八分之七冰山视角下《老人与海》中的生态女性主义

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摘 要

《老人与海》是海明威晚年的杰出作品，虽篇幅短小，但因其丰富的思想内涵，一直是很多学者探讨的热点。《老人与海》在受到研究者高度肯定的同时却也因为缺乏对女性角色的描述而受到了诸多批判。但当我们运用冰山原则来解读这本小说时，我们将会发现隐藏在水面之下的待探索的女性角色。依据冰山原则，老人的硬汉精神只是水面之上的八分之一，而八分之七则是隐含的生态女性主义。通过分析女性与自然以及老人之间的关系，本文将探索出父权主义压迫下女性主权意识的觉醒以及对父权主义的反抗。

关键词：《老人与海》；冰山原则；生态女性主义

Contents

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………1
2. Literature Review…………………………………………………………1
3. Iceberg Principle and Eco-feminism…………………….……………...3

3.1 Iceberg principle……………………...….……………………………….3

3.2 Eco-feminism ………………………………………………………........3

1. The Relationship between Iceberg Principle and Eco-feminism in The Old Man and the Sea………………………………………………....…......4

4.1 One-eighth of the iceberg—tough guy spirit in The Old Man and the Sea ...4

4.2 Seven-eighths of the iceberg—the ecofeminism in The Old Man and the Sea……………………………………………………………...5

5. The Embodiments of Ecofeminism in The Old Man and the Sea…….….7

5.1 The oppression of patriarchal hierarchy to women …………………....7

5.2 Women’s resistance to oppression of patriarchal hierarchy……………8

5.3 The exploration of the relationship between men and women……….…..9

6. Conclusion

Works Cited…………………………………………………………………...12

1. Introduction

Hemingway is an outstanding writer in American literature. He is known as the representative of ‘‘lost generation’’, and has made great contributions to American literature. Hemingway’s attitude towards women is always puzzling, because he has long been focused on shaping the tough guy image, ignoring the description of female. And the men are encouraged by the spirit, female roles are either polarized or non-existent.

In the era of Hemingway’s life, the patriarchal culture declines gradually and the female consciousness gradually wakes up. So after the rise of the western women’s rights movement, all of the works which all have a strong male chauvinism are blamed for the lack of female views and the discrimination against women. However, when we use iceberg principle to analyze this novel, we can find hidden female characters. To find the information which is easily ignored by people, we need to analyze this novel more deeply. What we can explore from the underneath seven-eighths part of the water is the feminism, to be precise is the ecofeminism. The sea is not just a catching field for young fishermen, but also regards as a kind of human dignity. It has grown up many fishermen like him and has taken a lot of disasters to them. But this just shows the one eighth that we can see from the surface. What’s more, we should explore the underneath seven eighths. The sea is also regarded as a woman by Hemingway, which supplies people with abundant resources. The little boy is not only a source of strength and spiritual comfort, but also regarded as a symbol of women who replaces the old man’s wife to look after the old man. However, it is always ignored by the readers when they just read the novel from the one eighth icebergs, which needs to explore from the view of seven eighths iceberg. From the relationship between the old man which is regarded as men’s epitome and the little boy which is regarded as women, we can analyze the gender relations under the background of the appearing of ecofeminism. Previous works put emphasis on analyzing the role of men, ignoring the role of women. This paper will analyze the ecological feminism in The Old Man and the Sea from a new angle of view.

2. Literature Review

In terms of the study of The Old Man and the Sea, predecessors mainly explore the novel from the perspective of the symbolic meanings of characters. In Wu Xuling’s paper Interpretation of multiple symbols in The Old Man and the Sea, he regards Santiago as the embodiment of the whole human progress; regards the little boy as the future of the old man; regards the shark as the symbol of evil; regards the lion as the symbol of brave and confident (2002). However, in Zhao Wenbo’s paper Multiple interpretations of the symbolic meaning of The Old Man and the Sea, he interprets the symbolism from the aspects of character, history, philosophy, religion (2009). Beside from the view of the symbolism, many people study the novel from its language features. Such as Zhao Qi’s article Study on the language features of foreign literary works The Old Man and the Sea, he reads the book from the language’s implicitness and repeatability (2015). But in Zhang Qian’s paper, he reads the novel from the angle of language style and metaphor (2015).

