The first example of their friendship is when the boy suggests that he could fish with the old man again and the old man replies ‘No, You’re with a lucky boat. Stay with them.’ This shows that the old man is more concerned with the boy’s well being than his own. The way the story is written just before this shows clearly that the old man and the boy are good friends and would both want to go fishing with each other so this shows clearly that the old man is doing what he thinks is best for the boy.
The boy also cares for the old man and this is shown when he thinks ‘I must get him another shirt and a jacket for the winter and some sort of shoes and another blanket’, this shows that the boy also knows the old man well because he is able to make a quick list of all the things the old man will need. Another example of the boy’s care for the old man is when he says ‘I would like to go. If I cannot fish with you, I would like to serve you in some way.’ This shows that the boy believes that he is in debt to the old man, for the old man taught him how to fish. Another example of this is when the boy arrives back from the restaurant with a metal container of food, the boy then asks if he wants some and receives the reply of ‘I’m not very hungry.’
The boy then advises that ‘You can’t fish and not eat.’ so that the man will eat something.
The old man’s answer to this is simply ‘I have’ which shows that he does not want the boy to worry about him.
The story also shows that they have known each other for a long time as they refer back to the time when eighty-seven days past without them catching a fish. They tell of the three weeks after this in which they caught big fish every day. Another example is when the old man refers back to when the boy was five and reminds him that they ‘nearly were killed…’
To sum up, the old man and the boy have a very good friendship as a result of caring for each other and making decisions to benefit the other. The novel puts across many other points very well including luck and belief also.
