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Abstract: Based on the Bible, we can see influence on Hemingway and his work. Through biblical style’s influence on the Old Man and the Sea in relation to theme, word, language, the language structure and writing techniques, we will be able to see clearly how the biblical style shows in the novella. A textual analysis of this novella from biblical style will result not only in our awareness of the style of Ernest Hemingway’s in last period but also in our recognition that he is one of the most celebrated and influential literary stylists of the 20th century.
Key words: Biblical style The Old Man and the Sea Hemingway
I. Brief Introduction of the Bible
No book has influenced American history and culture more than the Bible. The Bible is a very important religious classic in the history of human civilization. There are two parts in the Bible; one part is the Old Testament, another is the New Testament. Indeed, the Bible was long the wellspring of national mythology, although the prevailing biblical stories and imagery changed with time and circumstance.
II．The Style of the Bible
The Old Man and the Sea is one of the most popular novels written by Ernest Hemingway. It may very well become one of the true classics of this generation. It is an exciting but tragic adventure story. Sustained by the pride of his calling, the only pride he has left, a broken old fisherman ventures far out into the Gulf Stream and there hooks the biggest marlin ever seen in those waters. Then alone and exhausted by his struggle to harpoon the giant fish, he is forced into a losing battle with marauding sharks; they leave him nothing but the skeleton of his catch. Certainly, the qualities of Ernest Hemingway’s novella are those which we associate with many great stories of the past: near perfection of form within the limitations of its subject matter, restraint of treatment, regard for the unities of time and place, and simplicity of style. It has been studied and analyzed by many literature lovers on the view of literary appreciation or of literary criticism. But my aim of this thesis is to analyze the famous novel The Old Man and the Sea based on the biblical style approach.
III. Biblical Style in The Old Man and the Sea
A. Biblical Sentence Pattern in The Old Man and the Sea
There is short of long and/or abstract word; simple word, concise sentence and the essential sentence pattern is ‘he-does-something’ that is affected on the style of the Authorized Version. The following extracts from The Old Man and the Sea:
The old man unhooked the fish, rebaited the line with another sardine and tossed it over. Then he worked his way slowly back to the bow. He was hed his left hand and wiped it on his trousers. Then he shifted the heavy line from his right hand to his left and was hed his right hand in the sea while he watched the sun go into the ocean and the slant of the big cord.
He held the line tight in his right hand and then pushed his thigh against his right hand as he leaned all his weight against the wood of the bow. Then he passed the line a little lower on his shoulders and braced his left and on it. 7
Hemingway uses some simple words, in that part, there are nine causative verbs: unhook, rebait, toss, work, wash, wipe, shift, wash and watch. These verbs sufficiently show smallish and concrete actions by the old man and come out prospective consequences.
In the second paragraph, there are two long sentences, having five simple causative verbs and narrating the concrete action. After having read the Authorized Version, readers would found the features of the structure of the sentence are similar to The Old Man and the Sea. See some part from Genesis:
And the God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so. (1:7)
And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind, and God saw it was good.(1:21)
And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and God saw that it was good. (1: 25)
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man become a living soul. (2:7)
And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. (2:8)8
These sentences describe the inanimate creation and the animate creation by the God. It uses short causative verbs: make, create, form, plant, put and so on. They have same function ‘Subject + Causative Verbs + Object’, although these verbs in Genesis and in The Old Man and the Sea haven’t the same meaning.
In Genesis:
God made the firmament, God created great whales, God made the beast, God formed man, and God planted a garden
In The Old Man and the Sea:
The old man unhooked the fish,rebaited the line, he was hed his hand, he shifted the heavy line,he held the line, he leaned all his weight, he passed the line and braced his left hand.9
The God and the old man obtain different results by their deeds that are up to the verb choosing. Those verbs are smallish in the two works, however, indistinctly describe in Bible, but concretely and concisely describe in The Old Man and the Sea. That sentence pattern hints that the subject can dominate its act and produces the anticipative results.