When coming to the Iceberg Theory, most scholars are in favor of this theory. In his book The Modern Short Story: A Critical Survey, British critics Herbert Ernest Bates writes: ‘‘Hemingway is just like a man with an axe and the Iceberg Theory omits almost all the explanations, discussions and comments in language, so do the beautiful metaphor. This theory tries to cut out all the obstacles which block the readers’ eyes. But it doesn’t mean that it cuts the leaves of trees. It just wants to show a clear scene just like branches to readers (1972).’’ Betts believes that the iceberg theory ‘‘causes a literary revolution (1972).’’ However, some scholars disagree with these views. For example, an American critic Elder regards this theory as ‘‘an evasive tactics’’, “away to create a mood of emotional atmosphere”, which ignores some important clues of the novel.

With the movement of western feminist, many women asked for the equality between men and women. In the third wave of feminist movement, ecofeminism is an important school. Predecessors analyze the ecofeminism from its background, definition, characteristics, schools and ideas. In her book Study on Ecofeminism, Zhao Yuanyuan analyzes ecofeminism from the three foundations of ecological feminism: the philosophical basis, the ethical value basis and the practical basis (2012). However, in Mai Mu’s book, he mainly studies the origin of ecofeminism and its characteristics (2013). In the paper, I will analyze the ecofeminism’s characteristics from the perspective of the relationship between the oppression of women and the degradation of nature.

This article will focus on the ecofeminism from the view of seven-eighths iceberg through analyzing the roles of the sea and the little boy. Then through the relationship between the sea and women as well as men, this thesis will analyze the oppression of patriarchal hierarchy to women and women’s resistance to oppression of patriarchal hierarchy from the perspective of seven-eighths iceberg. Finally, the paper will explore the gender relations from the relationship between the old man and the little boy.

3. Iceberg Principle and Eco-feminism

3.1 Iceberg principle

Iceberg principle refers to a main kind of Hemingway’s writing style with which he describes a simple story, but the connotations of the story are rich and abundant. The words and images are called one-eighth, while the emotions and ideas are called seven-eighths. Simple words, vivid images, rich emotions and deep thoughts are the four basic elements of the iceberg principle. In his documentary work Death in the afternoon, Hemingway, for the first time, compares the literary creation with an iceberg floating on the ocean. He says ‘‘The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water (Hemingway 192).’’ For ‘‘the principle of iceberg’’, Hemingway has an explanation in his works Death in the afternoon, he writes: ‘‘If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them (Hemingway 192).’’ It is obvious that Hemingway advocates the seven-eighths should be left to the reader to explore. Hemingway believes that a good writer does not need to reveal a character or an action in detail. Therefore, the iceberg theory sometimes is referred as ‘‘theory of omission’’.

3.2 Ecofeminism

Ecofeminism emerged in the 1970s with an increasing consciousness of the connections between women and nature. The term ‘‘ecofeminism’’, which attempts to describe ‘‘woman’s potential to affect environmental change’’, was introduced by Francisva Deobernard in 1974. It is produced by the combination of feminism and ecology, which seeks to pay attention to women’s role and has been used in a variety of ways since its introduction. Ecofeminism can be understood as an analysis of environmental issues and concerns from feminists. It is an academic movement that sees critical connections between the domination of nature and the exploitation of women. It is believed that the social mentality that leads to oppression and domination of women is directly related to the social mentality that leads to the abuse of the earth’s environment. Women are much closer to the nature, on the contrary, the tone of male ethics is the hatred to nature. Ecofeminism believes that, to some degree, women and nature are similar. In the real life, they are all oppressed, which leads to metaphorical connection between them in the aspect of culture. As a product of the combination of eco criticism and feminism, in addition to discuss how to ease the growing ecological crisis in today’s society and the eventually establish a harmonious ecological society, ecofeminism put more emphasis on women’s rights, asking for the equality between men and women. Ecofeminism has made a strong criticism of the male hegemony in the patriarchal hierarchy system, which thinks that relationship of nature and women are eco-organic.

4. The Relationship between Iceberg Principle and Eco-feminism in The Old Man and the Sea

4.1 One-eighth of the Iceberg--tough guy spirit in The Old Man and the Sea

From the surface of the work, there is no positive description of female characters in the novel The Old Man and the Sea. However, we can find male characters, especially the old man who is regarded as a tough guy image by most people.

