《老人与海》中的个人主义_英语论文

Individualism in The Old Man and the Sea

摘要

美国二十世纪著名小说家海明威的代表作《老人与海》对美国文学发展具有深远影响。自诞生以来，这部作品就成为国内外读者和评论家关注的焦点，但研究的重点多停留在分析小说的文学意义，而把其纳入文化范畴、联系现实生活与美国社会的研究相对较少。小说深刻体现了美国个人主义价值观。个人主义作为美国价值观的核心，有着不同的表现形式。本篇论文讨论《老人与海》所体现的个人主义的三个表现形式：经济个人主义，集体个人主义，英雄个人主义，从而对美国社会的个人主义价值观获得更加全面的理解。

本论文共分五个部分。导论部分包含了对小说《老人与海》作者和小说内容的简介，文献综述，美国个人主义的介绍，和本论文的意义与结构等五个方面。第一章讨论文中反复出现的狮子意象和老人离大陆越来越远的空间变化，从而体现《老人与海》所表现的弱肉强食和脱离社会集体的经济个人主义。第二章从小男孩的形象以及老人的悔悟入手，说明集体个人主义的团结与合作。第三章着眼于老人对生活积极的态度以及捕获大马林鱼时表现出的忍耐力和与鲨鱼斗争时的勇猛和不惧死亡，来反映小说中的英雄个人主义。结论部分在总结上述三章的基础上结合现代社会生活，强调《老人与海中》所体现的个人主义给人们的启示。

关键词：老人与海 经济个人主义 集体个人主义 英雄个人主义

Abstract

The Old man and the Sea, the representative novel of American novelist Earnest Hemingway in 20th century, has a significant impact on the development of American literature. As soon as it was published, there have been growing interests in the exploring of The Old Man and the Sea. So far, these researchers have been devoted to literary value; rather less attention has been paid to the close relation with the real life and American society which belongs to the cultural category. American individualism in the different stages had different manifestations; this novel embodies the core American individualism values profoundly. This paper aims to explore three different values of individualism in The Old Man and the Sea including economic individualism, collective individualism and heroic individualism, so that we can have a dialectical view on American individualism. 

This paper consists of five sections. The introduction part includes five parts which are a brief introduction to the writer and content of The Old Man and the Sea, literature review on The Old Man and the Sea, a brief introduction to the American individualism and the significance and structure of this thesis. The first chapter discusses the economic individualism from the lion image and the behavior of the old man went farther and farther away from land. The second chapter, from the image of the little boy and the repentance of the old man, discusses the cooperation and love of the collective individualism. The third chapter analyzes heroic individualism through the old man’s positive attitude towards life, the endurance when catching the big marlin and the bravery fighting with the sharks. Based on the three chapters mentioned above and combine with the reality, the conclusion section emphasizes the inspiration of the individualism in The Old Man and the Sea for the people.

Key Words: the Old Man and the Sea economic individualism collective individualism heroic individualism 

Contents

摘要 I

Abstract II

Introduction 1

1. Economic Individualism 2

1.1“I Could Dream about the Lion”：the Law of Jungle 3

1.2“I Saw that No Land Was Visible”: Human Desire Derailed with the Society 5

2. Collective Individualism 6

2.1 “I Wish I Had the Boy”: the Love of Social Community 7

2.2 “I Shouldn’t Have Gone out So Far”: the Awakening of the Collective Individualism 8

3. Heroic Individualism 9

3.1“What a Man Can Do and What a Man Endures” 10

3.2 “A Man Can Be Destroyed but Not Defeated” 11

Conclusion 12

Bibliography 13

Acknowledgments 14