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1、Hemingways The Old Man and the Sea and the Male ReaderCharles K. HoflingIn psychoanalytically-oriented literary criticism there are three principal ways in which a composition may be approached. The critic may study the protagonist from a clinical, a dynamic, and, occasionally, a genetic point of vi
2、ew, as if he were a real person, endeavoring to enrich ones understanding of the character and thus of human nature in much the same way as in a case presentation. The critic may study the composition as a psychic production of its author, endeavoring to shed light on the personality of the latter.
3、Finally the critic may endeavor to study the impact of the composition on himself and/or upon readers in general. Of the three approaches, the last is the least often used. It is probably the most open to adverse criticism, since another reader may always say with complete honesty that he is not aff
4、ected in the way described. On the other hand, it can be of particular value in the study of the author as author, i.e., as one with a degree of mastry of techniques of arousing certain responses in his readers. It is this third approach which is utilized in the present paper, an effort which is thu
5、s in no sense a balanced criticism of the master-work upon which it is based. In an attempt to apply the insights of psychoanalysis toward gaining a fuller understanding of the emotional impact of The Old Man and the Sea upon the reader, an appraisal of the protagonist becomes a logical starting poi
6、nt. Indeed, if one is reading purely for pleasure, this is what one tends naturally to do. Despite the close interrelationship of plot and character and despite the high degree of artistic unity which marks the tale, a sufficiently leisurely pace is preserved before the great crisis for one to form
7、deep impressions of the Old Mans personality while not yet fully absorbed in the narrative. The physical characteristics of Santiago, the fisherman, are simply and vividly portrayed, and they are in harmony with other aspects of his personality as these are gradually revealed. Well past his physical
8、 prime, the Old Man is by no means enfeebled. Gaunt and weatherbeaten and old he is and with none of the surplus vitality which, presumably, he would once have revealed even in repose. Yet his shoulders and neck are powerful in action, and his eyes are cheerful and undefeated. Hints of weakness are
9、given, but they are largely relative; it is clear that Santiago has, in his day, been of quite exceptional strength (as is shown, for example, in his reminiscences of the hand game). Psychologically speaking, one of the most significant statements that can be made of the Old Man is perhaps the seemi
10、ngly simple one that he is heart and soul a fisherman. His sense of identity, his sense of purpose, and his sense of worthwhileness are entirely bound up in his occupational role. His enduring pleasure is the functional pleasure of his work. Through his work he remains himself; through his work he r
11、emains in contact with his world. As we are given to understand early in the book and are repeatedly shown throughout the narrative, Santiago1 has been and continues to be not merely a good, but a great fisherman. His knowledge of wind and weather, of marine and avian life, and of tricks of the trad
12、e remains sensitive and profound. In his work and in his way of living, the Old Man shows courage, fortitude, and a kind of simple nobility. He is humble in a healthy sense of the word, i.e., in the sense of freedom from arrogance and unearned pride. The fisherman is primarily a man of action-of agg
13、ressive action when the situation calls for it, but he is by no means unthinking. (But he liked to think about all things that he was involved in.) The Old Mans strength has allowed him to be gentle (as in waking the boy) and to have been a good teacher of Manolin. From the start of their relationsh
14、ip he had not merely permitted but encouraged his young pupil to reach out, to function up to his growing capacity. There is a great simplicity about Santiago. Though withouth religiosity, he is rather superstitious. He is prone to a boyish hero-worship (the great DiMaggio). As the narrative begins,
15、 the fisherman has become lonely but not embittered. He is capable of loving, both in reality and in fantasy: the boy, the lions, the sea, and many of its creatures. His sentiment in these matters does not become sentimentality. He is relatively free from a disturbing hostility. His heterosexual lib
16、ido is greatly diminished (he no longer dreamt of women), with the remainder being sublimated. The Old Man dwells much in the past (in dreams and daydreams), but he is by no means indifferent to the present. The pennant race and the lottery catch his interest, and he continues to think of ways to im
