analysis of Old Man at the Bridge

 Narrative POV

A first person narrator who tells the story through careful description, reportage of dialogue and
insightful commentary about the old man. The narrator makes the reader see the old man. His
engagement with him suddenly brings the old man into focus, he emerges out of the faceless,
voiceless crowd. The Narrator's consciousness of the approaching enemy "contact" is used to
create the dramatic tension between the immobility of the old man and the coming destruction as
he constantly observes the movement of carts across the bridge while talking. The narrator's
conversation allows the old man to have a voice. As he speaks to the scout, we along with the
scout, gradually understand his plight and what the war has done to him. The voiceless victims
speak through the old man.

 Plot

In the middle of a military action, an army scout encounters an old man at a bridge where people
are crossing to escape the war zone. The scout engages the old man in conversation and by the
end of it, he realizes the old man is not going to move and will probably die at the bridge.

 Setting

The place is a war zone at a pontoon bridge across the Ebro river during the Spanish Civil War.
The time is Easter Sunday 1938.

 Characters

The central character is the 76 yr. old man, a war refugee who has been uprooted and displaced
by the war. The old man is "without politics," who was only taking care of his animals, but who
has had his world destroyed. He is disoriented, confused and disconnected. He has retreated into
his isolated world in which he can only cling to his obsessive thoughts about his animals, and is
too tired to go any further. He will die at the bridge--another nameless innocent victim of war.
 The Scout is the narrator who creates the story of the old man at the bridge. Through his telling
of the story, he gradually articulates who the old man is and what he represents. The Scout at the
beginning is the impersonal narrator who sees the old man and decides to engage him in
conversation. By asking the old man questions about himself, the Scout gradually understands
the situation of the old man. At the beginning he thinks the old man is just resting so he
encourages him to move on. In the course of his conversation he realizes the old man is
disoriented, displaced and that he will not be able to move on, but that he will likely die at the
bridge. The scout who begins as a detached observer comes to the painful realization that "there
was nothing to do about him." And he ends with the bitterly ironic observation about Easter
Sunday and the old man's luck, which is no luck. The old man will soon cross that final bridge.

 Symbols
o The 3 symbolic animals, which have a long history of conveying symbolic
meaning.
 The cat--9 lives--the survivor.
 Pigeons, which become doves in the second mentioning. Birds can fly
away from the war; doves--associated with peace, which in this context is ironic. The doves will
fly away.
 The goats--the animals who can't escape. Sacrificial animals. Scape goats
who are innocent victims.
 In the course of the story, the old man is associated with his goats. The
others can take care of themselves. "But the others(the goats). It's better not to think about the
others." The old man is a goat figure--unable to escape, an innocent victim of the civil war.
o Easter Sunday. Ironic contrast. The day of the celebration of the resurrection will
be the day another innocent victim is crucified.
o The 4 repetitions of the old man's words: "I was taking care of animals." His last
repetitions: "I was only taking care of animals," "I was only taking care of animals" becomes the
eloquent symbolic expression of all those voiceless innocent men, women and children who are
the victims of wars they neither support nor understand. Without politics, only living in their
everyday world-- taking care of animals--which is destroyed by forces beyond their ability to
comprehend.
o The title: "Old man at the Bridge"--that final Bridge between life and death. Why
not old man in the ditch or on the roadside?
 Theme

Old Man at the Bridge demonstrates the power of narrative art. It takes a small, ordinary detail in
a situation and by the art of story-telling transforms it into a powerful story about the tragedy of
war. The old man becomes a symbol of the countless civilian victims of war-- those "without
politics." The old man is going to die at the bridge--displaced, disoriented, alone. He's not a cat,
nor a dove, but a goat--who was "only taking care of animals."

The Old Man at the Bridge is about how people are effected by things they can not control, in
this case, war. The Scout sees the Old man sitting at the bridge and talks with him. The Old man
continues to talk about his animals and how he is worried at how they will survive. He states,
The cat can take care of itself, but that he is worried about the others. At first he tells the Scout
he has 2 pigeons, but they are later changed to Doves when asked if the door was open so they
could fly away, now remember that Doves are a sign of peace in war, so them flying away could
be like the loss of peace. The old man also has some goats, animals of sacrifice through history,
they could also be there for the term, Scape-Goat, people who are blamed for actions they did not
have any impact on. So pretty much the Old Man at the Bridge is a story about how this Old
Man, who has no political affiliation or Family, who just used to take care of Animals in his
hometown, lost everything that he once knew, due to war.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/The_Old_Man_At_the_Bridge_analysis#ixzz1N5sHczuK

Question
How can I interprete Heminway's "old man at the bridge"? What sense does the story have?

nswer
Hello,

A soldier (who is also the narrator) sees an old man resting on the side of a road near a pontoon
bridge. Other civilians are crossing this bridge, but the old man is too tired to proceed any
further. The old man tells the soldier that he is a native of San Carlos where he worked as a
caretaker of animals.

