The Old Man at the Bridge: Earnest Hemingway
Story: The Old Man at the Bridge by Ernest Hemingway
About the Story Writer
He was
awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954 for his mastery of the art
of narrative. Hemingway's most famous works include novels such as "The
Sun Also Rises," "A Farewell to Arms," and "The Old Man and
the Sea," which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953.
Characters and Symbols in the Story
When carrying out his duties of determining the extent of the enemy's
advance, he finds an old man who is sitting by the side of the road in the
enemy's path. The pigeons are a symbol of peaceful refugees who move away from the time of war to the time of
peace. The goats represent the victims of war. They are helpless and cannot
take care of themselves. The bridge is inherently symbolic of communication
and union, whether it be between heaven and
earth or two distinct realms. For this reason, it can be seen as the connection
between God and Man. It may be the passage to reality or merely a symbol for
travel and crossing.
Themes of the Story
The terms like awaiting death, depression, anxiety, and fear can
describe the Story's theme. This has been meticulously described in the Story.
The older man has been described as a fatalistic hero who has accepted himself
as a casualty of
Brief Background of the Story
The older man in the Story becomes one of the innumerable
civilians who die in the war. The Storyline is presented in the context of
the Spanish
Civil War. The war sent panic and anxiety among those who had
abandoned their homes. There was a feeling of awaiting death among the people.
The Main Idea of the Story
The story follows an old man who is
forced to flee his home due to the advancing enemy troops. As he sits by the
side of the road, exhausted and resigned to his fate, he strikes up a
conversation with a soldier. Through their brief interaction, the reader gains
insight into the old man's life, his concerns, and his acceptance of his
situation.
The story highlights the human cost
of war and the indiscriminate nature of its impact on civilians. It also
explores themes of empathy and compassion, as the soldier expresses concern for
the old man's well-being despite the chaos of the war around them.
Summary of the Story
The Storyline is set at the pontoon bridge,
close to the Ebro Delta, on an Easter Sunday in
the Spanish Civil War. The enemy's attack was predicted, and the
evacuation mission was going around the areas. The civilians were passing the
bridge to protect themselves from the artillery fire. The narrator is a young
soldier in the Army tasked with monitoring the advancement of the forces. Then,
he took notice of the older man, the main character in the Story, sitting down
on the side of the road. He was wearing poor steel-framed glasses and had dusty
clothes on his body.
The soldier was continuously monitoring the bridge and keeping
tabs on the bridge. He noted that people and the number of carts on the bridge were
decreasing. At last, he approached the older man and inquired about him. The
older man has covered a distance of 12 kilometers from his native place and is sitting
down due to exhaustion and tiredness. The soldier came
into the conversation with the older man and learned he was from San
Carlos. The person was very distressed about his animals, and the
last one to leave his native land.
The soldier deeply anticipated the advent of the
fascist Army and the battle between the two armies that would soon
ensue. The young man inquired more and later learned that the older man was
very distressed about his animals. The older man was responsible for four
pairs of pigeons, two goats, and a cat. The captain of the Army
instructed him to leave the place immediately, as the area was going to witness
heavy artillery fire from the enemy side. The older man had no family members,
so these animals played the role of the family in the older man's life. The
older man was deeply concerned about the animals' state and reflected on the
soldier. The young man tried to calm down the older man with some compassion by
saying that the cats could handle themselves, and the pigeons would have flown
away till now. But the older man was unsure what would happen with other
animals (in this case, the goat).
The older man tried to get up but was unsuccessful due to
exhaustion. He was 76 years old. Even in the dark hours of the war, the
narrator showed a sense of optimism that if the enemy's planes did not fly over
the land of the poor, his animals might survive.
Possible Questions and Their Answers
Read the extracts and answer the
following questions:
1.
An old man with steel-rimmed spectacles and very dusty clothes sat by the
side of the road. There was a pontoon bridge across the river, and carts,
trucks, and men, women, and children were crossing it. The mule-drawn carts
staggered up the steep bank from the bridge with soldiers helping push against
the spokes of the wheels. The trucks ground up and away, heading out of it all, and the peasants plodded along in the ankle-deep dust.
a.
What is the Pontoon Bridge? Why has it been made?
A Pontoon Bridge is a temporary
floating platform built across several boats or hollow structures, or we can
say it's a floating bridge. It was the time when the Spanish Civil War broke
out, and the scene was a typical war zone when the civilians were fleeing and
the vehicles were moving across the bridge to protect themselves from the
enemy's attack. The scene was 12 kilometers away from the town of San Carlos, and the temporary bridge had been made to help the people move out of the war
zone.
b.
What did the narrator observe while doing his duty?
The narrator, who was a soldier was on
his duty to find out how far the enemy had advanced. When the soldier crossed
the Pontoon bridge near the Ebro River towards the enemy, he observed an old
man sitting at the bridge while everybody else was fleeing from the place. When
he returned, he again saw the same old man sitting at the same place, whereas
there were not so many carts now and very few people on foot. This aroused his
curiosity.
c.
Who was sitting by the roadside? In what condition was he sitting?
An old man was sitting by the
roadside. He was wearing steel-rimmed spectacles, and his clothes were very
dusty. He was sitting by the roadside near a Pontoon bridge across the river.
The situation was chaotic as the civilians were fleeing from the place due to an
unexpected attack by the enemy from beyond the bridge. The
old man seemed to be exhausted and was looking somewhat confused and worried.
d.
Why was there chaos on the bridge?
There was a lot of chaos on the
Pontoon bridge, which stood across the river. The carts, trucks, men, women, and
children were crossing the bridge. The mule-drawn carts were pushed by the
soldiers against the spokes of the wheels as they staggered up the steep bank
from the bridge. It was all due to the timely approach of the enemy from beyond
the bridge, as the Civil War had taken place in Spain, and everyone was fleeing
to save their lives.
e.
Which business is the narrator talking about? Is it a business?
The narrator is talking about his job in the above
extract. Being a soldier, it's his duty, which he calls a business, to maintain
peace and security in the country. As the story is set up during the Spanish
Civil War, and the enemies are approaching fast, the narrator is exploring the
bridgehead beyond to find out to what point the enemy has advanced. He is
watching the bridge and the African-looking country Ebro Delta, listening to
the voices for the signal.
***
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