Hemingway, in his works, creates a series of famous hard man images, most of them are bullfighters, soldiers, fishermen and hunters. When facing difficulties and despair, these people all has fearless courage and never give up. Among these characters, Santiago is the highest achievement that Hemingway has long been exploring the ‘‘tough guy’’ images. He is an old fisherman life who has experienced many difficulties. Although facing repeated bad luck, he never admits defeat. Without catching a fish for 84 days, ordinary people would have given up. But originated from the old man’s confidence and persistence, he finally gets lucky and catches a big marlin longer than his own boat in the eighty-fifth day. But on the return voyage, fighting with sharks is more thrilling than chasing Marlin. Fierce sharks gathering in crowds and groups eat fish. Even though the old man is extremely tired, he cheers himself up and against with the sharks regardless of personal danger. After the harpoon is taken away by injured sharks, he hits the sharks with sticks and paddles. The sharks either die or wounded escape. That just likes the old man’s inner monologue: ‘‘But a man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated (Hemingway 120) ’’, which is a summary of the ‘‘tough guy’’ spirit.

4.2 Seven-eighths of the iceberg --the ecofeminism in The Old Man and the Sea

It can be said that the female image is absent from the view of one-eighth of the iceberg. Because of the absent role of women, Hemingway is criticized by many critics (especially feminist critics). The critics argue that Hemingway is a male chauvinist, because he believes that heroism is just men’s business in the sea battlefield. These viewpoints just explore The Old Man and the Sea from the perspective of one-eighth iceberg, but ignore the most important seven eighths.

The Old Man and the Sea does not contain any female characters, which mostly reflects ecological feminism, when compared with Hemingway’s previous novel. The novel implies important female images, which has been refined under the iceberg. When we study the story from the view of seven-eighths iceberg, we can find the symbol of women. From the role of women, we can analyze women and nature’s relationship and then explore the ecofeminism in The Old Man and the Sea.

4.2.1 The implicit symbol of women

The little boy has men’s heroic spirit which inherited from the old man Santiago and a soft glow of motherhood. As we all know, there is no female image in this novel. However, this book is not so chill, which is derived from a variety of feelings that between the little boy and the old man. In other words, the little boy has a kind of gentle feminine temperament. There is a detail in the book, ‘‘They walked up the road together to the old man’s shack and went in through its open door (Hemingway 14)’’ ‘‘These were relics of his wife. Once there has been a tinted photograph of his wife on the wall but he has taken it down because it makes him too lonely to see it and it is on the shelf in the corner under his clean shirt (Hemingway 14).’’ This is the only woman mentioned in the book, but she is dead. And since then, it is the little boy who is taking care of the old man. So, to some extent, the little boy’s considerate care to the old man can be regarded as a continuation of his wife to take care of the old man.

Besides the little boy, it is the sea which is also seen as the symbol of woman. When we explore the story from the view of seven-eighths iceberg, we can also find that the sea is a symbol of the human mother, which lets us always feel the existence of women.

Women and nature have a natural affinity, according to the view of ecofeminism. It is the relationship of the most harmonious movement between human and nature. The Old Man and the Sea has never had female characters appear. But the sea is a symbol of the human mother. The novel all use women’s ‘‘she’’ to describe the sea, ‘‘He always thought of the sea as la mar which is what people call her in Spanish when they love her. Sometimes those who love her say bad things of her but they are always said as though she were a woman (Hemingway 21)’’ ‘‘The moon affects her as it does a woman (Hemingway 21)’’, which is enough to show that the sea is the woman in this novel. Therefore, we can interpret the sea which has a strong color of symbolism as a woman.

4.2.2 The relationship between women and nature

According to the view of ecofeminism, human and nature’s relationship is close, especially the relationship between women and nature. Nature is often seen as the mother of all things in the world. In spite of no existence of women in the novel, the sea reminds us the existence of women throughout the novel.

