VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES **************** HÁN THỊ BÍCH NGỌC A STUDY ON ICEBERG THEORY IN “THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA” BY EARNEST HEMINGWAY (Nghiên cưu nguyên lý Tảng băng trơi tác phẩ m “Ơng ́ già và biển cả” của Earnest Hemingway) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Major: Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 HANOI – 2013 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES **************** HÁN THỊ BÍCH NGỌC A STUDY ON ICEBERG THEORY IN “THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA” BY EARNEST HEMINGWAY (Nghiên cứu nguyên lý Tảng băng trôi tác phẩm “Ông già và biển cả” của Earnest Hemingway) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Major: Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Nguyễn Xuân Thơm Ph.D HANOI - 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgement ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Aims and objectives of the study 3 Research questions Design of the study Methods of the study 4 Scope of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Theoretical background 1.1.1 Discourse and Critical discourse analysis 1.1.2 Literary style 1.1.3 Language use 1.2 Analytical background 1.2.1 Introduction to “The Old Man and the Sea” 11 iv 1.2.1.1 Plot overview 13 1.2.1.2 Themes in “The Old Man and the Sea” 13 1.2.1.3 Setting of „The Old Man and the Sea” 13 1.2.1.4 Characters in “The Old Man and the Sea” 15 1.2.2 Hemingway‟s Iceberg Theory 15 1.2.2.1 Introduction to the Theory 16 1.2.2.2 Features of Hemingway‟s Iceberg Theory 17 CHAPTER THEORY OF ICEBERG IN THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA 2.1 The above part of the iceberg 121 2.2 The hidden part and its components 22 2.2.1 Setting 24 2.2.2 Characters 25 2.3 Literary devices for Iceberg theory 2.3.1 Language style 26 2.3.2 Narrator style 27 2.3.3 Characters‟ discourse 29 2.3.4 Symbolism 31 2.3.4.1 The character Santiago 32 2.3.4.2 The marlin 34 v 2.3.4.3 The sharks 35 2.3.4.4 The sea 36 2.3.4.5 The lions 37 2.3.4.6 The mast 38 PART C CONCLUSION Summary 40 Limitations 41 Suggestions for further study 42 REFERENCES 43 vi PART A INTRODUCTION This initial part stated the problem and the retionale of the study, together with the aims, objectives, the scope of the study, and the overview of the rest of this paper Above all, it was in this part that the research questions were identified to work as clear guidelines for the whole research Rationale of the study Earnest Hemingway (1899 - 1961), also known as ―Papa‖, occupies a prominent place in American Literature by virtue of his revolutionary role in the arena of 20 th century American fiction The period 1940-1950 was perhaps the bleakest ten years in Hemingway‘s writing career when his last major work ―Across the River and into the Trees”, which he considered his best work ever, met with severe negative criticism of unintentional self-parody However, the publication of the next work, The Old Man and the Sea, in one edition of Life magazine in 1950 was an instant success Some viewed the story as Hemingway‘s symbolic attack on literary critics—the elderly master fighting and triumphing over his long-time adversaries The novella soared to the top of the best-seller list and remained there for six months At first glance, the story appears to be an extremely simple story of an old Cuban fisherman (Santiago), who catches an enormously large fish then loses it again But, there's much more to the story than that ―The Old Man and the Sea” helped to revive Hemingway's reputation as a writer of great acclaim This slim volume won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and also contributed enormously to Hemingway's recognition as a world-renowned writer with the award of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954 As a writer, Hemingway became known for his predominant them of "grace under pressure." This theme was clearly developed in the character Santiago who fought the giant fish and killed it against all odds; it also characterized Hemingway‘s own life until the point in his life when he felt he was no longer able to demonstrate grace under pressure The Old Man and the Sea is believed to be Hemingway's best work, and no less than William Faulkner (1977) said, "Time may show it to be the best single piece of any of us, I mean his and my contemporaries” It ranked one of the best-known books and it was also taught at school This classic novella proves to be a mustread for those who are interested in Hemingway‘s literary work as well as his legacy to American literature Moreover, as the last piece of writing Hemingway published in his life, The Old Man and the Sea typically reflects his unique writing style Hemingway language in The Old Man and the Sea is simple and natural on the surface, but actually deliberate and artificial The language is rarely emotional Rather, it controls emotions by holding them in Theory of Iceberg, the most notable in Hemingway‘s writing style, is also reflected clearly in this novel The "Iceberg Theory" can be explained as such: If a writer is worth anything, and is actually going to create a piece of art in words, he must follow this theory The author's short story must omit items that are obvious or are already stated by metaphors, similes, or some other figures of