The God dominates his action by the inconceivable substance and spiritual power; everything he expected exists in the world. Santiago, an ordinary man, was endowed with strength. The result by his action, for better or bad, existed, even facing to the bad climate and the big fish he had never met before, as the writer used the sentence pattern ‘he-does-something’ to describe him. Those results and action by the old man couldn’t be comparable with the God’s; nevertheless that sentence pattern appeared in every corner of the whole novel so that the novella was filled with the power.
The tragedy that was led by every anticipative result of action was conveyed by that sentence pattern to the reader. There is a striking contrast that highlights the tragic flavor between the partial effect and the entire effect.
In the Hemingway’s era, a man who grown up in a speaking English country and had the Christian teaching was familiar with that pattern. As the reader discovered a large number of that sentence pattern in The Old Man and the Sea, it was easy to connect that pattern with description of the God and saints deed in the Bible. To some extent, the action of the old man produces the divine brilliance from the indication.
B. Biblical Theme in The Old Man and the Sea
There is same spirit between in the novella and in the Bible. In the Old Testament of the Bible, it mentioned that the God create human; but human didn’t receive the God’s advisement so that human achieved the God’s punishment; then, human was rescued by the Lord’s son—Jesus. Thus, the Christians believe that human must stand suffering and anguish; the suffering and anguish is test and exercise. However, the description experienced suffering then relieved from the suffering, of Job, Jesus and others in the Bible construct a narrative method of the Bible. The old man Santiago of The Old Man and the Sea actually is a loser; he dose not go fishing without a fish; after being believed that he was cursed, the old man still decide to launch out. He caught a fish which is 1500 pounds, is longer than his boat; after that, the old alone man experienced that his left hand was cramped; the line under his eye was lacerated; his right hand was bled by the line; he suffered a series of anguished torture. After he returned with his fish; in order to protect his brother against the sharks using harpoon, sword, plasm, rudder, and short stick as his weapon. After returning the seaport, he brought with a big fish framework. He with extremely tired body climbed up the seashore. Then, inside the shack he leaned the mast against the wall. In the dark he found a water bottle and took a drink. Then he lay down on the bed. He pulled the blanket over his shoulders and then over his back and legs and he slept face down on the newspapers with his arms out straight and the palms of his hands up.14
His final pose is the tortured Jesus pose on the crucifix; and his series description is a whole process being tortured Jesus. Hemingway put the great characteristics—unconquerable spirit power of everything on the earth on the old man. From the common but uncommon experience allegorical description, Hemingway shows in his respect of failure or victory, that is, it is not important whatever failure or victory; but embodies characteristics is the important thing. However, the aspect expresses in the Ecclesiastes of the Bible
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. (1:2)
In the Genesis of the Bible, God create everything on the earth; God create the human according to the deity. Of course, human with a certain divinity should gain respect like Santiago. From this point, there is equal among human, fish, and bird. In The Old Man and the Sea, when the old man was fishing, he continually called marlin his brother, and said that who killed is not important; and the description about eating fish in this novella. In the Leviticus of the Old Testament in the Bible:
These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat.
And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rives, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:
They shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcases in abomination.
Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you.
These sentences narrates that there is uneatable fish and eatable fish in the water; eatable not wings and squamae being. The relationship between the old man and the fish is full of religious significance from religious aspect.
IV.Conclusion
Hemingway made use of the Christian’s comprehension to the Authorized Version in the English world. He uses his famous writing skill—iceberg theory to narrative the story. The biblical sentence pattern is the hint. Let the reader find the seventh eight part under the water; discover the real things he want to express; and explore the spirit of his work. It embodies the Hemingway’s understanding the Bible through biblical theme.
