Symbols & Style In the past, hardly anyone ever suspected Hemingway novels of symbolism. Then, in The Old Man and the Sea, people saw symbols--the old man stood for man's dignity, the big fish embodied nature, the sharks symbolized evil (or maybe just the critics). "No good book has ever been written that has in it symbols arrived at beforehand and stuck in," says Hemingway. "That kind of symbol sticks out like raisins in raisin bread. …showed first 75 words of 946 total…

…showed last 75 words of 946 total…