[explaining the ending of The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, which he was just finishing]

Old man tied the fish to the side of the boat, had to row back to shore, fish bled in the water, sharks came and ate the whole fish till there was nothing left.

That's just kind of a waste, isn't it?

Depends upon how you look at it. The old man met his adversary when he thought that part of his life was over. He saw himself in the fish. Came to... Came to respect it the more it fought.

Why didn't he just let the fish go?

The old man's gotta be the old man. Fish gotta be the fish. Got to be who you are in this world, no matter what.