Hemingway 's Secret Autobiography : Symbols

"The Secret Lion," written by Alberto Rios, is a short story rich in symbolism. The lion, or more specifically a secret lion, the arroyo, or river, and the grinding ball are all symbols used in the story to reinforce the theme of coming of age.

While the true meaning of the lion is never specified one can use the experiences and events that the narrator describes and reasonably believe that the lion is a representation and symbol of growing up and the process of puberty. As the story progresses the narrator describes different events of his childhood when the process of growing up is evident. Such as the time when the narrator and his friend discovered a perfectly round stone ball, which they later would learn is a grinding ball. However, for the time being they saw this ball as near perfection and were in awe of the sheer flawlessness of this stone ball. This event shows the childish innocence that they had in the belief that the ball was naturally perfect. The problem they faced was the fact that they felt that they could not tell anyone about their discovery because it too might be taken away. So they hide the ball down by the river. It was their little secret, a secret that fascinated them but also confused them at the same time. A secret that they did not understand but could not get away from. It was much like their secret lion. Although the time of which they learned of its true meaning is not specified this fact that they did learn of its true purpose is evidence that supports their childish innocence could not last much against the current of the ever changing

'What 's that? ' she asked a waiter and pointed to the long backbone of the great fish that was just now garbage waiting to go out with the tide. 'Tiburon, ' the waiter said, 'Shark. ' He was meaning to explain what dare grapple happened. 'I didn 't know sharks had such handsome tails. ' 'I didn 't either, ' her male companion said." (page 109) these two tourists who speak are hardly differentiated from the group to which they belong. They are all metaphors for individuals who are spectators of the human scene rather than participants in its activity. They see, but they see without fully comprehending. They are only faintly curious, only passingly interested, only superficially observing, they have not been initiated into the mysteries that Santiago understands. These tourists live their lives as tourists, skimming the surface of life, without resolution or clarity. Their life reflects that of all people who live their lives ashore, who dare not grapple with the mysteries of the ocean, or of life. This is the type of life that Hemingway always tried to avoid, to the point of his taking his own life. Hemingway uses metaphors to reflect his opinions of life and the people that he has met in life. The metaphor of the sea symbolizes all of life and the roles that people must choose to have in life. The lions are a metaphor for the

Vivid images, from visions, to detailed explanations and accounts of places and events, to symbolic imagery used to explain parables, or teach and encourage the first century churches are driving forces within the Biblical text. Metaphorical language, by virtue of the fact that it preserves the literal meaning of the symbol, while intending an analogous secondary meaning, is able to communicate profound truths about reality, mainly by creating an alternative, symbolic way of seeing and understanding the world. (Liubinskas, Susann. 404) Throughout the New Testament of the Bible the most commonly used images are the body of Christ and vineyard imagery. These images work together to create a powerful example of the necessity for unity among individual

Hemingway starts the book out by moving to Italy where he joined the Army during World War 1 as an ambulance driver (Sindelar, 2014). Hemingway joined the war to end all wars, ready to display honor and courage (Sindelar, 2014). During battle, he was blown up in a trench (Sindelar, 2014). After the war returning home, he fell in love, contemplated marriage, and was rejected by the woman he loved (Sindelar, 2014). His conflict with death, battle wound, and first experience with love, all became key events for developing a code of behavior for facing life’s challenges (Sindelar,

The lion is Isabel's fierce spirit inside her that wants her and her sister to be free. Lady Seymour sees a caring young girl who will fight for freedom for her sister and herself. Lady Seymour knows that Isabel is a bright and fierce girl. All Madam Lockton sees is an object that she can boss around and does not see her as a person. She gives Isabel food and tries her best to care for her even though she still treats her as a slave sometimes. Lady Seymour encourages Isabel to do what is right from the pureness of her heart. She allows Isabel to escape to freedom and to fight for herself.