speech The author should this to the point where the reader must think, understand, and really delve into the character and the words that are used to understand the entire story In this way the words on the page are merely 1/8 of the story itself, it is the other 7/8 that the story truly lives in Moreover, Hemingway's Iceberg theory highlights the symbolic implications of art He makes use of physical action to provide an interpretation of the nature of man's existence It can be convincingly proved that, "while representing human life through fictional forms, he has consistently set man against the background of his world and universe to examine the human situation from various points of view." (Halliday, 1956) For the reasons above, the researcher carried out this study with the hope to have better insights into Hemingway‘s literary work and also his impact on the whole American literature Although The Old Man and the Sea is only one of the great novels of the author, it sets an excellent illustration of his writing principle and literary ideology Aims and objectives of the study This study aims at analyzing Hemingway‘s Theory of Iceberg in The Old Man and the Sea As the greatest principle of Hemingway‘s writing style, the theory provides readers an obvious overlook of the writer‘s literary career In terms of art value, the answer to this matter would help the student of Linguistics, the novel‘s readers as well as those who wished to specialized in American Literature realize what made Hemingway one of the most successful authors in literature arena In terms of reality value, understanding Theory of Iceberg could help readers discover the story‘s purpose through some underlying principle nit readily apparent in the text Hemingway believed the true meaning of a piece of writing should not be evident from the surface story because the crux of the story lies below the surface This tale of an aged Cuban fisherman going head-to-head (or hand-to-fin) with a magnificent marlin encapsulates Hemingway's favorite motifs of physical and moral challenge If a younger Hemingway had written this novella, Santiago most likely would have towed the enormous fish back to port and posed for a triumphal photograph just as the author delighted in doing Instead his prize gets devoured by a school of sharks Returning with little more than a skeleton, he takes to his bed and, in the very last line, cements his identification with his creator: "The old man was dreaming about the lions." The tale of The Old Man and the Sea is obviously a hymn to human courage and endurance As a linguistic student, the researcher expected to find out and briefly analyze the significance of language used in The Old Man and the Sea exposing Hemingway‘s striking writing style The finding of this would help the students of linguistics , the novel‘s readers as well as those who wish to specialized in American Literature realize what made Hemingway one of the most influential authors of the century 3 Research questions The general goal of this research is to look into Hemingway‘s Theory of Iceberg in The Old Man and the Sea which can at least partly contribute to findings in literary appreciation and reading comprehension To this end, this research tries to answer the following questions: What is Hemingway‘s Theory of Iceberg? How is the Theory revealed in The Old Man and the Sea? What can be withdrawn from the surface of the story? Design of the study This paper is organized in the following way: Part One presents a general introduction of the research containing the rationale, aims and objectives, methodology and scope of the study Part Two gives a theoretical and analytical background for the study Part Three goes into details about Iceberg Theory in the novel with an emphasis on the hidden part of the iceberg The conclusion can be found in Part Four, which includes a summary, limitations of the research as well as suggestions for further study Methods of the study Descriptive and contextual methods of data collecting and analyzing are used in the research First, relevant literature, publications and studies were reviewed in order to get indepth information on Hemingway‘s writing style in general and Theory of Iceberg in particular Also country specific information on the organic horticultural sector was reviewed Second, the researcher analyzes and agglutinates those ideas into her own comprehensible viewpoints Finally, the information was analyzed and processed Evidence is taken from the story and analyzed based on the researcher‘s knowledge to put a light on how Hemingway used Theory of Iceberg in his novel Scope of the study The study focuses on how Hemingway exposed his striking writing style in The Old Man and the Sea To find the answer to the question, full attention was paid to the conversations between characters, the symbolic images and the mood flow of the characters The researcher also placed great emphasis on the language used in the novel In The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway practiced his familiar short and concrete language but filled with emotions In contrast to Romantic writers who often emphasize on abundance, Hemingway is a classicist in his restraint and understatement He believes that the strongest effect comes with an economy of means Therefore, understanding Hemingway‘s writing style