hemingway style”. Hemingway’s “tough guys” are the losers and unfortunate in the life， but they are the spiritual strong. They never complain about the cruelty and ruthlessness of life to them， never sigh， let alone pray for pity and sympathy， but want to break their way in despair with their own tenacious struggle. They only believe in themselves， only on themselves， fighting alone and deformed resistance， or regard beautiful and quiet nature as a spiritual refuge， seek relief in alcohol anesthesia and sexual joy， or spiritual excitement in cattle and fishing and hunting， and enjoy the joy of fighting.

In addition to symbolizing the spirit of “tough guy” in the novella， the lion’s“group” also forms a sharp contrast to the hero’s “widow” and the contrast， which reflects the Santiago’s yearning for group communication and companionship.

Through further careful reading and studying the words in the  English work of The Old Man and the Sea， it is not difficult to find that whenever the lion is mentioned， it is in the plural form （lions） rather than the singular form （“a lion” or “the lion”）. From the perspective of English language vocabulary， this is actually an implied meaning of the author. He intends to contrast the  lions’ “many” to the Santiago’s “single” to enhance the deep desire to return to the lions as the lion isolated by the lions in nature.

3. Shovel-nosed sharks

In real life， people always encounter all kinds of bad things， or unfair treatment， or the exclusion of others.The same is true for the novella. In order to make the story more vivid and real， there will always be evil forces. The sharks in the Old Man and the Sea rob the Marlin of the Santiago， which is strongly destructive.Sharks smell blood， then and plunderatallhazards.The shovel-nosed sharks are little more than moving appetites that thoughtlessly and gracelessly attack the marlin.The author uses sharks to symbolize those destructive evil forces in real life.At the end of the story， although the old man only had a fish skeleton， he still defeated the shark evil forces.It also tells people not to yield to the evil forces. Because justice will always overcome the evil， even if the process is a little difficult， but the outcome will not be too bad.

Conclusion

Santiago is one of the most illustrative， metaphoric， and consistent characters among Hemingway’s works. Throughout The Old Man and the Sea， Santiago is given heroic proportions. He is “a strange old man” still powerful and still wise in all the ways. After he looks the great marlin， he fights him with epic skill and endurance， showing “what a man can do and what a man endures”. And when the sharks come， he is determined “to fight them until I die”， because he knows that “a man is not made for defeat…A man can be destroyed but not defeated”. Santiago comes to feel his deepest love for the creature that he himself hunts and kills， the great fish which he must catch not alone for physical need but even more for his pride and his profession. Beyond the heroic individualism of Santiago’s struggle with the great fish and his fight against the sharks， however， and beyond the love and the brotherhood which he comes to feel for the noble creature he must kill， there is a further dimension in the old man's experience which gives to these their ultimate significance. The old man's realization of what he has done is reflected in his apologies to the fish， and this realization and its implications are emphasized symbolically throughout the novella.

Eternity of any work depends on its own contains the spirit. The Old Man and the Sea， its eternity， in addition to the story of wonderful and concise and powerful writing， the more important reason is that the work is rich in a noble spirit that loves life and does not compromise with fate. This simple but powerful spirit always inspires Chinese and foreign readers， guides them to a better life， has a strong practical significance.

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