TheUseofDefamiliarizationin“TheOldManandtheSea”

YangYuhanDangJinghua

【Abstract】Defamiliarization is an important theory of the Russian formalism.Hemingway might not have been influenced by formalism，but defamiliarization assumes an integral part of his creation.His use of defamiliarization makes The Old Man and the Sea an epoch-making masterpiece.The paper is an attempt to explore the artistic charm of the novel by analyzing Hemingways use of this artistic technique.

【Key words】formalism； defamiliarization； The Old Man and the Sea

The earlier phase of Formalism was dominated by Viktor Shklovsk，whose theorizing influenced by the Futurists，was lively and iconoclastic.As one of his most attractive concepts “defamiliarization”，Shklovsk argued that we can never retain the freshness of our perceptions of objects； the demands of “normal” existence require that they must become to a great extent “automatized”.The purpose of a work of art is to change our mode of perception from the automatic and practical to the artistic.Hemingway might not have been influenced by formalism，but defamiliarization assumes an integral part of his creation.His use of defamiliarization makes The Old Man and the Sea an epoch-making masterpiece.

The plot of The Old Man and the Sea is simple.Santiago，living on fishing，had caught nothing for 84 days.Therefore，he took a skiff to the deep sea by himself on the eighty-fifth day； and caught a “noble fish” at last.The shark attacked and tore it on the way to return.A fierce fight happened between the old man and the shark.When coming back to the bank，there is only fish bones left.The images are very familiar to the readers： old man，skiff，fish，and shark.However，if they are deformed and are linked together，their habitual and mechanical perception will be gotten rid of，the aesthetic effect comes into foregrounding.

The beginning provides three pieces of information： the old man，a skiff，and 84 days.They are ordinary and common.They cant arouse readers attention and interest，let alone producing aesthetic effect.In literature，the artists deform them on purpose，and make them brand new in nature，appearance，color and shape.In common sense，the old man should lead a life of leisure，not fish in the sea.Furthermore，having fished nothing for 84 days is more abnormal.The writer reorganizes these common images to deform the material.Deformation makes raw material deviate its natural form or ordinary standard，and then they become elements of art.Hemingway has already told readers that the protagonist of this story is a special old man，which foreshadows the development of plot.

The appearance of noble fish creates a stranger environment.The fish pulls the skiff into the deep sea，which intensifies the lonely and brave significance.The old man，the skiff and the big fish form a group of contradictory images and create an extensive space for the development of old man's personality.The bigger the fish is，the smaller the figure of the old man appears to be； the vaster the sea is，the lonelier the image of the old man seems to be.The abnormal effect will be more prominent.The old man，deformed body，drifted skiff，deep sea，ferocious shark，all of these bring the old man into the highest prominence.So do his strong willpower.At the same time，the old man has only several primitive fishing tackles.It shows further if he doesn't possess unusual power，he will not return to human society from the dangerous sea； if he has no strong will and courage，it will be a trouble for him to survive，and fishing will also be an extravagant hope.Hence the old man takes a skiff in the sea and then returns without anything，which is a process of collision of a series of contradictions.The artistic charm of the old mans image is displayed by the collision of various contradictions.This technique of delaying and protracting action makes us attend to them，so that familiar sights and movements cease to be perceives automatically and are thus “defamiliarized”.

The existence of the so-called artistic work is in order to awake peoples awareness of life and objects.The technique of art is to make objects “unfamiliar” to make forms difficult，and to increase the difficulty and length of perception，because the process of perception is an aesthetic end in itself and must be prolonged.Defamiliarization is the key to answer a series of question： the aim of art，the process of art and the definition of art.In The Old Man and the Sea，Hemingway chose the objects and then created new images by artistic transformation.Those images appear in a way of differing from everyday awareness.They break the “automatized”，change the way of peoples comprehension，and refresh mans interest.Therefore，peoples aesthetic attention will be aroused.They will find the beauty of art during reading.

References：

[1]Ernest Hemingway.The Old Man and the Sea.Bejing： World Publishing Co.1989.

[2]Selden， Raman etc.A Readers Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory.Bejing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press， 2004.

[3]海明威.老人與海.董衡譯，桂林：漓江出版社，1987.