A Book Report of The Old Man and the SeaThe Old Man and the Sea is a novel written by Ernest Hemingway, an American novelist.The story is set in the 20th century after World War II, which is based on the novel written true story Hemingway himself has experienced.Exactly, it’s a story of an epic struggle between an old, seasoned fisherman and the greatest catch of his life. Leading character Santiago, an aged Cuban fisherman, has set out to sea and returned empty-handed. At first 84 days, he did not even fish one fish. He did not have enough food, and many locals to doubt his fishing technique. Some even laugh at him. So, He decided to go to the sea to fish food and proved that he is a skilled fisherman. On the eight-fifth day of his unlucky streak, Santiago does as promised, sailing his skiff far beyond the island’s shallow coastal waters and venturing into the Gulf Stream. At noon, a big fish, marlin, take the bait that Santiago has placed before. Although the old man expertly hooks the fish, but he cannot pull it in. Instead, the fish begins to pull the boat. He knows perfectly well very difficult to win, but still did not give up. Since then, they began their three-day fighting. The entire time, Santiago, endures constant pain from the fishing line. Eventually, the third day, the fish tires, and Santiago manages to pull the marlin in close enough to kill it with a harpoon thrust. However, things do not go smoothly as he expected. On his way home, he is attacked buy several crowds of shark. Although he kills the sharks in the end, they have devoured the marlin’s precious meat, leaving only skeleton. The old man arrives home before daybreak, and sleeps very deeply. Later on, the old man wakes up and finds the little boy Mandolin staying with him, and decides to go to sea to fish again.In fact, the story contains many different symbols and themes .By reading this book, I was deeply impressed by the old man and what he said “a man can be destroyed but not defeated.” Santiago, though destroyed at the end of the novella, is never defeated. Instead, he emerges as a hero. Santiago’s struggle does not enable him to change man’s place in the world. But the struggle somehow enables him to meet his most dignified destiny. The old man sets a good example for us. He teachers us that weshould fight and never lose faith, never give up. No matter how hard the life is, it’s possible for us to overcome the difficulties.简介The Old Man and the Sea is one of Hemingway's most enduring works.Told in language of great simplicity and power,it is the story of an old Cuban fisherman,down on his luck,and his supreme ordeal——a relentless,agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream.Here Hemingway recasts,in strikingly contemporary style,the classic thene of courage in the face of defeat,of personal triumph won from los.Written in 1952,this hugely successfully novella confirmed his power and presence in the literary world and played a huge part in hiswinning the 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature.Ernest HemingwayThe Old Man and the Sea may very well become one of the true classics of this generation. Certainly, the qualities of Ernest Hemingway's short novel are those which we associate with many great stories of the past: near perfection of form within the limitations of its subject matter, restraint of treatment, regard for the unities of time and place, and evocative simplicity of style. Also, like most great stories, it can be read on more than one level of meaning. On one it is an exciting but tragic adventure story. Sustained by the pride of his calling, the only pride he has left, a broken old fisherman ventures far out into the Gulf Stream and there hooks the biggest marlin ever seen in those waters. Then, alone and exhausted by his struggle to harpoon the giant fish, he is forced into a losing battle with marauding sharks; they leave him nothing but the skeleton of his catch. On another level the book is a fable of the unconquerable spirit of man, a creature capable of snatching spiritual victory from circumstances of disaster and material defeat. On still another it is a parable of religious significance, its theme supported by the writer's unobtrusive handling of Christian symbols and metaphors. Like Coleridge's Ancient Mariner, Hemingway's Cuban fisherman is a character allowing the imagination of his creator to operate simultaneously in two different worlds of meaning and value, the one real and dramatic, the other moral and devotionally symbolic.老人与海〔美〕海明威? 杨枕旦译注《老人与海》完全可能成为当代一部名副其实的经典作品。