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ut catching anything. Therefore, the boy, Mandolin, who used to sail with him, is forced by his parents to leave the old man and catch in another “good-lucky” ship. The old man insists on fishing alone and at last, he hooks an eighteen-foot, giant marlin, the largest he has ever known. But the titanic fish is very powerful and disobedient. It tows the old man and his boat out to sea for 48 hours, with the old man bearing the whole weight of the fish through the line on his back. The old man, with little food and sleep, has to endure much pain and fights against his treacherous hand cramp. To his great excitement, on his third day at sea, he succeeds in catching the weakened marlin to the surface and harpoons it. On his way home, he lashed marlin alongside his boat because it is too big to be pulled into the boat. But, unfortunately, the sharks in different directions assaulted the old man and the giant marlin for four times. The old man fights to kill the sharks with as much might and many weapons as he can summon, but only to find a giant skeleton of his marlin left after his desperate defense. At last, Santiago, having lost what he fought for, reaches the shore and struggles to his shack. He falls into sound sleep, dreaming of Africa and the lions again. His struggle wins him much respect; meanwhile, he still made himself indulge in the atmosphere of tragic color, no one understands his sadness except himself. 2. The Social Background of This Work Literature is the reflection of society. Therefore, in order to prove this novel’s tragic color, the social background is one of the necessary factors for us to appreciate this work. Hemingway lived in the period that the World War One broke out; many young volunteers took part in “the war which also called a war end all wars”. But the harsh reality made them aware that modern warfare was not as glorious or heroic as they thought. As a young writer and spokesman of the “The Lost Generation”, and influenced by the frivolous, greedy and heedless way of life in America. Hemingway’s works all vividly recorded the life of those physically and mentally wounded soldiers, revealed the frustration, loneliness when “God is dead”. That period’s tragedy made Hemingway’s works full with tragic color, such as A Farewell to Arms, Death in the Afternoon, The Sun Also Rise and TheOld Man and the Sea. The menace, the anguish dereliction, the futility and sterility expressed in these works had been afflicting all sensitive members of the post-war generation. The other circumstances that made Hemingway wrote the novel was Hemingway’s writing capability had been questioned by people at that time. Under kinds of gossip, Hemingway decided to write The Old Man and the Sea which had been constructed in his mind for more than 10 years. At last, this masterpiece proved his writing talent. II The Tragic Color in The Old Man and the Sea A. Definition of the Tragic Color In the ancient Greek, tragedy is defined as Socrates died from poison; Jesus was hung on the cross. In the eyes of westerners, tragedy is the highest art in aesthetics. Some artists even thought real art only comes from tragedy. A large number of writers and artists focus their eyes on tragedy, so that they are willing to create their works with tragedies. There are so many explanations for the word “tragedy”. The definition of tragedy in the Dictionary of Literature Theory is: “tragedy is a story with contradictory confliction ended up