When Santiago was young, he observed lions on the beaches of Africa. This has remained a very important and meaningful memory for him throughout his life. The lions appear in times of desperation or hardship in the old man’s dreams and serve the purpose to show that everything will turn out okay. Hemingway used lions to symbolize pride, strength, and the idea of lost youth found in Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea.

There are many different kinds of key symbols within a culture. A symbol can mean different things in different cultures. Something only constitutes as a symbol if it is acknowledged and provokes an emotion out of people. The cross is an example of a symbol. It is the universal symbol of Christianity. We are told that the cross is an important symbol. This is why when somebody burns a cross we feel emotional about it even if we aren’t Christian. Another example of an important symbol distinctive to the United States is the American Flag. We are the only state to have it. It is a symbol of our freedom.

Vivid images, from visions, to detailed explanation and accounts of places and events, to symbolic imagery used to explain parables, or teach and encourage the first century churches are driving forces within the Biblical text. Metaphorical language, by virtue of the fact that it preserves the literal meaning of the symbol, while intending an analogical secondary meaning, is able to communicate profound truths about reality, mainly by creating an alternative, symbolic way of seeing and understanding the world. (Liubinskas, Susann. 404) Throughout the New Testament of the Bible the most commonly used images are the: body of Christ, and vine imagery. These images work together to create a powerful example of the necessity for unity among individual believers, and that unity tying them Christ.

The balance between pride and modesty is one that Hemingway has learned to perfect over the course of The Old Man and the Sea. The audience can very easily see the delicate balance that humanity must find within its own world even by looking at a remote Chilean fishing village; although the audience does not live here, the elements of pride and modesty are so identifiable in the characters that the ideas become applicable in the everyday lives of the readers. Essentially, Hemingway has created a situation where the audience sees themselves within the novel as Santiago and the marlin, and in doing so, Hemingway has made the reader one step closer to understanding themselves and how they’re acts of pride and modesty fit into the natural

Ernest Hemingway uses symbolism in a lot of different ways in this book, but one of the most distinguishable ways he uses symbolism is to try and represent women and men through different characters in the book. Early in the book when the old man is on the boat he starts to think about the ocean. He brings up the fact that he thinks about the ocean as la mar, which is the feminine form of the ocean in Spanish. On page 30 he says “and if she did wild or wicked things it was because she could not help them.” I feel like this could be a negative thing or a positive thing. It could be negative in saying women are kind of evil, but it could be positive saying that a lot of the time it is not the person’s fault. In the very beginning of the book

Even though it seems that Santiago is destined to be beaten, he refuses to accept defeat. He symbolizes Hemingway’s definition of a true man; a person who will never surrender in the

In Ernest Hemingway’s novel, The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago demonstrates the traits of the code hero. The Hemingway’s code hero covers the principal ideals of honor, courage, and endurance in a misfortune life. Throughout the novel, Santiago shows a contrast between opposite attitudes and values which associate his behavior with the guidelines of the code. In this case, the depiction of conflicting values, such as dignity despite humility, perseverance despite despair, and victory despite defeat are aspects that help to describe and understand the role of Santiago in the novel, and reflect the reason why this character is perfectly suited to the heroic conduct established by Hemingway.

“Hemingway’s greatness is in his short stories, which rival any other master of the form”(Bloom 1). The Old Man and the Sea is the most popular of his later works (1). The themes represented in this book are religion (Gurko 13-14), heroism (Brenner 31-32), and character symbolism (28). These themes combine to create a book that won Hemingway a Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and contributed to his Nobel Prize for literature in 1954 (3).

In “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”, Hemingway uses the lion to represent the death of cowardice. Choosing to indulge their freetime on a safari, Francis Macomber and his wife Margot take a trip to Africa, but when faced with the task of ending the lion’s life on the safari, Macomber’s mind seems to be getting the better of him: “[H]e pulled until he thought his finger would break. Then he knew he had the safety on” (14). Even though he is successful in shooting the lion, Francis still cannot let go of his cowardly behavior. His