Quote 139
It was dark now as it becomes dark quickly after the sun sets in September. He lay against the worn wood of the bow and rested all that he could. The first stars were out. He did not know the name of Rigel but he saw it and knew soon they would all be out and he would have all his distant friends.
"The fish is my friend too," he said aloud. "I have never seen or heard of such a fish. But I must kill him. I am glad we do not have to try to kill the stars." (3.105, 3.106)
The old man identifies friendship with that which he reveres – the stars, the marlin, and DiMaggio.
Quote 140
"Keep my head dear," he said against the wood of the bow. "I am a tired old man. But I have killed this fish which is my brother and now I must do the slave work." (4.69)
The old man identifies the fish as his brother both before and after he kills him.
Quote 141
He started to pull the fish in to have him alongside so that he could pass a line through his gills and out his mouth and make his head fast alongside the bow. I want to see him, he thought, and to touch and to feel him. He is my fortune, he thought. But that is not why I wish to feel him. I think I felt his heart, he thought. When I pushed on the harpoon shaft the second time. Bring him in now and make him fast and get the noose around his tail and another around his middle to bind him to the skiff. (4.71)
The old man’s feelings for the fish are not pride at having killed a creature so great. Rather, they are respect and brotherhood for a creature he sees as equal to himself.