can help readers draw valuable lessons in reading comprehension tired old man But I have killed this fish which is my brother and now I must the slave work .” ―Now I must prepare the nooses and the rope to lash him alongside, he thought Even if we were two and swamped her to load him and bailed her out, this skiff would never hold him I must prepare everything, then bring him in and lash him well and step the mast and set sail for home He started to pull the fish in to have him alongside so that he could pass a line through his gills and out his mouth and make his head fast alongside the bow I want to see him, he thought, and to touch and to feel him He is my fortune, he thought But that is not why I wish to feel him I think I felt his heart, he thought When I pushed on the harpoon shaft the second time Bring him in now and make him fast and get the noose around his tail and another around his middle to bind to the skiff” (95) In The Old Man and the Sea, the author uses a lot of monologue instead of dialogue, signed with ―the old man thought‖, ―the old man said‖, ―the old man could see‖, ―he said aloud‖, By this technique, the author leaves the character to express their own thoughts without interference Hemingway appears to be indifferent, impersonal and the readers can have interpretation of their own, which is consistent to his Omission Theory In his task of creating real people, Hemingway also uses dialogue as an effective device Here is an example: “What you have to eat?” the boy asked “No, I will eat at home; you want me to make the fire?” “No, I will make it later on, or I may eat the rice cold.” 30 Here we can see that such interpolations as ―he said‖ have frequently omitted and the words are very colloquial Thus the speech comes to reader as if he were listening Hemingway has captured the immediacy of dialogue skillfully and has made the economical speech connotative The dialogue is combined with the realistic and the artificial In The Old Man and the Sea, the language is very peculiar from Hemingway‘s other writings This is because the novel is an English version of the Spanish that Santiago and Manolin would speak in real life Since we are meant to realize that Santiago and Manolin could not speak like this, since English is not his tongue, we are more likely to accept other artificialities of the dialogue The simple sentences and repeated rhythms hit at the produndities that the surface of the language tries to ignore Its simplicity is highly suggestive and connotative, and often reflects the strong undercurrent of emotion Indeed, the more closely the reader watches, the less rough and simple the characters apprear Among all the works of Hemingway, the saga of Santiago is thought as the most typical one to the Iceberg Theory The author seldoms expresses his thoughts directly, nor does he make any comments or explanation On the contrary, he tries to narrate and describe things objectively and blend his own feelings harmoniously to the natural narration and description This gives the readers the compression of 1/8, from which they can learn the implied meaning When Hemingway said of his story, ―I tried to make a real old man, a real sea and real sharks‖, then he went on to say ―But if I made them good and true enough they would mean many things.‖ (Hemingway 1954) So this novel has a great conveyed by a compression action The core of the novel‘s action is fishing To the hero, fishing is not simply the contest in life It contains profound philosophic meaning Hemingway has formed narrative and dialogue, which thought natural and simple on the surface, truly deliberated and artificial It combines realistic elements with stylized and heigghtened ones III.4 Symbolism 31 In Ernest Hemingway's masterpiece, The Old Man and the Sea, he uses much symbolism to assist the readers understanding of the massage he is trying to portray The Old Man and the Sea is not just a book about an old man and the sea There are many hidden meanings to it Each element represents different things III.4.1 The character Santiago Many people believe the author plays on words when part of the hero‘s name Sant refers to the deities In Hemingway's novella The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago is portrayed as a Christ figure Through Santiago's Christ-like virtues, appearance, and journey, he is shown as the hero of the book One of Santiago's virtues is his refusal to give up or to accept defeat "Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated" (10) Despite his age and his inability to catch fish for months, Santiago still doesn't give up; much like Christ didn't give up when he was tortured before his crucifixion Another Christ-like virtue of Santiago is his love and compassion for everything around him The old man had love even for the fish he was trying to catch, after it was dead he thought "You did not kill the fish only to keep alive and to sell for food, he though You killed him for pride and because you are a fisherman You loved him when he was alive and you loved him after." (105) This love is similar to the love of Christ who taught that you should love everyone else as you love yourself and to love your enemies Santiago's love for the fish even after its death also symbolizes Christ's love for people after their death and his promise of eternal life after death In