The old man seems more concerned for the safety of his animals than for his own safety. He has
some relief in knowing that the cat will be able to fend for itself, and that since he has unlocked
the cage, the birds can fly away, but the fate of the other animals is uncertain and the man is
distraught by this.

The soldier tries to encourage the old man to move a little farther along, for he knows the bridge
is likely to be bombed. The old man, however, is simply too exhausted to proceed. The soldier
then reflects on the overcast sky, which might prevent the planes from bombing the bridge. In
this sense, the soldier seems to be engaging in the same type of wishful thinking as the old man,
who must convince himself that the cats can take care of themselves and the birds can fly away.
Death is imminent however. Deep down, the soldier and the old man both know this.

Summary:  In Old Man At The Bridge by Ernest Hemingway, a soldier during a war is helping
to escort out the local population to keep them safe.  The soldier is at a bridge and notices an old
man that is not moving.  The soldier tries to talk with the man to get him to move on after a rest,
but the old man is unable to and must be left behind.

Characters:
    Soldier : A soldier of war trying to get the local population to safety
    Old Man at the bridge : Old man that is too tired to move on

Section One:

 The soldier notices the old man not moving; he tries to talk to him to get him
  The old man was taking care of a cat, two goats , and four pairs of pigeons
 The old man has no family except the animals
 The old man hasn't any political side
 The old man says the cat will be fine because cats can take care of themselves, the
pigeons will be ok because they can fly, but it is better not to think of the goats
 The old man can not continue on, he is too tired; The old man says "I was only taking
care of animals" implying he did not want the trouble brought to him
 The soldier says there is nothing to do about the old man when the old man cannot
continue on

Other Notes:

 The soldier tries to talk to the old man in attempts to encourage him to continue on
because the war front is coming fast
 The soldier tries to use family to encourage the old man to continue, but the old man has
none; he tries to tell the old man the animals will be fine but the old man says the goats
will most likely not be fine
 The old man is thinking of the animals because they were his to take care of; the animals
could symbolize the victims of war that never wanted to be involved; the old man seems
decided to watch death come to him and has given up on trying to continue on

Comments (2)
Rob Gripentog - Oct 21, 2009 8:03 AM

Hemingway was trying to capture the aspects of war that people often forget. In Old Man at the
Bridge he reminds us human life is not the only life disrupted by war. Hemingway states that
"cats can take care of themselves", however the cats have still been disrupted from their normal
activities and in fact may find it difficult to survive even if they make it through the actual
fighting. Of course the goats will be dead, either killed for food or by some random piece of
shrap metal.
Hemingway wasn't just showing the disruption to animals though, he made a point to state the
old man hasn't any political side. The old man is just someone trying to live his life to the best of
his ability but because the war has reached the old man, he will lose many of the years he had
left. The old man has seen what the ravishes of war can do to people and I have to think he must
be contemplating what crazy reasons people have come up for to do such acts of violence to each
other.
Even though it is a quick read, Hemingway has captured many parts of war and its disruption to
both people and animals.

Mike Cunanan - Oct 21, 2009 9:49 AM

In Old Man At The Bridge by Ernest Hemingway, there is a very committed relational
transaction between the old man and the soldier. The relational interaction between the old man
at the bridge and the soldier is pulled together by the existence of the animals in such a way as to
bring more importance to the animals than possibly the war surrounding the two men. Even by
today's standards, the old man at the bridge and the soldier may interact in the same way because
the type of interaction by the soldier and the old man at the bridge is timeless. Animals to people
such as the old man at the bridge rely on people such as the old man to help with their emotional
(if it does exist as some people don't believe that animals have any emotional ties to the Earth)
well being. People rely on the emotional and psychological well being that animals provide such
as the old man's relational ties with his animal friends.

