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.

和極大多數鉅著一樣，海明威的這篇小說讀起來可有不止一層的意思。一方面，這是一個激動人心的帶有悲劇性的冒險故事。故事講到一個精神沮喪的老漁人，在他對職業的自豪感(他留下的唯一自豪感)的支援之下，冒險遠航至墨西哥灣流並在那裡釣住了一條該水域中從未見過的最大的馬林魚。故事接著說到他孤零零地、在因奮力叉住這條大魚而耗盡了力氣之後，被迫投入一場和一群海盜似的鯊魚的絕望的搏鬥之中，結果是那些鯊魚只給他留下了獵獲物的一具骨架。另一方面，這又是一個寓言，它描述了人所具有的不可征服的精神力量--一個人如何從災難和實際失敗的環境中攫取精神上的勝利。再一方面，這是帶有宗教意義的一種隱喻，作者不引人注目地給這一主題添加了基督教的一些象徵和比喻。和柯勒律治筆下的“老水手”一樣，海明威筆下的古巴漁民是這樣一個角色，他容許作者的想象力同時在兩個領域中活動，這兩個領域具有不同的意義和價值，一個注意寫實，有著動人的情節;另一個則側重道德說教，充滿象徵的意義。