In the novel, Hemingway shows a natural and harmonious relationship between the sea and the countless lives such as seabirds, flying fish, marlin and Santiago with his exquisite and strongly symbolic description and psychological description of the protagonist Santiago three days and nights on the sea. Seabirds, flying fish, marlin are symbols of nature, the interdependence between them and the sea is the close relationship between the nature and women. Sea loves everything around her, various seabirds fly freely in the sea. There are winged blackbirds, ‘‘just then he saw a man-of-war bird with his long black wings circling in the sky ahead of him. He made a quick drop, slanting down on his back-swept wings, and then circled again (Hemingway 32).’’ The sea is the mother of these birds on the survival. At the same time, women are also tolerant to men. The sea provides a stage of live for Santiago; riches the old man’s life experience; gives him confidence and hope ‘‘His hope and his confidence had never gone (Hemingway 3).’’ Sea is tolerant to the things and people that rely on her. She gives them life support and gives the hero stage to show himself. She gives hope and confidence to people, as well as experiencing their ability to survive. In the novel, the sea and the nature are combined effectively, and the two are inseparable whole. The vast sea is colorful, and she has not been contaminated by modern industrial civilization. She is still a pure land that has brought up fishermen who have fish for generations just like Santiago, various seabirds which fly foraging in the sea and the big marlin which brings infinite hope to old people. The vibrant sea blends with the surrounding environment, she is the daughter of the nature.

5. The Embodiments of Ecofeminism in The Old Man and the Sea

5.1 The oppression of patriarchal hierarchy to women

Eco-feminist Karen J Warren points out that there is an important connection between the oppression of women and the oppression of nature. The oppression to women and nature are the products of male hegemony under the patriarchal hierarchy. When the nature suffers from oppression and devastation, women are also subject to slavery and oppression, because women and nature have a natural identity. Generations of Americans have a dream, they believe that the individual will be able to get a better life as long as through unremitting efforts and struggle. Of course, the ‘‘individual’’ is male, male is the real pioneer, and is the hero. In the novel, Santiago is the pioneer of the sea.

Fishermen at sea fish for a living for generations. At beginning, the novel mentions the need to travel far to catch fish, and Santiago has been 84 days without fishing on a fish, which shows a silent revolt from the sea. The sea brings up fishermen, but the fishermen obtain resources from the sea unrestrained. The fish resources in the shallow seas are gradually reduced, they can be harvested only when they are far from the coast. However, the decrease of this kind of fish resources spreads more distant with their expedition, which can be seen from the point that, for 84 days, Santiago still has no harvest in the ‘‘far away’’. According to the logic of the patriarchal society, exploiting the sea is the manifestation of human progress. But the writer Hemingway thinks, fishing in the sea itself is destroying the ecological balance. The cost of this achievement obtained is not desirable. Just as the history of the development of the American West is the history of violently against the land, the history of the development of the ocean is also filled with violence against the sea. Men develop the sea means that they occupy the sea, just as men occupy female body. Fishermen just like Santiago have a fanatical possessiveness on the sea. They think that they are the masters. Because of this possessive love, they greedily request to the sea.

Under the social background, women in the reality, to some degree, are similar to the sea depicting in the novel. At that time, women do not have the corresponding social status. This makes women to be oppressed and rejected for a long time, suffering from the ravages of patriarchy and slavery. It is similar to the sea which has been continuously exploited by human especially male. The fishermen are a symbol of patriarchy, and the sea is the women who suffer from difficulties and unequal treatment. Male has been active in the history of the protagonist’s image while women almost have no right to participate.

In the novel, Santiago finally catches a big marlin, but after three days of fighting, he ultimately does not succeed, Marlin only left a skeleton. Hemingway criticizes the patriarchal society’s possession to women through Santiago ultimate failure, eventually alluding to patriarchy status failed.

5.2 Women’s resistance to oppression of patriarchal hierarchy

In the novel, under the patriarchal values of imprison, the sea abided by the moral code the sea should adhere to. The sea was kind, quiet and obedient. ‘‘She is kind and very beautiful (Hemingway 21)’’, ‘‘But the old man always thought of her as feminine and as something that gave or withheld great favors, and if she did wild or wicked things it was because she could not help them (Hemingway 21).’’ She gives her all to the various creatures in the sea, but in the process she loses herself, such sea is the product of the patriarchal hierarchy.

