An old post (Part III) The background of this work is a sea of Wang Yang. Generally speaking, it is of practical significance to regard the ocean as something to show the deep relationship between man and the universe, because it contains a lot of life, change, movement and possibility. After a series of disillusionment, Hemingway sent Santiago into this background. After more than 80 days of failure, San Diego came to the distant sea; He broke through the boundaries explored by Nick and Henry, broke through the traditional boundaries of human nature, and entered the field of understanding and experiencing the unknowable mysteries of reality. It is vast enough to make San Diego live forever, where he found a big fish that he had never seen before-which actually symbolizes an exploration, in other words, it symbolizes the discovery of some value beyond survival. Next, San Diego tried to combine with Marin; He longed, even at the risk of death:

"The old man thought: Fish, you will kill me. Then again, you have the right. Brother, I have never seen anything more beautiful, calmer and nobler than you. Come on, kill me. Who killed who. "

Santiago's praise of Marin fully shows the value of his discovery, which exceeds his life. Moreover, if San Diego had not experienced more than 80 days of failure and finally left the Gulf Stream and sailed to the high seas, he would not have found this marlin. He loves the fish, but he is still determined to kill it;

"Fish, I love you and respect you very much. However, I want to kill you before today passes. "

Santiago threw the harpoon with love regardless of his feelings-this is a profound discovery of Hemingway, at least in his previous works. There, love is often manifested in simple combination and calm harmony; But now, the combination of love has become something that inherently implies opposition, which can only be achieved through opposition. Hemingway is very insightful to see that even something as beautiful as love depends on conflict; In other words, it is all kinds of opposing forces that constitute Hemingway's world.

Santiago killed the marlin and tied it to the boat;

"Look at it with its mouth closed and its tail stretching straight up and down. We really float in the sea like brothers. At this time, his mind was a little confused again. He thought, did it take me away, or did I take it away? ..... but the old man tied to it side by side and floated on the sea. "

This is perhaps Hemingway's most enlightening description. At least after affirming the inevitability of conflicts, he told people that universal harmony based on these local fierce conflicts is not a hypothesis. In fact, both San Diego and Marin are fighting tenaciously, and their minds and bodies have suffered greatly, but in the end they are tied together side by side, floating on the sea and living in harmony with the sea. Just like Santiago loves Marin sincerely, but he constantly realizes that he is a fisherman and wants to kill this fish. In a sense, he is achieving harmony with the sea. Hemingway affirmed the possibility of this kind of harmony, and constantly hinted at the opposite nature and significance of this kind of harmony through Santiago's consciousness that seemed to be separated from action. For example, San Diego's evil consciousness, love for Marin, and love for death-all these finally irresistibly obeyed the action and melted into harmony. At the same time, Hemingway's view of human nature has been further demonstrated through various consciousness in San Diego: in San Diego, the division between love and hate, life and death, good and evil no longer exists, even if it exists, it is meaningless, but what is truly affirmed as an adult is the desire for ordinary harmony and the resistance to achieve harmony in conflict. Although this kind of harmony seems to be only an ideal thing in the transcendental field, Hemingway believes that it will be of great significance in the field of experience practice.

Santiago began to return to the limited field of human nature; At this time, the shark swooped down and San Diego struggled with it-this is a struggle to maintain the harvest in the limited fields, and it is also a test. Santiago knew it was impossible to win, but he still shouted eagerly:

"Come on, black shark, come on, black shark."

On the vast sea, Santiago once called for death, because he loved marlin and longed to combine with it. At that time, it seemed to be just a passionate concept, a kind of survival beyond life, far from the truth. But now, in the face of endless sharks and hopeless struggles, death has become a great reality. However, it is also obvious that what dominates San Diego now is not the fear of death, but the concern for itself and the laws of the universe. He hopes to stick to it, just as he went to dream of the lion after his failure. He asked himself to keep that tense inner rhythm and disdain hard work. The key is not to win, but to continue to strive for the greatest strength endlessly. In Santiago's time consciousness, there is neither the past nor the future, only the present, a continuous and eternal present:

"He thought," what can I think now? No, forget it. Just wait for the shark to come. "

Every moment is a starting point-obviously, this extremely tense confrontation is harsh, and every starting point indicates a sudden collapse. San Diego is tired, both inside and outside; His body is sore and stiff, and wounds and overworked parts of his body hurt badly. He realized that death:

"People can be destroyed, but they cannot be defeated."

