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

Content

摘要：

Abstract:

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