The Tragedy and the Hero

Jill Zhou

Abstract：“But a man is not made for defeat.A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”Although one man may be destroyed by something，but if he never gives up，he could not be defeated.Just like Santiago，although his fish was ate by sharks，he never give up，so he was never defeated.

Key words：the old man and the sea；Ernest Miller Hemingway；fisherman

The Old Man and the Sea，which has won the Pulitzer Prizes and Nobel prize in literature，was famous in history of American literature.When I first met it，I was quite young.And now since I met it again，I have had some new understanding about it.

I used to think it boring and hard to understand，because it just tolda story that I was not interested in at all.However，now I think it is great because finally，I could understand part of this book.

This book was written by Ernest Miller Hemingway in his old age.Hewas a man who had joined the World War I，and was regarded as athough guy in literature world.For this reason，more or less，Hemingways work show his own character，which is concise，firm and inspiring.

Santiago，an old fisherman，had gone eighty-four days without taking a fish.There used to be a boy called Manolin as his assistant，but since the old man had not got any fish for more than eighty days，theboys parents thought Santiago was unlucky and didnt allow their son follow him anymore.Besides，many other fishermen laughed at him behind his back，though he never cared about it.Again，he set hissail to catch fishes in the sea.Today was destined to be a different day.First，he got a tuna，which was not what he wanted.He continued his work and then，something was on the hook.The old man was ready to fight with it，but wait，there was something strange.Although he was a experienced fisherman，he had fought with it more than three days！ And finally，he realized how big the fish was.Whats worse，the big fish attracted many sharks and they finally ate all the fish andonly left a fish skeleton to the old man.I would feel hopeless and may end my life if I suffered such desperate thing，but Santiago didnt.He came back to his home toughly.He didnt bother anyone.When the morning arrived，many people found him and the fish skeleton，everyone was shocked by it.The boy，who worried about the old man most，was shocked by the big fish skeleton，too.He decided to follow Santiago again and no one could stop him.

At almost the end of this book，the old man said“They beat me，Manolin，they truly beat me.”Manolin answered“He didnt beat you.Not the fish.”

Then，I would like to appreciate and analysis some beautiful and classic sentences from this book.“But a man is not made for defeat.A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”Here the writer used passive voice and ellipsis.Although one man may be destroyed by something，but if he never gives up，he could not be defeated.Just like Santiago，although his fish was ate by sharks，he never give up，so he was never defeated.

“Now is no time to think of what you do not have.Think of what you can do with what there is.”Here the writer used imperative sentence and contrast.When you meet difficulties and think you could do nothing，try to calm down and think of what you can do！“An hour later he sighted the first shark.It was a fierce Mako，and itcame in fastto slash with raking teeth at the dead marlin.With failing might the old man struck the shark with his harpoon.The Mako rolled and sank，carrying the harpoon with it and leaving the marlin mutilated and bloody.”Here it used concomitant adverbials to show the sharks state，to show how scaring and cruel the shark is.The shark got some fish and the smell of blood attracted more sharks.Finally，Santiago lost the whole fish but a fish skeleton.

In fact，most sentences in this book are not really beautiful.They justdescribed what happened in a intuitive and accurate way.But they are full of the power of words，and you can find the meaning under his words.

It seems that this book talks about a tragedy，for the old man got nothing at last，but he was totally a hero.It is his spirit that impresses us most.The most scaring thing is not failure，but losing your heart.Keep calm and carry on，then you will be a hero.

Now，keep moving forward and find your sea and fish！