addition to his virtues, Santiago is Christ-like through his appearance When "he felt the line carefully with his right hand and noticed his hand was bleeding," it was a similar injury to when Christ's hands were punctured by the nails on the cross After Santiago returns to shore and gets back to his shack, "he lay down on 32 the bed He pulled the blanket over his shoulders and then over his back and legs and he slept face down on the newspapers with his arms out straight and he palms of his hands up" (122) His position is the position Christ was in when he was crucified on the cross When he gets back to land after catching the fish he must carry the mast from his boat in a way similar to how Christ carried his cross "He started to climb again and at the top he fell and lay for some time with the mast across his shoulder He tried to get up But it was too difficult and he sat there with the mast on his shoulder and looked at the road" (121) Santiago carried his mast along the road as Christ carried his cross, and both became tired along the path and fell to rest His journey is also similar to Christ's because of his reason for working to achieve it He thinks "Now is the time to think of only one thing That which I was born for" (40) Santiago feels he was born with the purpose of catching this fish, as Christ was born to be crucified and forgive the world Their journeys are also similar because of their need to impress others Santiago says "I must have the confidence and I must be worthy of the great DiMaggio who does all things perfectly" (68) DiMaggio is for Santiago similar to what God was for Christ, they both wanted to attempt to live up to them Santiago's view of DiMaggio as being perfect is similar to God's perfection as well Santiago's journey is also Christ-like because its significance is not realized by others until it is over Santiago is made fun of by the other fishermen because it has been so long since he has caught anything, but they respect him once he has caught the fish even though it is only a skeleton when he gets it to sore This is similar to Christ as he was mocked, even on the cross, but once he is dead many more people understand what he did and the importance of his life and death 33 Hemingway shows Santiago's similarity to Christ in his virtues, his appearance, and his journey Through his similarities Santiago is portrayed as being more important than is first seen and he is shown as a hero III.4.2 The Marlin The marlin represents what man is searching for It is more than a great fish locked in an evenly balanced and protracted battle with an accomplished fisherman It is also a creature onto whom Santiago projects the same qualities that he possesses, admires, and hopes to pass on: nobility of spirit, greatness in living, faithfulness to one's own identity and ways, endurance, beauty, and dignity As Santiago and the marlin remain locked in battle for three days, they become intimately connected At first he thought of the marlin as “the biggest fish that he had ever seen and bigger than he had ever heard of.‖ (63) After the battle, the old man felt sorry for the marlin and even admired it ―Then he was sorry for the great fish that had nothing to eat and his determination to kill him never relaxed in his sorrow for him How many people will he feed, he thought But are they worthy to eat him? No, of course not There is no one worthy of eating him from the manner of his behaviour and his dignity.‖ (75) Even though he pitied for the fish, Santiago recognized that just as the marlin was born to be a fish, he was born to be a fisherman They were brothers in the inevitability of their circumstances, locked in the natural cycle of predator and prey ―It is enough to live on the sea and kill our true brothers‖ (75) The marlin's death represents Santiago's greatest victory and the promise of all those intangibles he so desperately hopes for to redeem his individual existence Yet, like the marlin, Santiago also must inevitably lose and become the victim After the mako shark's attack, Santiago eats the marlin's flesh to sustain himself, completing the natural cycle in which the great creature passes on something of itself to Santiago Not only are all creatures predator and prey, but all also nourish 34 one another The marlin's brave and unavailing struggle to save its own life becomes Santiago's brave an unavailing struggle to save the marlin from the scavenger sharks At the same time, because Santiago comes to see the marlin as an alter-ego—he identifies the marlin as male and imagines the fish is old—the marlin comes to represent Santiago In other words, Santiago‘s struggle with the marlin is in fact a struggle with himself It is not a struggle of strength but rather of endurance, a refusal to accept defeat Santiago‘s struggle with the marlin is in fact a struggle to face and overcome his own weaknesses as much as it is a struggle to subdue the great fish In the process, by refusing to give in to the fish or the weakness of his mind and body, Santiago transcends those weaknesses III.4.3 The sharks “They were hateful sharks, bad smelling, scavengers as well as killer, and when they were hungry they would bite at an oar or or the rudder of a boat It was these shark that could cut the turtle’s legs and slippers off when the turtles were asleep on the surface, and they would