What are the four stories in "The Old Man and the Sea" about?

1, the first story

The story to express the relationship between man and nature, nature is sometimes ruthless, but mankind has never succumbed, Santiago is a symbol of the brave and unyielding spirit of mankind, but also a symbol of the spirit of American tough guy.

Summary: At the beginning of the novel, Hemingway made a vivid description of the old fisherman's living environment, a thin and emaciated, neck wrinkles are very deep, face cheeks full of brown spots of the old man jumped into the reader's line of sight. Everything about him was old, as old as the old eroded ground in the desert land, and he was lonely, with hardly any friends except a little boy. But his eyes were as blue as the sea and full of joy. Even after he has not had any luck for 84 days in a row, under the ridicule of others, he is still convinced that he will catch a big fish. As the plot of the novel develops, the old man's qualities are realized step by step.

Santiago's character traits are similar to those of Hemingway. Hemingway in his youth was aggressive and had a strong sense of enterprise. But with the passage of time, Hemingway has reached middle age, and his energy and creativity have diminished. In Hemingway's inner world, he was irritable, but never lost hope and confidence. Of course, it will not be easy to give up. The qualities reflected in the character of the old man Santiago are exactly what Hemingway appreciated the most. Hemingway not only depicted the old man's strong will, but also used a lot of space to describe the old man's inner world, that is, the sincere friendship and the world's beautiful things to aspire to, and this part is the most wonderful part of the novel.

2. The second story

The story reveals the smallness and weakness of human beings in front of destiny by writing about San Diego.

Brief description. The old man's only friend is the little boy, and the two of them love each other, depend on each other and take care of each other. When the old man is fishing, he has called the little boy's name several times, enough to prove that the little boy can give the old man confidence and strength. In addition, the home in the old man's heart is the sea, where he can find friendship and deep love. The old man loves the sea, which he sees as a kind, beautiful woman; he sees the birds, the fish and the sea breeze as his friends.

Sometimes he talks to his friends and he mumbles. From their conversations, the old man's rich and complex inner world can be seen. Even with the marlin, the old man's emotions are always changing. At first, the old man was excited because he could finally end his bad luck and such a big fish could earn him a lot of money; but gradually the old man began to appreciate the wisdom and perseverance of the marlin, and even regarded it as a great enemy; in the end the old man was touched and he felt sorry for the death of the marlin.?

3. The third story

San Diego does not use modern fishing boats but insists on catching fish with hand-boats, and regards the sea as his friend; his transition from the glory of his youth to the downfall of his old age symbolizes that with the change of times and the decline of the traditional way of life, those who hold on to the traditions are gradually eliminated by the times.

Summary: Santiago returned with the trophies, unfortunately encountered the sharks on the way back, the old man in the fight with the sharks also showed the hard man "hard". In the face of swarms of sharks, the old man with "firm strength and ruthless heart, in almost hopeless situation with the sharks", determined "I want to fight with them to death". So the old man spared no expense, using all the weapons at hand to hammer and beat the oncoming sharks to death.

Santiago's fight with the sharks was even more thrilling than the hunt for the marlin, and when the ferocious and greedy sharks came one after another to attack the big fish, the old man, already exhausted, in order to save the fruits of his labor, regained his strength, and defied the sharks to meet them. At first he dealt with them with his harpoon, which was taken away by the wounded sharks, so he used the knife tied to his oar to finish them off one by one, and by this time, with his hands covered with blood, exhausted, and with no strength left, and with his harpoon taken away, and his knife broken, and with many sharks coming to lay siege to them, the old man still held out strong and unrelenting.

4. The fourth story

focuses on the protagonist Santiago alluding to Jesus Christ, the sufferer in Christianity.

Content briefly: the night a large group of sharks and pestered, the old man in the absence of sharp weapons, but still fight, although his big fish was eaten up, but the sharks were beaten by him either dead or wounded fled. Here, Hemingway uses the method of contrast to portray the character of Santiago. As Hegel said: The greatness and strength of character can only be measured by the greatness and strength of its contradictory opposites". The novel repeatedly writes about the ferocity and strength of the fish, which is used to set off the old man's perseverance and tenacity.

Works try to play the mackerel shark's ferocity and the star shark's greed, and it is in the fight with these rapists that the old man, who is old and weak, glows with the spirit of "tough guy". Although he failed in the end, but still worthy of a hero. Santiago's words, "A man is not born to be defeated, you can destroy him as much as you want;

But you can't defeat him" is a high summary of the spirit of "tough guy". Even so, he has his human weaknesses, which are indifference and apathy. This is fully reflected in the old man's conversation with the shark and the marlin. The fact that the old man mentions the little boy several times proves that he also needs someone to give him confidence and support. So the old man is not sacred, he has his own strengths and weaknesses.

Extended information:

I. Characterization

1. Santiago: An old fisherman from Santiago de Cuba, whose wife has died. He was a sailor, traveled through Africa, now old and emaciated, but still mentally strong

2, Manolin (Manolin): a resident of the Cuban seaside, loves the fishing life, is Santiago's apprentice, at the age of 5 years old, went out to sea with Santiago to fish, he loved Santiago, often went to talk to him and help him clean up his fishing gear.

3, the big marlin (Marlin), a large marlin 5.5 meters long, is Santiago killed with great difficulty, but in the process of returning to land was eaten by sharks.

4, terrace restaurant owner: very sympathetic to Santiago's encounter, from time to time to entertain him free meals

Two, the creative background

The Old Man and the Sea, the novel is based on a true story. After the end of World War I, Ernest Hemingway moved to Cuba and met Gregorio Fuentes, an old fisherman, who rescued Hemingway when his boat sank in a storm in 1930. From then on, Hemingway and Fuentes formed a deep friendship and often went fishing together.

In 1936, Fuentes went out to sea a long way to catch a big fish, but because the fish was too big, dragged in the sea for a long time, the result in the return journey was attacked by sharks, when he came back only a skeleton.

In April 1936, Ernest Hemingway published an essay titled "Above the Blue Water: Letters from the Gulf" in The Squire magazine, which recounted the story of an old man who went out fishing alone in a small boat and caught a huge marlin, but most of the fish was eaten by a shark. At that time, this incident gave Hemingway a very deep touch, and realized that it is very good fictional material, but has not had the opportunity to write it!

Shortly after Christmas in 1950, Hemingway developed a strong desire to write, and at his villa in the outskirts of Havana, Cuba, he began to write The Old Man and the Sea (initially titled The Existing Sea). To February 23, 1951 on the completion of the first draft, before and after only eight weeks. April Hemingway sent the manuscript to visit his friends in Cuba to read, won unanimous praise.