The Old Man and The Sea question? Help!?

Question

So on my assignment it asks by the end of the struggle with the large fish, how has the old man come to think of the fish? Now I am really confused because I don't know whether to answer this question with the struggle between the man and the fish when the fish comes out of the water and the man is trying to keep the line just instead of breaking it. Knowing that if he could not slow the fish with a steady pressure the fish could take out all the line and break it. Or the struggle between the man and the fish when man is about the kill the great fish and gathers all his strength and harpoons the fish in the heart and leads to the fish rising out of the water and falling back into the water floating still among the waves.

Can some please help me determine which stuggle they are asking for? Because these are they only two struggles I know of in the story and this is really frustrating me.

Thanks!

I am not writting a paper it is just a question. I am justhaving trouble deciding which struggle they are asking for.

Answer 1

The following website - 'novelguide.com' has been a great help to me in helping me get started on writing sometimes. Have a look, I think it may give you the answer you need to write your paper. www.novelguide.com/oldmanandthesea/themeanalysis.html

Good luck!

Answer 2

For me, this story was a story of survival. One acting on its instinct(the fish) and the other using all his wits as well as his strenghts. They bothe respected one another and knew it was a fight to the end. The ending was that the old man realized that he went too far.