On Hemingway's Unique Style Typified By The Old Man And The Sea

The implications of The Old Man and the Sea, a masterpiece by Ernest Hemingway, are profound and far-reaching. Many critics have tried to decode them from different angles, and different conclusions have been reached as to the theme of this novel. Though much has been said, sometimes controversially, less attention has been paid to the style and artistic skills used by the author. This paper tries to adopt a stylistic approach and analyzes the features of the novel by focusing on its use of the language. We can easily find the simplicity and naturalness of the prose text marked by directness, clarity and freshness. Hemingway always managed to choose words which are concrete, specific, more commonly used, more Anglo-Saxon, and more casual and conversational. He employed them often in a syntax of short and simple sentences, which are orderly patterned and colloquial. Hemingway himself claimed that he wrote on "the principle of the iceberg," meaning that "seven-eighths" of the story lie below the surface parts that show. The writing of The Old Man and the Sea reflects Hemingway's efforts to reduce his language and convey the novella's meanings as much as possible in as few words as possible,"The principle of the iceberg" also exists in the special narration of the story. The author all the time conceals his own feeling in the storytelling by the free change of the narrator. And the persona's monologue and stream of consciousness shows an objective presentation of the story without the author's...