Annotated Bibliography

  

The old Man and the Sea: An Approach to meaning

                              

Submitted to                                                                 Submitted By

PG. Deptt. Of English                                              Biswa Ranjan sahoo

Utkal University                                             Course work for PhD student

Tutor-Prof. Jatindra Kumar Nayak

Backman,Melvin. “Hemingway: The Matador and the Crucified”, Modern Fiction Studies,

            1(1955), P.5.

Referring to the above journal the essayist says that the Hemingway hero Santiago is compared with Christ. He has cited many instances where it has been proved. For instance Santiago is the Spanish name for Saint James. He lost the battle against fish like Saint James who was martyred “With the sword”. Again he is compared with Christ: while carrying the mast to the shack which is unbearable for him to carry he sits down five times before reaching and we see Christ image of Christ laboring with his cross to Golgotha. Our final vision of Santiago-as-Christ unfolds as the old man reaches his hut after climbing the hill from the beach and stowing his mast he lays on the bed and covers the body with the blanket, we behold the ruined Christ with a blanket as a shroud and a hut for a sepulchre.  With these powerful images, Hemingway solidifies the transference of Christ-imagery upon Santiago-who is a mythical figure without benefit of myth. The reference makes the theme clear about the religion of Hemingway.

Eliot,T.S. Four Quartets. New York: Harcourt, 1943.24-5.

The essayist refers to T.S Eliot on the theme of renunciation. Each of the Four Quartets considers spiritual existence, consciousness, and the relationship of the present to the past. The Four Quartets are concerned with the conflict between individual mortality and the endless span of human existence. Eliot’s concept of renunciation lies not in the grief in the sense of lament for something lost but a grief greater than anything we know. The same is reflected in novel The Old Man and the Sea where the novelist declares: renunciation can be gained by disowning self. Hemingway’s salvation lies in the defeat with natural forces and his ultimate vision of shore.

 On this context the critic’s reference to Eliot is useful. Though Eliot is sometimes opaque or unclear to the reader still his wisdom is noteworthy. So comparing with Eliot the essayist is crystal clear in thought and meaning. The reader will find the accuracy and correctness of the reference.

Heminway,Ernest. Across the River and Into the Trees. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons

            P. 1950, p.219-20.

The concept of death to Hemingway hero varies in form. But death is an inevitable catastrophe for them and they never care for it. He writes that the novel shows a common Hemingway theme of "maintaining control over one's life, even in the face of terrible odds." Cantwell knows he is dying and faces death "with the dignity which he believes he has maintained throughout his military service." The theme of death is central in Hemingway's writing.

 In this paragraph the essayist avoids using imperative jargons and opaque images. He states things very clearly. The hero is worried about the arrival of death. He searches how does it come? Death can come through un- boiled water to mosquito foot. But for Cantwell the Hemingway hero death arrives through a bullet. While analyzing Old Man and the Sea the concept of death makes the meaning clear and referring to Across the River and Into the Trees make the essay coherent, convincing and systematic.

Heminway,Ernest. For Whom the Bell Tolls. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons P. 1940,  

            P.169.

The essayist is not only concerned with the single text of the author rather he is variegated in his reference. He refers to other works of the author as and when the situation demands. This enables the reader to comprehend the matter easily as the reader more or less knows about other works of a particular author. The readers become friendly to the situation. It decreases the doubt, confusion and complexity.

In For Whom the Bell Tolls thoughts and experiences of Robert Jordan, a character inspired by Hemingway's own experiences in the Spanish Civil War, has been depicted. In their camp, Robert Jordan encounters Maria, a young Spanish woman with whom he falls in love. At the end of the novel Robert Jordan is mortally wounded but hopes to kill a few enemy soldiers and slow down enemy action before he dies. Death is final and inescapable. The pain, turbulence and dissolution gained by the hero are the path to salvation. In For Whom the Bell Tolls reflects a different view of love and death going simultaneously.

Hemingway,Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. (London, 1953), p.84.

Everywhere inside the essay the essayist refers the original text. But in the context of life what he knows is worth knowing. Hemingway says “pain does not matter to man.” Although he is not a usual kind of believer of religion Hemingway’s voice is central to all the religion. He believes in life worship: a pagan ideology. He seems to believe that there are only two options: defeat or endurance until destruction; Santiago clearly chooses the latter. His stoic determination is mythic, nearly Christ-like in proportion. Like Christ, to whom Santiago is unashamedly compared at the end of the novella, the old man’s physical suffering leads to a more significant spiritual triumph.

