I have just finished the novel and I have mixed emotions about it. On one hand I was sad and disappointed when the old man had his fish completely eaten by sharks. The old man sees very defeated at the end and it seems like he will never fish to that extent again. On the other hand I was glad that the boy and the old man were reunited again. The boy was so worried about Santiago he even mentioned how the coast guard was out searching for the old man with their planes. The boy cares so much, he was checking every morning the old man was gone to see if he had come back home yet. When Santiago was sleeping the boy even sat next to him and waited until he woke up. one good thing that comes out of the old man losing the fish is that now he will probably spend all of the rest of the time he fishes with the boy. Manolin, the boy, says that he does not care what his family says and he will fish with the old man every day. Santiago is going to pass along all of his knowledge about his many years of fishing to the boy. He will tell Manolin all about his experiences on this adventure so the boy will not ever make those same mistakes.
I find it very ironic that the tourists at the party on the Terrance say that they think that the skeleton of the fish is one of a shark because of the fact that sharks were the cause of the fish's destruction. "'I didn't know sharks had such a handsome, beautifully formed tails."' (Hemingway 127). It is also very bittersweet that the old man was dreaming of at the end of the novel, and also as he seems to be nearing the end of his life. He was dreaming of the lions in Africa that he saw when he was a child. This shows how at peace the old man is finally.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.
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