Ernest Hemingway is one of the greatest writers and most of his novels are concerned about the life of heroic figures, so many scholars interpret The Old Man and The Sea employing the ecophilosophy theory. Liu Yunxia (2012) mentions that The Old Man and The Sea reveals the profound contradiction of Santiago, on the one hand, he appreciates the beauty of nature, on the other hand, he has no choice but to catch fishes for his own survival. The big marlin also show its sublime spirituality and preeminent strength and the sea has two sides of shining surface and agitation from the perspective of ecological aesthetics. Lai Ji (2002) states that the old man goes fishing for simple life is in line with the law of jungle and Santiago sees the individual human being as a part of ecosystem and human society, and he is eager to the harmonious relationship between nature and human. Lai Ji also analyzes that the old man Santiago alludes to Jesus, who is experiencing another crucifixion when he fighting with a big marlin. Xu Lin (2007) maintains that Santiago treats the sea with love and reverence and also expresses a prophetic plea for equality between human and nature.

Kong Ling (2009) notes that the motif of The Old and The sea is to arouse the ecological awareness of human and strike a balance between human being and environment.

As for the analysis on ”Tough Guy” Santiago, few predecessors in literature have dissected the character from different points of view: attitude towards life, autobiographical angle and the old man#8217;s words and deeds.

Zhang Xiaohui (2003) and Zhang Siyu (2011) argue that despite loneliness and hardship from reality, the old man Santiago still wins the victory in spiritual world, and showing his unyielding willpower, courage and tenacity. Zhai Jinmei (2011) emphasizes the reflection of Hemingway#8217;s experience during World War Ⅱ on the description of ”Tough Guy” Santiago, indicating the author#8217;s pursuit for vitality and success after suffering trauma and wounds in the war. In addition, Ge Liping thinks that Santiago is regarded as the synthesizer of tough guys, he enjoys the perfect friendship and blessing of nature, seeing the first light of hope in life. Besides, Gao Yuyan pays attention to Santiago#8217;s language and conducts in fishing to disclose calm attitude towards the hard living condition, strong will in his dialogues with fish and bravery and endurance in fighting with the marlin.

Additionally, some scholars study the novel The Old Man and The Sea in the respect of symbolism and stream of consciousness. Cui Zhongyuan (2007) harbors that Hemingway uses the various symbols to penetrate into Santiago#8217;s inner world to convey his earnest desire for regeneration and victory.

In the recent decades, however, there has arisen an increasingly prosperous tendency that a great number of critics have chosen to reread and restudy those masterpieces in the literary history that were already interpreted by the normal literary critical means, in the hope that something more and new can be explored and discovered in those works. In this case, a brand-new literary theory was in an urgent demand to be introduced. The theory is now known to us as ”eco-criticism”, which, by literal interpretation, is apparently an interdisciplinary product of literary criticism and ecology. Eco-criticism is growing popular in China from the beginning of the 21st century, and is becoming a current of fresh blood in the field of critical nowadays. For example, the famous Chinese eco-critic Wang Nuo pointed out in his article that E.Hemingway's attitude towards nature is self-contradictory and complicated. Wang Nuo also pointed out in his work Euro-American Eco-criticism, "the old man was not written as a cold-blooded machine in conquering nature, but a man who expresses a love or warship for nature in the process of fighting with the big marlin, which represented nature."(王诺2008, 232). Another Chinese critic, Chen Maolin, gave E.Hemingway a high phrase for his realization of the development from axiology of nature to ontology of nature by analyzing E. Hemingway's natural value of the work. Dai Guiyu argued in her Decoding The Old Man and the Sea from an Eco-critical Perspective,”In The Old Man and the Sea, through the description of the old fisherman Santiago's attitude towards life and his relationship with the sea and nature, Hemingway expresses a deep ecological idea: man, who is only a member in the biosphere, is closely related to and interdependent on the other things in the biosphere, so man must respect nature, revere natural life and try to protect the ecosystem on which man's life is dependent. Man can neither swell his material desire and abuse natural resources, nor can he prove his power by offending the nature."(戴桂玉2007, 48)

From the all above, almost all the articles probe into the tough guy from the positive view and eulogize the admirable virtues found on Santiago, enhancing such a moral character. In fact, we can transform our perspectives to understand the heroic image from tragedy and add more details to appreciate this novella more thoroughly, which may deepen the connotation of the work and help readers know the work from a new perspective, exploiting insightful values.