But women do not always obey men. They also resist the oppression of patriarchy. In the novel The Old Man and the Sea, the sea on behalf of the female image sometimes attacks Santiago who is on behalf of the patriarchal ideology, and punishes him. In the novel, the author has referred, Santiago has not fished for 84 days, and he does have the same experience before, which is the protest of sea, is the women’s complaint to patriarchal rank. The novel has mentioned the old man’s dream many times, the old man still dreams ‘‘African lion’’ at the end of the novel. Critics believes that this is the yearning for a ‘‘tough guy’’ spirit and perseverance, because lion is the embodiment of men’s power and majesty. In fact, the ‘‘African lion’’ is not only the Santiago’s dreams, but also the dreams of the majority of men who are under the patriarchal hierarchy. They want to control women and to dominate the nature. However, the men’s African lion dream that want to persecute women and ravage nature will only be a dream. Because the women who have the feminist consciousness have sounded the horn of against the patriarchal hierarchy, they are trying to break away from men’s bondage, and try to find themselves in the process of resisting oppression, and rebuild themselves.

5.3 The exploration of the relationship between men and women

In the novel, in terms of the battle between Santiago and the sea, we could hardly say whom the winner is. The reason for Hemingway arranged such an ending is that he realized the awakening of consciousness of women. Feminism begins to rise while the patriarchal system gradually decline. Although this change is insufficient to completely crushed patriarchy, it is just a matter of time. In the future, women’s struggle will be successful on condition of the declining of patriarchal system. Therefore, Hemingway lets Santiago who is seen as a symbol of male chauvinism fail in the contest. In fact, Hemingway does not fully agree with feminism, his ideas are still deeply influenced by the patriarchal culture. In his opinion, men have an absolute ground. Santiago fails, but it does not mean that he gives up the support of the patriarchal. When Hemingway feels the changes, he tries to accept as well as to defend the dignity of men. The creation period of The Old Man and the Sea overlaps with the period of the development of the feminist movement, so Hemingway is inevitably affected by the impact of the movement. We can also get a glimpse of his view of relations between the sexes from the novel. He believes that sexual relations are not opposite, but interdependent.

The relationship between Santiago and Manolin shows the harmonious sexual relations. At the beginning of the novel, ‘‘he always went down to help him carry either the coiled lines or the gaff and harpoon and the sail that was furled around the mast (Hemingway 1)’’and in the end ‘‘The boy carried the hot can of coffee up to the old man’s shack and sat by him until he woke (Hemingway 130)’’, these all show that the little boy takes great care of the old man in terms of daily life. When the old man is lonely, he is desperate for the little boy to be present with him. When the old man’ hand gets injured and suffers the pain, the little boy cries. From these, we can see that when the little boy accompanies Santiago, he has a kind of the tenderness of a woman. The old man is helped in many aspects and gets along well with the little boy, which shows the sexual relations are harmonious not opposite.

At the end of the old man and the little boy’s long dialogue, it describes that the boy breaks the shackles of their parents and bravely decides to improve fishing facilities and fish with the old man together. Although the old man does not bring the whole marlin back, the little boy still persists in fishing with the old man. To some degree, it is a kind of affirmation to Santiago. The little boy who is seen as a symbol of female favored Santiago who is regarded as the representative of male, which actually shows the balance between men and women.

From these it can be seen that Hemingway still demonstrates the performance of women, but this performance is not very obvious because of the shackles of his ‘‘iceberg principle’’. His description in the novel reflects the harmonious sexual relationship and men need to be recognized by women, which showed that Hemingway respects women.

6. Conclusion

The Old Man and the Sea is the best work that Hemmingway wrote in his life. From the discussion, it is obvious that iceberg theory plays an important role in The Old Man and the Sea. In short, the simple language, a distinct character image and feelings of theme, all constitute the Hemingway’s 7/8 with as the basis for performance 1/8, which fully embodies his creation concept and art style -- the principle of iceberg. Through the description of the sea, we know more about the deep theme of the article and the inner passion of the leading character. Through exploring the novel from the view of seven-eighths iceberg, we can know the novel not only reflects the author’s ecological consciousness, but also shows solicitude for the female’s freedom, and its success is largely because of the strong ecological feminism consciousness. Ecological feminism is against the wanton exploitation and invasion of human nature, insists the harmonious relationship between sexual, as well as focuses on the equality between men and women. Women are the vulnerable groups in the relationship between the two sexes. In order to freely and correctly define themselves and realize the true self-value,

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