The Image of Masculinity in The Old Man and the Sea---开题报告

I.  Literature review

Over a half century since the masterpiece The Old Man and the Sea published, people never ceased to study and research on it. Just like the research of A dream of Red Mansions, one of China’s four literature classics, people tried to study it in different angles. Some analyzed it from literature writing style and techniques, some interpreted its symbolism, some saw through the appearance to perceive its essence; some from the art of rhetoric, some from the philosophy of life.

The study of Hemingway in China started from 1930s. Huang Yuan is the first one who published the research on Hemingway in China. In the view of Huangyuan, "Hemingway is always an observer of life, and his novels always come from reality." Due to Hemingway lived in a special era and his own special experience; he created the unique tough-man writing style. The heroes in his novels are tough guys and never bow to any difficulty. The article "Study of Hemingway's Tough Guy Image Under Lacan’s Theory, written by Li Xiaoqing, clarifies Lacan's subject theory at first, then explores to the psychological characteristics of the characters in Hemingway's novels.  In another article Inferiority and Transcendence – the Psychological Cause of Hermingway’s Tough Guy Character, the author Zhangmin analyzed how the image of tough guy forms. The Chinese nation is a brave and hardworking one since ancient times, while Hemingway's "tough guy image" conforms to the ethos which has been the advocated for thousands of years, thus it can occupy a place in the Chinese cultural market.

In America, there are all kinds of reviews about The Old Man and the Sea since it has published. The Books of The Times commented in 1952 “The fisherman is not a well-characterized individual. He is a symbol of an attitude toward life. He often thinks and talks poetically and symbolically and so artificially.” and Joseph Waldmeir’s essay “Confiteor Hominem: Ernest Hemingway’s Religion of Man” is a useful critical reading of the novel. “The religious overtones of The Old Man and the Sea are not peculiar to that book among Hemingway has finally taken the decisive step in elevating what might be called his philosophy of Manhood to the level of a religion.” Waldmeir thought the function of the novel’s Christian imagery, made most evident according Hemingway’s obvious reference to the crucifixion of Christ. One of the most candid critics of The Old Man and the Sea is Robert P. Weeks. His 1962 piece “Fakery in The Old Man and the Sea” presents his claim that the novel is a weak and unexpected divergence from the typical, realistic Hemingway’s previous works, Weeks contends: “The Old Man and the Sea, is pieced out with an extraordinary quantity of fakery, extraordinary because one would to expect to find no inexactness, no romanticizing of natural objects.” 

    The thesis tries to explore the character of Hermingway through the analysis of the perfect tough guy’s image that created by Hermingway – Santiago, who was not only brave but also tough, especially, when he faced to frustration. Actually, a series of his novels reflect his own experience. According to the time line of his characters comes out, we can see the growth of author, from adducting to pain to awaken, and finally to become determined and resolute in the end. Mr. Wang Guowei, Master of Chinese culture, once said, “Those who want to make great achievements and to be great pundits must experience three states,

Green trees were withered up by zephyr last night. Ascending the tower, I found many ways out.

Languishing for you and becoming emaciated, I would never repent.

For a thousand times, I failed to locate you in the crowd. Suddenly, you turned your head and stood where sparse and somber lights were shed.”

From the timeline, we can also know how the social psychology in America varies from the First World War to the Second World War Just as the critic Taine of France said,” To understand a piece of art, an artist, a group of artists, it is necessary to understand the spirit and customs of the time they belong to. This is the best interpretation of the work of art, but also the basic reasons for the decision. Indeed, literature is a kind of ideology and it is not exist in isolation, nor to fend for themselves, its existence and development keep in touch with around, even its author "Hemingway was the most subjective and individualism writers in America."

The main contents and methods of the research

Main contents:

      There are all kinds of tough guys in Hemingway’s novels, and every tough guy has different character reflecting social theme at that time. As is known to all, Hemingway is the writer who always writes himself. If we set the time line based on Hemingway’s life and his era, analyzing the writings in different periods, summarizing the character of different tough guys, combining with the background, then we can find the real truth that the writer want to express. In the end, we can see the growth of mind of the tough writer.

Method：

    By reading a large number of related books to master the core materials and searching all kinds of electronic databases of similar thesis to find a good point and discussing the point of view with the thesis adviser to complete the thesis’s structure.

Main issues:

First, there are lots of theses with similar points on the internet and it is hard to bring forth the fresh.

Second, it’s difficult to organize thesis’s structure due to unfamiliar with it.

Finally, it’s hard to select the material downloaded from the internet.

Solution:

To discuss thesis with thesis adviser and classmates more often to find the right way.

Searching related material to master the general structure.

II.  Syllabus

1. Introduction to the writer and his work

1.1 Brief introduction to Hemingway’s lifetime

1.2 Representative work in different periods

1.2.1 Early style and representative work

1.2.2 Later style and representative work

2. The outline and background of The Old Man and the Sea  

2.1 The outline and symbolism of The Old Man and the Sea

2.2 The writing background of the The Old Man and the Sea

2.2.1 The social environment and era background

2.2.2 The writer’s physical and mental condition

3. The writing purpose

3.1 The need of the society and the times

3.2 The inner cry of the writer

4. People’s evaluation for his work and the impact to the society

III.  Reference literature

The Old Man and the Sea: Hemingway’s Tragic Vision of Man 

CS Burhans Jr-American literature, 1960

Ernest Hengway, The Sun Also Rises. New York: Scribner’s ,1954(6)

Ernest Hemingway. Whom the Bell Tolls .New York：Scribner’s Sons 1968

Hemingway’s Extended Vision: The Old Man and the Sea

B Sylvester-Publications of the Modern Language Association of, 1966

5. Teina Philosophy of Art, Fu Lei, Anhui literature and Art Publishing Association 1996

6. Alfred Karin from “ALL the Lost Generation” on Native Grounds Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc. New York, 1970(5)

7. Orville Prescott, Books of the Times, August 28, 1952

8. Joseph Waldmeir, Confiteor Hominem: Ernest Hemingway’s Religion of Man Papers of the Michigan Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters (1957)

9. Robert P. Weeks, Robert P. "Fakery in The Old Man and the Sea". College English (1962)

10. 李振莲：《浅议“迷惘的一代”文学的历史成因及主流思想》，《广州师院学报》（社会科学版），2006年第6期

11. 苏成全：《海明威的传奇人生与“迷惘的一代”》，《陕西师范大学继续教育学报》，2003年第3期

12.李华.对海明威硬汉形象的精神解读[J].语文学刊，2007（4）.