Referring to the original text the essayist confesses his ingenuity of knowledge. Over quotation decreases the creativity and inside the essay the reader finds over quotation and gets jumbled. But the essayist’s carefully handling of quotation in a coherent manner shows his ability of arrangement.

Heminway,Ernest.The Sun also Rises. New York: Charles Scribners and Sons P.1926.

            …Death in the Afternoon. New York: Charles Scribers and Sons P.1932.

Two of his above most important novels depict the theme of death and illumination in terms of the ritual. The hero in both the cases enacts the spiritual exercises in the act of killing, through the orderliness, efficiency and cleanliness. Being a god the hero achieves the way. The real claim of salvation however belongs to the crucified victim. The hero must wait the earth’s recall.

The theme of the above two novels are required to attribute the meaning of the novel The Old Man and the Sea because Santiago glimpses the fishless desert as the world is. Hemingway explicitly states that his hero and his friends’ lives are aimless, and that this aimlessness is a result of the war. No doubt Santiago has determination to net the fish after 84 days and his catching of marlin is mere a satire of fate.

 Lair, Robert L. “Hemingway and Cezanne: An Indebtedness”, Modern Fiction Studies,   

            vol.2. 1950, p.219-20.

Before the end of the novel and after a nice description of meaning and theme the essayist praises the syntax, lucidity and vivid picture in the novel. He refers to Robert Lair who in his above essay describes that Hemingway had learned how to construct his own verbal landscapes from Cezanne. The essayist feels useful to confess that Hemingway uses the sequence of unhurried sensation as Cezanne’s painting is a part of the relationship between colour and space. Hemingway confesses in the essay of Lair that he learnt from Cezanne how to make landscapes and how emotions become inherent to hero. In the Old Man and the Sea Hemingway uses those are true reflectors and containers of emotion.

Moreover Throughout the essay the essayist seems to be a referent of various works from many writers which sometimes decreases the enthusiasm of the reader.

Plimpton, George. “The Art of Fiction: Ernest Hemingway.” The Paris Review (spring,

            958): 124.

Giving an interview to George Plimpton, Ernest Hemingway describes his future plan to write up a novel. He replies to Plimpton saying: one’s life is vital experience to write up a novel but one can write beyond inspiration and the pleasant test comes later.  He may admit superstitions, but he prefers not to talk about them, feeling that whatever value they may have can be talked away. About his own experience of fishing inside the sea Hemingway reaffirms that he goes on fishing inside the deep sea alone by his skiff. The pleasure and pain for adventure has been delineated through his autobiographical character Santiago who claims “But man is man is not made for defeat.” In the eyes of his protagonist he visualizes his duel with bull.

Citing the above journal the essayist has made a justice in giving the exact information and source. On the ethical ground he is not a culprit. At the very outset of the critical essay the reference to the journal makes the essay cosy to understand about the theme of the novel.     

Stevens, Wallace. “Sunday Morning”. The Faber Book of Modern American Veres ed. W.H.

            Auden. London, 1944, p.73.

            If we analyze on ground of relevance; we can say that quoting Stevens is essential to complete the sense. The writer in the previous paragraph was stating about salvation, renunciation and incarnation by comparing Eliot and Hemingway and the reference to Wallace make the sense complete. For Hemingway salvation is something that cannot be achieved through spiritual exercise but through here and now of experience. Wallace’s convention of religion is simply of paganism. Stevens can be adored in handling with the transcendental theme with paganism simultaneously. His poetry defines itself by sympathetic reaction to the Christian impulse for immortality and a transcendent realm. The immortality is a matter of moment.

            The citation for the journal given above is correct that the essayist has quoted from Sunday Morning. It shows that the writer is not a mere plagiarist. And at last Wallace’s salvation is something comprehended.

Tanner, Tony. The reign of wonder. Cambridge: CUP. 1965 p.239

The writer of the article, the essayist, refers to Tanner- a British Literary Critic of mid-twentieth century, and a pioneering figure in the study of American literature to follow the debate of salvation. Tanner in the above published thesis declares the adoption of Emerson’s Myth by Hemingway. It tells that the virtues of the passive eye before a world in which any object, if seen correctly, could be "symbol of God."

He already has compared with the concept of salvation with Eliot and wallace and referring to Tanner is a task of meticulous observation. Among the work cited till now Tanner is more current than previous. The currency of work shows that he has read his predecessors carefully. Referring Tanner shows the essayist’s up datedness. The appropriateness accuracy and ethics of the essayist is fore grounded through the confession of the fact. Tanner says the Hemingway hero is adventurous; brave; courageous; and daring. They always defy death. They don’t accommodate with defeat, loss or death.