hit a man in the water, if they were hungry, even if the man had no smell of fish blood nor of fish slime on him‖ (107) The sharks are one of the main symbols in the book They come to attack the marlin that the old man caught because the fish was bleeding and they could smell the blood Santiago knew that the sharks would be coming at some point and he was pretty prepared for them When the sharks first came and started attacking the marlin, Santiago used all of his might to kill them As more and more sharks kept coming up to the boat, the old man started to get tired He was running out of supplies and ways to kill the sharks Some of the sharks were harder to kill because of their position near the boat The old man knew that striking the sharks in on the very tip of the head, close to the eyes, would rupture the skull and they 35 would die The sharks in the story represent struggle and obstacles of life The old man worked very hard to catch the marlin and when the sharks attacked it, he was devastated He was mostly devastated because he had worked so hard to catch the marlin in the first place and bring him into the dock The sharks were just another obstacle in life that the old man had to face Even though sharks are dangerous and they were very hungry, the old man put all of his effort and all of his strength into killing the sharks The fish that Santiago thought no one was worthy of eating was now a prey of the sharks As the great marlin had less and less meat on him, the old man lost a lot of his hope ―He did not want to think of the mutilated underside of the fish He knew that each of the jerking bumps of the sharks had been meat torn away.‖ (111) The sharks were the cause of his great loss of hope Although he had to admit to himself ―You are tired inside‖ (112), he wished he would make it back to land and the sharks would not continue to follow Every time a shark attacked, the fish bled more, which attracted more sharks The old man overcame the sharks though, which also shows how people can overcome obstacles in their life The sharks were a hidden meaning in the story because even though they were represented as evil, the old man built up an inner strength and defeated them in the end, just like we can in our lives III.4.4 The sea Hemingway uses the metaphor of the ocean to symbolize life and to depict the role that individuals play in life Hemingway believes that in life everyone must find their own niche and uses the metaphor of the ocean and the boats on it to demonstrate this ― most of the boats were silent except for the dip of the oars They spread apart after they were out of the mouth of the harbour and each one headed for the part of the ocean where he hoped to find fish The old man knew he was going far out ‖ (28) Hemingway feels that in life there are people who participate in life 36 and people who observe life as it passes just like on the ocean where there are boats that not test their boundaries The boats are the people in life, and most of the boats are silent They paddle within the areas they know to be safe and always are cautious not to upset the life that they have established for themselves Hemingway is explaining that most people don't raise a commotion, they just allow life to happen to them The old man is testing his limits, he is challenging the ocean, and rowing where he wants to go, not where the ocean wants to take him Hemingway believes that in life, the farther a person stays from the observers, the more free and exhilarated they will be Hemingway theorizes that in life there are going to be unexpected collisions Just as the sea creates storms life creates storms Those who live life to the fullest will be the least affected by these storms because they have the strength and the knowledge to handle them, but the observers or those on land will be destroyed because they not have the power to handle the destruction that the storms will cause The individuals who are far out to sea have the knowledge that the ocean will test them with momentous storms, and this is why they go so far out to sea According to Santiago, people refer to the sea as a woman when they love her When they view her as a enemy and rival, though, they refer to her as a man Santiago "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" (30) Despite the chauvinism characteristic of Hemingway, this view of the ocean is important in that it indicates that while the sea may bring fortune or ruin, the sea is unitary It is not sometimes one thing and sometimes another The good and the bad, or what people perceive as the good and the bad, are all equal parts of this greater unity III.4.5 The lions When Santiago is a child he visits Africa, and tells Manolin of the lions he sees "When I was your age I was before the mast on a square-rigged ship and that ship 37 ran to Africa and I have seen lions on the beaches in the evening." (22) Hemingway uses the lions on the beach as a metaphor, because most lions would never be found on a beach Santiago realizes that all of his glories were in his youth, and strongly relates the power that the lions in his dreams have to his youth He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of great occurrences, nor of great fish He only dreamed of places now and of the lions on the beach The played like young cats in the dusk and he loved them as he loved