Hemingway touches the reader´s heart

The short story “Old man at the Brigde” written by Ernest

Hemingway, published 1938, is about a conversation between a soldier
and an old man who had to leave his hometown during the Spanish
Civil War. The story conveys the subsequent problems for helpless
victims, especially old people.
The action takes places at a pontoon brigde near the Ebro Delta on
Easter Sunday during the civil war. The day is described as “a gray
overcast day with low ceilling”(line 66) and all the refugees of that
area are crossing the bridge.
The story is written in the first person and narrated by a nameless soldier whose duty it is to
observe the advancing of the enemy. As Ernest Hemingway was in Spain during the civil war as
well, it is quite possible that he assimilated his experiences of this horrible time in this story.
After the soldier has explored the region, he sees an old man and starts a conversation with the
trivial question “Where do you come from?”(11). At the beginning he seems uninterested in the
old man and answers with simple statements like “Oh.”(16), but this changes in the course of the
conservation.
The seventy-six-year old man, who wears “steel rimmed spectacles”(1) and “black dusty
clothes”(19), comes from San Carlos and you feel that this is very important to him because
when he talks about his hometown “it gave him pleasure to mention it”(14). The most crucial
part of the old man’s life are his animals. He owns two goats, a cat and some pigeons which he
had to leave behind because of the artillery. The repetition of the sentence “I was (just) taking
care of animals”(15,17,63,64) underlines the importance of this duty. He is without politics and
has no family, so his whole life circles around only his animals and his hometown. Now he has
had to leave all this and it does not surprise as he says “I can go no farther”(48), after he walked
about 12 kilometres. The old man just has no vitality left, he is described as “blank”(45) and
“tired”(45) and his meaning of life has been taken away from him by the civil war and the flight.
Even after the soldier advises him to flee as long as it is possible, the old man does not move.
The reader notices that he is very grateful the soldier talks to him “But thank you very much.
Thank you again very much”(43/44). Perhaps it is the first contact and conversation to another
person for a long time and he is happy that someone is interested in him and his worries. First the
soldier does not really want to know the old man’s story, but after he heard it he begins to feel
pity “There was nothig to do about him.”(65).
In this short story Ernest Hemingway uses a lot of metaphors and symbols. One of the symbols is
the bridge, which represents uncertainty and dangers. Those are the feelings most of the people
have during wartime. In contrast to this stands the fact that the story takes place on Easter
Sunday, a holiday that stands for hope and and the faith in God. The feelings of the refugees
probably stand in the same contrast. On the one hand they feel very frightened and worried, but
on the other hand they do not want to lose hope. The animals also stand for different qualities.
The pigeons, for example, represent peace and harmony and the fact that they fly away, away
from the war, maybe is a reference to the refugees who flee from the war to a safer place. The cat
being a symbol of independence, does not need anybody to survive, but the goat is often used as
a sacrificial animal and this probably represents the old man and his situation. Like a goat which
is sacrificed, the old man’s fate is sealed.
I really like this short story, because Ernest Hemingway manages to touch the reader’s heart by
telling a sad and moving story, despite its extreme shortness. (J.W., 11c, Dec. 2008)

The whole story is about death

Ernest Hemingway´s story “The old man at the bridge“ is about death and war. It takes place
during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. The story is told by a soldier who is a scout. He
has to watch the bridge where refugees flee from the advance of the Fascist army. Then he sees
an old man at the bridge. He starts a talk with the man. At the beginning the solider is not really
interested in the things the man tells him. The old man came from San Carlos and was the last
one who left the town because of his animals. Although the solider asks some superficial and
inconsequential questions he is more interested in watching the other side of the bridge and
thinks about how long it would be until they were able to see the ememy. After a while the
solider begins to feel pity for the old man, who was a caretaker of animals and is more concerned
for the safety of his animals than for his own safety. The man has already walked twelve
kilometers and now, he tells the soldier, he is too tired to go on. He just wants to sit there. The
solider does not understand the worries of the seventy-six-year-old about his animals, but then
when he says that he has no family or relatives and his animals mean everything to him he seems
to become more interested in the things the man says.
The animals are two goats, a cat and a few doves. These animals are used as symbols. The man
tells the soldier that he is not worried about the cat, because it can care for itself. After the soldier
asks if he left the cage of the doves unlocked the man is sure that the doves will fly away. But he
mentions again and again that it would be better not to think about the others. “The others“ are
the two goats. Cats are very independent animals. So the cat represents the free will and freedom
of thought. The chance for the cat of the old man is to run away. That shows the reader that
nobody can control your thoughts even if you are forced to do something, your thoughts are free.
And you have a free will. For example, the old man in the story was driven out of his hometown,
but he has got still a free will and he is able to go where he wants to.The doves represent peace.
It is clear that the story takes place during a war, because the chance of the doves to stay alive is
to fly away. The meaning of the two goats is not so easy to see. The goat represents
unreasonableness and aggressiveness but also adaptability and that is the really important
meaning. It is not mentioned what happened or what maybe would happen to the two goals, and
if they are able to care for themselves or have to die. This means that the people have no
possibility to stop the war and they have to accept it. They have to live with this, and also with
the problems which appear in the war and so the people have to try to make the best of it.
Another symbol in the story is the bridge on which the two men meet. It shows that some big
things change but that there is still a connection between these two things. In this case it is the
old life of the man that lies now behind him and the new life where many things will change
because of the war.

