“No. I know others better.”

“Que Va,” the boy said. “There are many good fishermen and some great ones. But there is only you.”

“Thank you. You make me happy. I hope no fish will come along so great that he will prove us wrong.”

“There is no such fish if you are still strong as you say.”

 

This passage shows the relationship between the boy and the old fisherman. The characters in the story have a special bond as a mentor and student, the boy looks up the the old fisherman and believes he is the best even though he has yet to catch a fish in months. 

“Then he said aloud, ‘I wish I had the boy. To help me and to see this.”

This passage shows how much the old man wants the boy back, he says this many times throughout the novella. This shows that the relationship between the boy and the old man is strong and they often want to see each other. The boy looks up to the old man, and the old man grew attached while teaching the boy.

“The boy went out. They had eaten with no light on the table and the old man took off his trousers and went to bed in the dark. He rolled his trousers up to make a pillow, putting the newspaper inside them. He rolled himself in the blanket and slept on the other old newspapers that covered the springs of the bed.”

This passage shows how poor the man is, it is important to the story to show how bad he needs that fish and makes you feel for him. When the man puts the newspaper in his pillow you really want him to be able to live better.

Now the old man looked up and saw that the bird was circling again.

The bird shows that the old man knows what he is doing. The bird is a symbol that fish are nearby, and could be a sign of luck for the man. The bird had been trying to get a fish too big for him, and that could also be true for the old man. The old mans hooked fish was quickly dragging his boat out to sea, and the bird could be a symbol of failure.

That was the saddest thing I ever saw with them, the old man thought. The boy was sad too and we begged her pardon and butchered her promptly.

The old man has a big heart, this shows how he felt for the fish he caught and didn’t want them to suffer. When he says he was saddened by the male staying with his mate while she was being pulled in the boat most fisherman wouldn’t care at all, but he felt for the fish but in his world it was man versus wild. The way the people around him see it, it’s either him or the fish.

“Que Va,” the boy said. “There are many good fishermen and some great ones. But there is only you.”

The word may mean something along the lines of “not true” because the boy disagrees that the old man isn’t the best fisherman. 

No way

Que Va, that Scooby ate shaggy.

Santiago

“Santiago,” the boy said to him as they climbed the bank from where the skiff was hauled up. “I could go with you again. We’ve made some money.”

I think it’s a city 

The capital and largest city of Chile; located in central Chile; one of the largest cities in South America.

Albacore

“Albacore,” he said aloud. “He’ll make a beautiful bait. He’ll weigh ten pounds.”

A type or fish”

longfin tuna

gaff

“Now,” he said, when his hand had dried, “I must eat the small tuna. I can reach him with the gaff and eat him here in comfort.”

A part of of his boat

stick with a hook or barbed spear, for landing large fish.