《老人与海》的悲剧色彩:对完美主义的质疑

Abstract
Through ages, human beings have always been in pursuit of the perfection of everything. Not all things, however, are perfect in the world. Both Hemingway and Santiago, the hero in his famous work The Old Man and the Sea are perfectionists. In their daily lives, perfectionists have endless sadness since they always demand more and more. When a person wants more and his present situation could not satisfy him, he is bound to involve in a strange circle, which will make his mentality full of contradictories. It is uneasy for him to let himself free. Perfectionists could not be easily understood by others. Though an analysis of the tragedy of the old man and Hemingway, this thesis mainly discusses the tragic color in The Old Man and the Sea, and draws a conclusion that their perfectionism leads to their tragedy. In that way, the paper challenges perfectionism. Just like an old saying goes: “No one is perfect”. There is no absolute perfectionism in the world. In fact, pursuing perfection is a good medicine for those who are vacuous to remedy, but on the premise that they know their potential well in pursuit of perfection. If a person does not know his potential of perfection and over-pursues it, not only does he live without happiness, but he gets nothing in the end as well. The world is imperfect. Therefore, it is essential to accept the imperfection of the world and learn to abnegate some unrealistic pursuits. This thesis tries to elucidate the truth that people who over-pursue perfection cannot but hurt themselves in the end.

Key Words
tragic color; perfection; perfectionism; Hemingway; Santiago
 
摘 要
千古以来，人们历来追求事事的完美，然而，事事皆不完美，即使是人们心目中最完美的东西也有它的破绽。就像是海明威和他的名著《老人与海》里的铁汉英雄---圣地亚哥一样，他们两人都是人们心目中的完美主义者。然而在日常的生活中，完美主义者总是有着无穷无尽的悲哀，因为他们一生的追求会随着自己目标的达成变得越来越多。若是一个追求完美的人为自己定了很高的目标而没有实现时，他们就很容易陷入一种精神的怪圈，这样的怪圈使得他们的内心总是充满矛盾，在不断的挣扎中，他们难以脱身。
本论文从研究《老人与海》的悲剧色彩入手，分析老人的悲剧，指出他的悲剧是由他的完美主义思想所致，同时也说明海明威的悲剧，海明威对自己的要求太高了，他不断追求心中达到完美的目标，甚至有些目标已经超过了他的能力范围。然而，他的事事追求完美的思想使得他承受不了生活的压力，病痛的折磨，最终，他以自杀结束了他本是辉煌灿烂的人生。接着论文则对世人觉得理所当然的追求完美主义的思想提出质疑。正如金无赤金，人无完人所阐述的道理，世间没有绝对的完美。实际上追求完美是弥补心灵空虚人的一剂良药，但前提是在人们真正了解自己的潜能。一个人若是连自己都不了解，不知道自己真正所需，就过度追求生命中事事的完美，那他的一生必定没有幸福，而且到头来也不会得到他所追求的完美。整理我们的思绪，放弃不切实际的想法，做我们自己而不在意别人的想法，这才是我们每个人应该做的。世界从来就不完美，学会放弃才是人生的宽途。
本论文分析老人和海明威的悲剧以及对造成他们悲剧的原因---追求完美主义，进行分析，试图说明过分追求完美必然导致对自己的伤害。

关键词
悲剧色彩；完美；完美主义；海明威；圣地亚哥

 
Introduction

Hemingway’s life is filled with kinds of adventures, and from his rich and colorful life experiences，his life seems like an unusual book which many other people in the world admire and envy. Indeed, Hemingway is a great writer, a code man with white beard; even today he had left us for a few decades, his brave figure has still been living in people’s memory. His adventurist spirit made him create many novels, so that people always say he directs his own stories in his works. From his works and life experiences, Hemingway is indeed a perfectionist. Many of the heroes that he created in novels are represented his code man spirit---perfectionism, especially in The Old Man and the Sea. The old man named Santiago represented Hemingway’s perfectionism characteristic more vividly than other code man in his works. Hemingway left many myths to the literary world after his shocking death, more and more researchers discussed