I felt so involved in this novella that I said prayers along with Santiago that he would kill his fish. I think Hemingway's (or perhaps his editor's) decision to omit chapters was excellent--any break in the narrative would have ruined the prose for me. Although Hemingway's style can seem brusque at times, here it was appropriate coming through the thoughts and voice of the old man. As for what we should get from the novella, I think as in most of Hemingway's work (that I've read) that the important thing is the journey, the experience, not the end result. And a little battle between man and nature to remind us that we aren't the biggest thing in the universe.