Abstract
The Old Man and the Sea tells the frustrated experience that the old fisherman fishes in the course. The theme is deep, and it is a song of praise of heroism. “But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated” has been the classic saying and the old man also has been the most typical and the most representative of the Hemingway’s “tough guy”. When Hemingway talked about the successful factors later, the little boy was mentioned in the same breath with the old man.
This paper starts with the details and it is divided into two main parts to discuss the indispensable roles of the little boy in the novel. It is him who helps to perform the theme of “grace under pressure”: during 40 days, the old man with the little boy went to fish but without taking a fish, when his situation was getting worse step by step, the little boy’s leaving was the heavy pressure that achieved the extreme stern for certain. However, it was so “heavy pressure” that his manner was graceful when the old man faced afterwards defeat and his optimistic, generous life attitude was worthy tasting by people carefully; it is him who plays the role of leading, inspiring to the readers, and increasing the appeal of the work, enriching the content of the work: although the little boy appears only at the beginning and the ending in the novel, there is nothing in his inner state but the old man, so his attitude and emotions towards the old man affects the readers’ emotions for the old man quietly and gradually. And it is unavoidable that his inner feeling leads and impacts the readers’ emotions.
Key words: roles; the little boy; the old man; grace under pressure; The Old Man and the Sea

摘要
《老人与海》讲述了老渔夫捕鱼过程中的坎坷经历，主题深刻，是一部英雄主义的赞歌。“一个人不是生来就要被打败的，你可以消灭他，但就是打不败他。”已经成为至理名言，老人也成为海明威式“硬汉子”的最典型、最完美的代表。当海明威谈到小说成功的因素时，曾颇为自得地将小男孩与老人相提并论。
本文拟从有关细节入手，分析讨论小男孩在《老人与海》中所起的微妙且不可或缺的作用：是他帮助表现了“重压下的优雅风度”这一主题：在老人84天没有捕到鱼，处境一步步恶化的厄运中，小男孩的离去无疑让老人的“重压”达到了极度严峻的地步，然而正是由于如此的“重压”，老人后来面对失败时的态度才可谓“优雅”，所表现的大度、乐观的人生态度才值得人们仔细地品味；是他对读者发挥着一定的牵引、打动和启发作用，从而增强了作品的感染力，丰富了作品的内涵：孩子虽然只出现在小说的首尾两处，但是孩子的内心世界里别无他物，只有老人，他对老人的态度和感情潜移默化地左右着读者对老人的感受，他的内心情感无可避免地要牵动影响着读者的情绪。
关键词：作用；小男孩；老人；重压下的优雅风度；《老人与海》

1. Introduction
1.1  About the background
Before 1952, Hemingway has met the cold shoulder and attack in the sector which lasts for nearly a decade. To rescue the declining reputation, he publishes a new work, that is, The Old Man and the Sea. He believes firmly that it is the best work he can write in his lifetime. William Faulkner considers it as the most excellent work in this generation. Because of this work Hemingway wins the Pulitzer in 1952 and the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954 which push his writing career to the peak.
The Old Man and the Sea is so important to Hemingway and the American literature that there are lots of comments about it. But the research on the little boy, Mandolin, is minimal. It seems that his role is irrelevant and unimportant to the novel. In fact, the appearance of the little boy is the emergence of a coincidence according to his role in the work.
Hemingway published a piece of communication entitled On the Blue Water in the Esquire in April, 1936. The Old Man and the Sea is written on the basic of the material. In the middle of the novel, we can always feel the existence of the boy, because the old man thinks of the little boy for more than ten times during the three intense and arduous days. Moreover, when Hemingway talked about the factors of the novel’s success later, the little boy is mentioned in the same breath with the old man that he is lucky to have a good old man and a little boy, and some writers have forgotten these things recent. This shows Hemingway lays his artistic creativity and ingenuity on the little boy. So the little boy’s role in this novel is worthy being considered by critics and readers.
1.2  About the novel
The Old Man and the Sea earned its author the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1952, and was instrumental in winning him the Nobel Prize for literature two years later. It is a short novel about Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman who has gone for 84 days without taking a fish. Therefore, the boy, Mandolin, who used to sail with him, is forced to leave him and catch in another boat. The old man insists on fishing alone and at last, he hooks an eighteen-foot, giant marlin, the largest he has ever kn