Quote 115
He could not talk to the fish anymore because the fish had been ruined too badly. Then something came into his head.
"Half fish," he said. "Fish that you were. I am sorry that I went too far out. I ruined us both. But we have killed many sharks, you and I, and ruined many others. How many did you ever kill, old fish? You do not have that spear on your head for nothing."
He liked to think of the fish and what he could do to a shark if he were swimming free. (4.147-4.149)
The old man finds kinship with the fish against a common enemy.
Quote 116
"He was eighteen feet from nose to tail," the fisherman who was measuring him called. (5.6)
The fishermen back on land respect the fish for his size, just as the old man did.
Quote 117
"No," the old man said. "You’re with a lucky boat. Stay with them." (1.6)
The old man buys into the notion of luck as far as the boy is concerned, so much so as to base his decisions on it.