Bibliography
1.Carlos Baker, Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story (1969); Scott Donaldson, By Force of Will 1977
2.Charles Hummel, Creator or Evolution of Genesis, God’s Creative Call Inter Varsity Press Doeners Crove, Illinois 1985
3.Cystal, David and Derek Davy. Investigating English Style, Longman,1967
4.(奥)雷立柏 《圣经的语言和思想》 北京 : 宗教文化出版社, 2000
5.章雪富 《圣经和希腊主义的双重视野》 北京 : 中国社会科学出版社, 2004
6.卓新平 《圣经鉴赏》 北京 : 中国社会科学出版社, 1992
作者简介：高岩（1975-），女，辽宁抚顺人，渤海大学外国语学院副教授，硕士研究生导师。研究方向：语言学。
Key words: Biblical style The Old Man and the Sea Hemingway
I. Brief Introduction of the Bible
No book has influenced American history and culture more than the Bible. The Bible is a very important religious classic in the history of human civilization. There are two parts in the Bible; one part is the Old Testament, another is the New Testament. Indeed, the Bible was long the wellspring of national mythology, although the prevailing biblical stories and imagery changed with time and circumstance.
II．The Style of the Bible
The Old Man and the Sea is one of the most popular novels written by Ernest Hemingway. It may very well become one of the true classics of this generation. It is an exciting but tragic adventure story. Sustained by the pride of his calling, the only pride he has left, a broken old fisherman ventures far out into the Gulf Stream and there hooks the biggest marlin ever seen in those waters. Then alone and exhausted by his struggle to harpoon the giant fish, he is forced into a losing battle with marauding sharks; they leave him nothing but the skeleton of his catch. Certainly, the qualities of Ernest Hemingway’s novella are those which we associate with many great stories of the past: near perfection of form within the limitations of its subject matter, restraint of treatment, regard for the unities of time and place, and simplicity of style. It has been studied and analyzed by many literature lovers on the view of literary appreciation or of literary criticism. But my aim of this thesis is to analyze the famous novel The Old Man and the Sea based on the biblical style approach.
III. Biblical Style in The Old Man and the Sea
A. Biblical Sentence Pattern in The Old Man and the Sea
There is short of long and/or abstract word; simple word, concise sentence and the essential sentence pattern is ‘he-does-something’ that is affected on the style of the Authorized Version. The following extracts from The Old Man and the Sea:
The old man unhooked the fish, rebaited the line with another sardine and tossed it over. Then he worked his way slowly back to the bow. He was hed his left hand and wiped it on his trousers. Then he shifted the heavy line from his right hand to his left and was hed his right hand in the sea while he watched the sun go into the ocean and the slant of the big cord.
He held the line tight in his right hand and then pushed his thigh against his right hand as he leaned all his weight against the wood of the bow. Then he passed the line a little lower on his shoulders and braced his left and on it. 7
Hemingway uses some simple words, in that part, there are nine causative verbs: unhook, rebait, toss, work, wash, wipe, shift, wash and watch. These verbs sufficiently show smallish and concrete actions by the old man and come out prospective consequences.
In the second paragraph, there are two long sentences, having five simple causative verbs and narrating the concrete action. After having read the Authorized Version, readers would found the features of the structure of the sentence are similar to The Old Man and the Sea. See some part from Genesis:
And the God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so. (1:7)
And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind, and God saw it was good.(1:21)
And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and God saw that it was good. (1: 25)
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man become a living soul. (2:7)
And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. (2:8)8
These sentences describe the inanimate creation and the animate creation by the God. It uses short causative verbs: make, create, form, plant, put and so on. They have same function ‘Subject + Causative Verbs + Object’, although these verbs in Genesis and in The Old Man and the Sea haven’t the same meaning.
In Genesis:
God made the firmament, God created great whales, God made the beast, God formed man, and God planted a garden
In The Old Man and the Sea:
The old man unhooked the fish,rebaited the line, he was hed his hand, he shifted the heavy line,he held the line, he leaned all his weight, he passed the line and braced his left hand.9
The God and the old man obtain different results by their deeds that are up to the verb choosing. Those verbs are smallish in the two works, however, indistinctly describe in Bible, but concretely and concisely describe in The Old Man and the Sea. That sentence pattern hints that the subject can dominate its act and produces the anticipative results.
The God dominates his action by the inconceivable substance and spiritual power; everything he expected exists in the world. Santiago, an ordinary man, was endowed with strength. The result by his action, for better or bad, existed, even facing to the bad climate and the big fish he had never met before, as the writer used the sentence pattern ‘he-does-something’ to describe him. Those results and action by the old man couldn’t be comparable with the God’s; nevertheless that sentence pattern appeared in every corner of the whole novel so that the novella was filled with the power.