the boy Santiago is slowly losing his ability to be an effective participant in his life because of the limitations that are associated with aging Hemingway also experiences inabilities that he has never known and which brings him into a depression Santiago is beginning to believe that he is not a participant in his life so he does not depress himself by dreaming of anything other than the lions, who are participants In his dreams, Santiago is living vicariously through the lions The lions represent all that Hemingway ever was, and what he wishes he still could be Both in his bed in the village and in his boat, Santiago dreams of lions on the beaches of Africa, which he saw when he was a boy on a ship that sailed and fished the coast of Africa The lions symbolize Santiago‘s lost youth as well as his pride (a group of lions is called a ―pride‖) Santiago‘s love for the lions, which are fierce predators, also mirrors his relationship with the marlin, whom he loves but whose death he feels is necessary to his survival In this way, the lions as also symbolize Santiago‘s affinity with nature Now that Santiago is no longer young, and has lost his friends, family, and strength, he sees the lions only in his dreams Santiago‘s dreams of the lions at the end of the novella suggest that in triumphing over the marlin, he has undergone his own rejuvenation III.4.6 The mast 38 At the end of The Old Man and the Sea, the exhausted Santiago ―started to climbed again and at the top he fell and lay for some time with the mast across his shoulder.‖ (121) He removes his mast from his skiff, and haltingly drags it up the beach to his shack by resting one end of the cross on his shoulder The position in which Santiago carries the mast exactly mirrors the position in which Jesus Christ was forced to drag his cross on the way to his crucifixion The mast, then, becomes a symbol for the cross, and cements the parallel that Hemingway sets up between Santiago‘s ordeal and Christ‘s The image of the old man struggling up the hill with his mast across his shoulders recalls Christ‘s march toward Calvary Even the position in which Santiago collapses on his bed—face down with his arms out straight and the palms of his hands up—brings to mind the image of Christ suffering on the cross Hemingway employs these images in the final pages of the novella in order to link Santiago to Christ, who exemplified transcendence by turning loss into gain, defeat into triumph, and even death into renewed life Hemingway seems to suggest that victory is not a prerequisite for honor Instead, glory depends upon one having the pride to see a struggle through to its end, regardless of the outcome Even if the old man had returned with the marlin intact, his moment of glory, like the marlin‘s meat, would have been short-lived The glory and honor Santiago accrues comes not from his battle itself but from his pride and determination to fight 39 Part C Conclusion The novella The Old Man and the Sea was created in Hemingway‘s most creative years, but on the edge of this health The message and underlying meaning of The Old Man and the Sea was the subject of much debate and speculation Hemingway managed to compose a book that grasps attention of both laics and literary scientists A study on Hemingway‘s Iceberg of Theory can be valuable in terms of literary appreciation and reading comprehension The Old Man and the Sea is a thoughtsprovoking text rather than a short story and it emphasizes the important role of readers in active reading Theory of Omission demands that the readers feel the whole story and fill the gaps left by their omission with their feelings When understanding the Iceberg Theory, readers find themselves mastering the skill of understanding and eveluating text for its relevance to their needs The influence of Hemingway‘s style is so great that in the latter part of his life, he was known as ‗Papa Hemingway‖ It refers mainly to his contribution to the development of a new writing style- the colloquial style A critic named Storm Jameson discussing ―The Craft of the Novelist‖in the January 1934 issue of the English Review, she explained Hemingway‘s popularity: It is the simplicity which explains Hemingway‘s success….In English, at least his success has been largely with the intellectuals They have praised his simplicity, his directness…And Hemingway‘s influence as a stylist was nearly expressed in the praise of the Nobel Prize Committee about his ―powerful style- forming mastery of the art of writing modern fiction‖ Many researhers analyze the careful preparation of the writer when creating the circumstances for his characters In modern literature, loneliness can be one of the means to express characters and The Old Man and the Sea is no exception, but in a different way In this novella, there are eight characters but actually, only one goes from the first to the last page, giving the book its long40 lasting power Santiago, like many other old fishermen in the beach, has old poor apprearance and wreckled eyes During his ocean life, he realizes the sea does not only belong to him but also to birds, fish and other fishermen Standing at the sea with the endless vast infinity of nature, it is easy for people to feel lonely, but with Santiago ―no one should be lonely in the sea‖ Santiago lives on his own and he always recalls the glorious