The old man says that he is too tired to go on. He stands in front of the bridge, thus still clinging
to his old life with his animals that he does not want to leave behind. But in fact he will have to.
And at the end of the story it seems to be clear that the old man does not intend to cross the
bridge and to go on. So you can see that the whole story is about death. And in the end it is also
clear for the narrator – the soldier – and the old man that death is imminent. (K.S., 11c, Dec.
2008)

Hemingway´s narrative skills have a great impact

In the short story "Old Man at the Bridge" by Ernest Hemingway the author narrates a fictional
situation taking place during the Spanish Civil War. Hemingway (1899 - 1961) was a famous
American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. In 1937 he travelled to Spain in order to
report about the Spanish Civil War for some American newspapers. One year before parts of the
Spanish army had attempted a revolution against the government. They were supported by the
German and Italian fascist regimes. The war was between Catholics and atheists, between army,
communists and anarchists, between landowners and peasants, between nationalists and
republicans and separated family members from each other, friends and neighbours. The war was
performed with unknown cruelty and witnessed by an unknown simultaneousness of the mass
media. Hemingway was on the side of the republicans, reported from their point of view and was
inspired by what he experienced to write forty-nine short stories. After almost three years the
rebels succeeded. 500.000 people were killed. The dictatorship by General Francisco Franco
began.

The short story "Old Man at the Bridge" is one of "The First Forty-Nine
Stories”, written in 1938. Through his narrative skills Hemingway manages to
give the reader the impression that he himself is part of the scene or the
encounter might have really happened like in the story. The situation is that
Spanish people flee from Fascist artillery over a bridge across the river Ebro.
Men, women, children are crossing the bridge, but the old man sits beside it.
Hemingway describes it with simple, realistic details which incorporate the
reader into the scene immediately. The narrator involves the old man in a
conversation and asks where he comes from. The old man tells him that he was taking care of
animals in his native town, but is worried now whether they might survive the artillery attack.
The old man wears steel rimmed spectacles, which do not fit to a shepherd or herdsman. The
man is seventy-six years old, he cannot walk any further, he is too weak and does not stop
worrying about the animals he left behind. The narrator asks him about the animals and finds out
that the man has left a cat, four pairs of pigeons and two goats. He comforts the old man by
mentioning that the cat and the birds will be fine and will take care of themselves.

Even if the story is full of dialogues, attempts to comfort, offerings of help, it is a sad story. The
old man might have had a life of intellectual interests, might have been a teacher or a union
activist. At the end of his life, he is neither worried about his dreams or goals or any political
opinions nor about his life or health, but about a few animals for which he felt responsible. He
must leave behind the pigeons, the symbol of peace and hope, and the cat, symbol of seven lives.
Only the goats, like the old man himself, are lost. Life shrinks to one point of sorrow, which is
endured with composure. There are no unnecessary or sentimental words. The first person
narrator helps the reader to identify with the scene of threat and hopelessness. The plot is without
climax or inner development. In my opinion Hemingway was very successful to touch the reader
´s heart with just a few words. (L.J., 11c, Dec. 2008)

The old man symbolizes the victims of war

The short story “Old Man at the Bridge” takes place during the Spanish Civil War. It displays
Hemingway’s own experience in war. The story deals with a soldier who comes in contact with
an old man at a bridge where people are crossing to flee from the Spanish Civil War. The scout
discovers the old man and in the end he realizes the old man cannot move anymore and will
probably die at the bridge.
The first person narrator, who is not described in detail, tells the story. That gives the impression
that you are involved in this situation. The narrator carefully describes the situation with
commentaries, so that a clear picture of the old man is developed.
The main character of the story is a 76-year-old man. The narrator realizes that the refugee is a
man without politics. At the beginning he thinks that the man just wants to rest, but later he
realizes the old man is not able to move on and is going to die at the bridge. He was forced to
leave his farm where he had lived and to leave his animals behind. The man repeats “I was
taking care of animals, I was only taking care of animals” a few times. This makes clear that he
symbolizes the men, women and children who had to leave their home and their normal life as
victims of a war with which they have nothing to do.
The old man also talks about the animals he has. He has a cat which can probably flee. She is a
symbol of the survivor because she has nine lives. He has pigeons which can fly away, so they
can also flee. They are a symbol of peace. But the old man is neither like the cat nor the pigeons
because he cannot flee like them. He is like the third animal he owns, the goat. He cannot escape
and is a victim of the war like the goat. The narrator apprehends that “there is nothing to do
about him”, the situation of this old man is hopeless. So he is going to die on Easter Sunday,
which is very ironic, because that is the day of the celebration of Jesus’s resurrection. (A.W.,
Dec. 2008)