Santiago refused to compromise, and his stubbornness accelerated his own destruction-here, people's beliefs and iron willpower were pushed to the top, even with some self-destructive nature. However, this kind of destruction has a purpose after all: Santiago's sacrifice is a sacrifice to the ultimate harmony. In fact, Hemingway is describing a streaking death. This kind of sprint, at least in the past, has always made him desperate and miserable, but now, he has a brand-new and even completely opposite nature. Death is inevitable, but affirming death does not mean denying survival. Their opposition is unified through the ultimate goal of life value-perhaps Hemingway's most important discovery, which makes Santiago dare and be able to challenge death.

The marlin was swallowed by the shark, and the old man only brought back a white skeleton. This is a meaningful ending, which further reveals the essence of Santiago's harvest: he is neither a material form nor an external result of action, but just Santiago's inner experience, a new profound experience he gained through action. Santiago's failure is essentially a victory, because his purpose is neither to bring marlin back to the harbor nor to kill a large number of sharks, which is irrelevant; His purpose happens to be the action itself. It is precisely because he survived (and will continue to live, dream of the lion is a hint), fulfilled his duties as the existence of the universe and made contributions to the final order that he was able to integrate into the universe and make his own survival meaningful. It is worth repeating that the significance of Santiago's existence depends neither on the external form nor on the result of action. Unlike Nick and Henry, he got this meaning only by himself.

Hemingway finally ended his long exploration with the final awakening of Santiago. Although this result is expressed in profound fables, it still has unique significance. It is not only a novel about the battle between man and nature, but also a final record of exploring the value of life. At this time, San Diego is no longer Henry or Nick in his early years. His behavior is beyond their boundaries. He didn't escape the messy and meaningless existence like them, but accepted this world full of conflicts and moved towards a violent life. Paul. Sartre said: life has no transcendental significance; Life before birth is nothing. At this time, it is your responsibility to give life a meaning. The so-called value is the meaning of your choice. Nick didn't realize it, and neither did Henry. They just attach their survival to that world, to others or the outside world, and their tragedy is inevitable. Santiago realized that his awakening lies not only in giving himself the responsibility of survival, but also in his courage to associate survival with conflict. The concept of meaning coexists with conflict.

In fact, Hemingway initiated modern aesthetics and regarded beauty and harmony as an opposite movement and process. It is based on this aesthetic concept that he transcends the traditional general discussion of good and evil and pursues a life outlook with protest significance. This pursuit has great practical value: in that era full of turmoil and destruction, it is not enough to indulge in that weak beauty and goodness, which often leads people to despair and nothingness under heavy pressure. Hemingway eulogized: exploring in collapse and persisting under heavy pressure-this is the true meaning of beauty; Only in this way can life be possible.

Indeed, Hemingway deserves to be a model, because no matter how bad the environment is, he never gave up his eager desire for truth, goodness and beauty or his belief in human values. He told people with actions that it is not destruction that dominates life, but fear of all kinds of destruction. On top of this, there are more powerful things, human belief in truth and courage to fight for it. The key is to dare to accept a violent life and gain the meaning of survival in the struggle. Eugene? O 'Neill once said that life may be meaningless, but it is the persistent pursuit of human beings that gives life peace and meaning. Although Hemingway may still have his limitations, although his ultimate harmony is only a transcendental concept, his pursuit itself makes his existence have unparalleled dignity and value. Hemingway did as he said: fight, fight for the lofty right of human existence.

-Excerpted from an article by a blogger on Sina Blog.