Old Man at the Bridge Summary | Ernest Hemingway | Vision BBA 1st Semester/ BBS 2nd Year | English by Suraj Bhatt

Neb English Support Class 12

Old Man at the Bridge Summary | Ernest Hemingway | Vision BBA 1st Semester/ BBS 2nd Year | English by Suraj Bhatt

Old Man at the Bridge by Ernest Hemingway

ABOUT THE STORY

Old Man at the Bridge by Ernest Hemingway

This story is very short and simple and has a powerful depiction of how war affects the lives of common people who are “without politics.”.

The story “Old Man at the Bridge” was written by American writer Earnest Hemingway. This story was published in the year 1938. This story is set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War in 1938. This story is about a conversation between a war correspondent (the main narrator) and an old man who had to leave his hometown during the Spanish Civil War. The story has shown the bad impacts of war on humanity.

The story has been narrated in the first-person narrative technique, where the narrator tells the story from his angle. The language in the story has been used in a very lucid way, and the style of conversation makes the story more live. We find the following concerns in the story:

▪︎  Suffering of common people in war

▪︎  Man’s love for animals

▪︎  Love for one’s native place

MAIN THEME OF THE STORY

Old Man at the Bridge by Ernest Hemingway

The main theme of this story is the tragedy of war. The story has presented the concept of depression, suffering, misery, and pain caused by the war.

SYMBOLS

Old Man at the Bridge by Ernest Hemingway 

The Bridge:

It is the symbol of uncertainty and upcoming dangers.

Pigeons:

Pigeons are the symbol of peace and harmony.

Cat:

Cat is the symbol of survival.

Goats:

Goats are the symbol of innocent civilians. They are major victims of the war.

MAIN CHARACTER

Old Man at the Bridge by Ernest Hemingway

THE OLD MAN

• The main character or hero of this story.

He was seventy-six years old.

• He was healthy and physically fit, though he was old.

• He was the victim of the Spanish Civil War.

He was forced to leave his hometown. He didn't have a family except for pets.

• He was much more concerned about his animals' safety than his life.

▪︎  He had a belief in his fate.

MAIN SUMMARY

Old Man at the Bridge by Ernest Hemingway

The story starts with the description of an old man who was sitting on the bridge. The condition was a war-like period as the fascist forces were advancing towards the Ebro. The main narrator was a war correspondent or army scout who had been given the charge to cross a pontoon bridge to check the advancement of the enemy forces. While inspecting, he saw that an old man with steel-rimmed spectacles and dusty clothes was sitting beside the road at the bridge while carts, trucks, and people were crossing the bridge to get to a safe distance from the enemies. The old man seemed too tired to walk any further.

Seeing the old man sitting over there for a long time, the narrator went to him and asked him where he came from. The old man answered that he came from San Carlos, his native town, twelve kilometres away from there. The old man smiled, as it was a pleasure for him to mention his native land.

Later on, the narrator had a chat with that old man. He came to know that the seventy-six-year-old man had no one but pets—two goats, a cat, and eight pigeons. They were his part of life as well as family, and he spent his time looking after all these pets. Now that the enemy forces were approaching, he was asked by the narrator to leave the place. The narrator asked him to move away to the safe, leaving his pets to their fate. The old man didn't seem anxious about what would happen to his family or pets. He thought that the cat would be able to look after itself. But he seemed upset to think about the pigeons and the goats. He asked the narrator to guess what would happen to his pets. The speaker consoled him, saying that they would be fine.

The narrator asked the old man if he left the pigeons' cage unlocked. The old man answered boldly that they would fly. But he could throw light on the future of the goats.

The narrator then urged the old man to get up and try to walk further, as he would now leave. The old man tried to walk but could not. He again sat down in the dust.

The narrator mentioned that it was Easter Sunday and a grey, overcast day. He finished his story by stating that there was nothing in favour of the old man except the fact that the enemy planes were not up in the sky for the overcast weather and that the cats could look after themselves.

The old man was not worried about his life. He was only concerned about the safety of his animals. He wanted to reach Barcelona. The narrator was worried about the old man's safety. The old man was happy about the narrator's concern about him.

At the end of the story, the narrator failed to solve the concern about the safety of the animals. He could not do anything to save them.

In this way, the story has reflected the dark sides of a civil war. It has tried to capture different facets of the Civil War in Spain.

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