The tragedy that was led by every anticipative result of action was conveyed by that sentence pattern to the reader. There is a striking contrast that highlights the tragic flavor between the partial effect and the entire effect.
In the Hemingway’s era, a man who grown up in a speaking English country and had the Christian teaching was familiar with that pattern. As the reader discovered a large number of that sentence pattern in The Old Man and the Sea, it was easy to connect that pattern with description of the God and saints deed in the Bible. To some extent, the action of the old man produces the divine brilliance from the indication.
B. Biblical Theme in The Old Man and the Sea
There is same spirit between in the novella and in the Bible. In the Old Testament of the Bible, it mentioned that the God create human; but human didn’t receive the God’s advisement so that human achieved the God’s punishment; then, human was rescued by the Lord’s son—Jesus. Thus, the Christians believe that human must stand suffering and anguish; the suffering and anguish is test and exercise. However, the description experienced suffering then relieved from the suffering, of Job, Jesus and others in the Bible construct a narrative method of the Bible. The old man Santiago of The Old Man and the Sea actually is a loser; he dose not go fishing without a fish; after being believed that he was cursed, the old man still decide to launch out. He caught a fish which is 1500 pounds, is longer than his boat; after that, the old alone man experienced that his left hand was cramped; the line under his eye was lacerated; his right hand was bled by the line; he suffered a series of anguished torture. After he returned with his fish; in order to protect his brother against the sharks using harpoon, sword, plasm, rudder, and short stick as his weapon. After returning the seaport, he brought with a big fish framework. He with extremely tired body climbed up the seashore. Then, inside the shack he leaned the mast against the wall. In the dark he found a water bottle and took a drink. Then he lay down on the bed. He pulled the blanket over his shoulders and then over his back and legs and he slept face down on the newspapers with his arms out straight and the palms of his hands up.14
His final pose is the tortured Jesus pose on the crucifix; and his series description is a whole process being tortured Jesus. Hemingway put the great characteristics—unconquerable spirit power of everything on the earth on the old man. From the common but uncommon experience allegorical description, Hemingway shows in his respect of failure or victory, that is, it is not important whatever failure or victory; but embodies characteristics is the important thing. However, the aspect expresses in the Ecclesiastes of the Bible
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. (1:2)
In the Genesis of the Bible, God create everything on the earth; God create the human according to the deity. Of course, human with a certain divinity should gain respect like Santiago. From this point, there is equal among human, fish, and bird. In The Old Man and the Sea, when the old man was fishing, he continually called marlin his brother, and said that who killed is not important; and the description about eating fish in this novella. In the Leviticus of the Old Testament in the Bible:
These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat.
And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rives, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:
They shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcases in abomination.
Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you.
These sentences narrates that there is uneatable fish and eatable fish in the water; eatable not wings and squamae being. The relationship between the old man and the fish is full of religious significance from religious aspect.
IV.Conclusion
Hemingway made use of the Christian’s comprehension to the Authorized Version in the English world. He uses his famous writing skill—iceberg theory to narrative the story. The biblical sentence pattern is the hint. Let the reader find the seventh eight part under the water; discover the real things he want to express; and explore the spirit of his work. It embodies the Hemingway’s understanding the Bible through biblical theme.
Bibliography
1.Carlos Baker, Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story (1969); Scott Donaldson, By Force of Will 1977
2.Charles Hummel, Creator or Evolution of Genesis, God’s Creative Call Inter Varsity Press Doeners Crove, Illinois 1985
3.Cystal, David and Derek Davy. Investigating English Style, Longman,1967
4.(奥)雷立柏 《圣经的语言和思想》 北京 : 宗教文化出版社, 2000
5.章雪富 《圣经和希腊主义的双重视野》 北京 : 中国社会科学出版社, 2004
6.卓新平 《圣经鉴赏》 北京 : 中国社会科学出版社, 1992
作者简介：高岩（1975-），女，辽宁抚顺人，渤海大学外国语学院副教授，硕士研究生导师。研究方向：语言学。