17、prove his fishing equipment. At the opening of the story, Santiago is clearly experiencing a depression, the nature and extent of which are relevant to the ensuing action. It is a quiet affair, pervasive rather than profound. The lifelessness of his features in repose, the considerable lack of inter
18、est in food and sex, the tendency toward rumination, and the lessened ability to sleep (all of these evidently somewhat beyond the usual changes of advanced age), point in this direction, as, quite possibly, do the Old Mans thoughts of death. Yet there is ample evidence, on the one hand, that the de
19、pression is not severe (clinically speaking), and, on the other, that it is not related to an unusually strong sense of guilt. For example, Santiagos previously mentioned rather lively interest in current sporting events is not in keeping with the existence of a serious depression; nor is the fact t
20、hat he takes rather good care of himself (drinking sharks liver oil and eating turtle eggs). He is by no means a willing martyr, and, even at the last, he is appreciative of the fact that others are interested in him (inquiries about the search parties). Indeed, his conscious philosophy of life rema
21、ins both brave and optimistic, a feature which is, of course, not at all characteristic of a severe depression. (Man is not made for defeat and it is silly not to hope.) The last mentioned point is to be qualified by the recognition that these conscious attitudes involve an element of denial. In oth
22、er words, one senses the potentiality for a deepening of the depression. Yet within the span of the story, this potentiality does not become an actuality. Similarly, it may be said that, in the central events of the tale, the Old Man courts danger and takes unnecessary risks. Yet it can scarcely be
23、argued that a self-punitive motive is the principal one for the risk-taking. The sources of the Old Mans low spiritedness, that is to say, of his considerably diminished self-esteem, are, in fact, fairly clear. They are the lessening of his strength by reason of age, his loneliness, his ill fortune,
24、 2 his diminished reputation, and his increasing dependence upon the boy, Manolin. Santiagos depression is the result of a sense of shame and of direct narcissistic injury rather than of a sense of guilt. The Old Mans dependence upon Manolin, we are shown, has several aspects. Santiago receives food
25、, companionship, assistance, admiration, and affection from the boy. There is no question but that he is in conflict about the dependent aspects of their relationship. As one piece of evidence, there is his pretense of having food in his cottage. In the same vein are his thoughts-spoken aloud at a l
26、ater point in the story-The sea feeds me. No, I must not deceive myself too much; the boy feeds me. This insight is allowed only with some difficulty. Yet it is, after all, allowed. Thus, while one can readily document the existence of a conflict in the fisherman between the demands of pride, on the
27、 one hand, and those of a group of dependent strivings, on the other, one can, at the same time, find evidence to show that the portion of the conflict which involves Manolin is of only moderate intensity. In addition to flashes of insight such as the one quoted (incompatible with intense conflict),
28、 there is the essentially unambivalent nature of the Old Mans emotions and behavior toward Manolin. The fisherman shows a sustained kindness to the boy, a graciousness even, which could not exist in the presence of strong negative feelings. At no time has the Old Man any need to depreciate his pupil
29、; on the contrary, he has consistently encouraged the boys manliness and fostered his competence.3 At the outset of the story, then, one finds in Santiago a mood which, though subdued, calls for vigorous action to ameliorate his situation. There is a purpose not unlike that of Ulysses in Tennysons p
30、oem. Push off, and sitting well in order smiteThe sounding furrows; for my purpose holdsTo sail beyond the sunset, and the bathsOf all the western stars, until I die.It may be that the gulf will wash us down:It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,And see the great Achilles whom we knew.Tho much is
31、 taken, much abides; and thoWe are not now that strength which in old daysMoved heaven and earth; that which we are, we are;One equal temper of heroic heartsMade weak by time and fate, but strong in willTo strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.What happens to this protagonist, Santiago? The gro
32、ss external events of the tale can be very quickly summarized. For eighty-four days, Santiago has caught not a single fish. On the eighty-fifth day, the Old Man rows far out into the Gulf Stream, where he hooks the largest marlin ever seen in that area. For two and a half days he struggles to make t
33、he catch, and he finally succeeds in doing so. Nearly exhausted, he is then forced into a running battle with a series of marauding sharks. He kills a number of them, but they leave him only the skeleton of the marlin, which he finally brings into port. Deprived of any material gain from his venture