time of the past It is the symbol of strength in the poor old man To some extent, the lonely Santiago fights against his loneliness He has an extraordinary energy to live and this character deserves to praized and to be appreciated That sets the difference between Hemingway‘s character and other lonely people in modern Western literature It is interesting to note that Hemingway‘s Iceberg Theory unexpectedly fits our conception of old literature, especially about poems It is when true meaning lies outside words (Ý ngôn ngoại), quality is more important than quantity (Qúy hồ tinh bất đa) Vietnamese old poetry is often short, saying the most in the least amount of word For example, in Truyện Kiều, Nguyen Du only use some verbs “lẻn”, “tót”, “cị kè”, “ngây” to show the cunning nature of Ma Giam Sinh Thanks to the concreteness similar to the Theory of Omission by Hemingway, the poems are compressed about words, but call a sound knowledge on the part of the reader This way of writing appeals to readers more than long poetry which is often pale because the reader does not need to wrestle to discover anything Even in Chinese Literature, Iceberg Theory can also bear some similarities with the empire of Tang Poetry (618 – 907), the Golden Age of Chinese Literature Nowadays, the theory now is generally adopted by writers around the world and helps them convey their ideas effectively The term Iceberg Theory can also be found in other aspects of life such as Culture and Economics with the same meaning Hemingway has a famous Iceberg Theory; he believed a good writer does not need to reveal every detail of a character or action; If a writer of the prose knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows and the 41 reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as if the writer had stated them Thus Hemingway‘s language is highly symbolic and suggestive Among all the works of Hemingway, the saga of Santiago is thought as the most typical one as far as this Iceberg Theory concerned The author seldom expresses his own feelings directly, nor does he make any comments or explanations On the contrary, he tries to narrate and describe things objectively and blends his own feelings harmoniously with the natural narration and description There will not be great difficulties to understand the literal meaning of his short sentences and simple words, but a work by Hemingway demands deliberate attention In other word, one has to keep a close eye on Hemingway‘s words and to read between the lines because of his highly symbolic language There have been obviously numerous researchers on Hemingway‘s literary heritage The researcher hopes that this study may add a further interpretation to Hemingway‘s Iceberg Theory in his famous novella The Old Man and the Sea Besides, this study can be used in order to help students and the ones who love reading novels draw a certain notice to the impact of Hemingway‘s writing style on other writers not only in America This study is mainly concentrated on Iceberg Theory in The Old Man and the Sea However, Hemingway‘s unique writing style can be found in many other of his works Therefore, further study can be conducted about the theory in A Farewell to Arms (1929), a famous war novel of Hemingway set during the Italian campaign of World War I 42 REFERENCES Vietnamese Huỳnh Phan Anh, (2002) Chuông gọi hồn NXB Văn Nghệ TP Hồ Chí Minh Lê Huy Bắc, (2002) Ơng già biển NXB Đại học Quốc Gia, Hà Nội Đỗ Hữu Châu & Nguyễn Việt Hùng, (2008) Giáo trình Ngữ dụng học NXB Đại học Sư phạm Nguyễn Đức Dân, (1998) Ngữ Dụng học NXB Giáo dục Nguyễn Chí Trung, (2002) English Literature NXB Giáo dục English Alexander, M & Halliday, K & Hasan, R (1985) Language, context, and text: aspects of language in a social-semiotic perspective Deakin University Press Brown, G & Yule, G (1983) Discourse Analysis Cambridge University Press Fairclough, N L., & Wodak, R (1997) Critical discourse analysis Van Dijk (Ed.), Discourse Studies A multidisciplinary introduction Vol Discourse as social interaction (pp 258-284) London: Sage Faulkner, W Selected Letters of William Faulkner Ed Joseph Blotner New York: Random House, 1977 Fowler, R., Hodge, B., Kress, G., & Trew, T (1979) Language and control London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Freeman, D.C (1970) Linguistics and literary style Literary Criticism 43 Halliday, M A K (1978) Language as social semiotic-The interpretation of language and meaning London Edward Arnold Halliday, M A K (1989) Context of situation In Michael Halliday and Ruqaiua Hasan, eds., Language, Context and Text: Aspects of Language in a Social-Semiotic Perspective Oxford: Oxford University Press, 3-14 Kenneth, O.M (1997) The Oxford illustrated history of Britain OUP 44 ... is conveyed The above part of the iceberg in The Old Man and the Sea is the man, the marlin, the sharks, the sea and the effort of the man to take the marlin offshore 2.2 The hidden part and. .. time and harvest, bread and wine, heat and cold, the rising up and going down of the sun, and the slow turn of the seasons.‖ Finally, though The Old man and the Sea is a novel, it contains certain... writing principle and literary ideology Aims and objectives of the study This study aims at analyzing Hemingway? ??s Theory of Iceberg in The Old Man and the Sea As the greatest principle of Hemingway? ??s