34、 and psysically worn out, the Old Man sinks into a profound sleep, briefly interrupted by a conversation with the boy, Manolin. Here is the presentation of a seeming defeat, and an undeserved defeat, at that. The reader is saddened by the account. Yet there is more than one kind of sadness, and the
35、kind experienced at the close of The Old Man and the Sea is not enervating, not depleting, but curiously involving a trace of quiet exhilaration. Does the reader sense that he has witnessed a kind of victory in this defeat? If so, what is the nature of this victory? What are the deeper strata in the
36、 readers personality which are activated by the story, and by what technical means does the author bring about this response? First it may be well to recognize the magnitude of the test to which Santiago is exposed. It should be clear that The Old Man and the Sea is not the story of a man, once capa
37、ble, who has become professionally incompetent through senescence and who finally loses a battle fought for routine stakes and against routine odds. Hemingway has presented such a story in The Undefeated. Toward Manuel, the bullfighter, one feels a pity that is less positive, a kind of admiration th
38、at is more limited, and a sense of resignation less tinged with hope, than is the case with ones feelings toward Santiago. The prizefighter in Fifty Grand comes, perhaps, a bit closer to eliciting emotions like those roused by the Old Man, but, for a number of reasons-his material success, to name o
39、ne-not identical with them. On the contrary, there is a great deal to indicate that, in the central experience of the tale, Santiago faces a quite exceptionally severe test. A marlin eighteen feet in length and 1500 pounds in weight: as the bartender says, There has never been such a fish! There is
40、not much in the story to suggest that the Old Man could have done appreciably better at any previous period of his life,4 and there is nothing to suggest that any of the other fishermen could have done better than the Old Man. Next one may note the ways in which Santiago may be said to have passed t
41、his severe test. Some of these are evident while he is still alone at sea. He does not, for example, abandon the long struggle with the fish, but brings this phase of the adventure to a successful conclusion. He does not stop fighting the sharks so long as they attack, killing the last of the maraud
42、ers. His judgment survives. (. . . he sailed the skiff to make his home port as well and as intelligently as he could.) His optimism survives-or, if one prefers, his ability to make a limited but effective use of denial. (Shes good, he thought. She is sound and not harmed in any way except for the t
43、iller. That is easily replaced.) Most significantly, his self-esteem not only survives but is enhanced. (He spat into the ocean and said, Eat that, Galanos. And make a dream youve killed a man.) In the fishing village on the Old Mans return there are indications of an objective nature that Santiago
44、has achieved a kind of triumph. While his reputation as a fisherman had never been lost, but merely tarnished, it is now restored. His achievement receives open admiration. (Many fishermen were around the skiff looking at what was lashed beside it and one was in the water, his trousers rolled up, me
45、asuring the skeleton with a length of line.) Of greater significance than the reactions of the villagers is a shift in the arrangement between the Old Man and his young friend, Manolin. Santiagos bravery in the face of suffering has mobilized further admiration and compassion, plus a degree of guilt
46、, clinching the boys determination to resume fishing with him, whatever the opposition. An appraisal of the relationship between the Old Man and the boy, underlying this aspect of the denouement-and a great deal else,-takes one quite deeply into the significance of the story and into an understandin
47、g of the authors great technical skill. To come straightway to one of the principal psychological points, one may offer the impression that Santiago has regressed to approximately the same psychosexual phase as that to which Manolin has advanced, and that this phase is late latency. The fishermans h
48、aving put aside his dead wifes picture as too painful a reminder of their relationship is, of course, strongly reminiscent of the partial forgetting by a boy of his mother during latency. The Old Mans hero-worship and the type of hero involved (DiMaggio) are similarly typical. The general emphasis o
49、n male-male relationships and the utter deemphasis of male-female relationships are further bits of evidence. Above all, there is in the Old Man-to a striking degree-that conflict between industry and inferiority which Erikson has so clearly shown to be a decisive one during the latency period. With the oncoming latency period, the normally advanced child forgets, or rather sublimates, the necessity to make people by
