Old Man at the Bridge Context and Summary

Old Man at the Bridge by Ernest Hemingway: Context and Summary

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Context

Ernest Miller Hemingway, born in Illinois, USA, was an iconic novelist and short-story writer. He served in World War I and also worked as a journalist for several years. The influence of both these professions is very evident in his writings.

Hemingway's first novel The Sun Also Rises gave him instant success. His novels A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea are considered classics of American literature. Hemingway was known for his understated, direct and simple writing style, which had a major influence on twentieth century American and British fiction. Some commonly recurring themes in his works are war, death, loss and disillusionment. Hemingway received the Pulitzer prize for fiction for The Old Man and the Sea in 1953 and won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1954.

Old Man at the Bridge revolves around a conversation between a soldier and an old man who is forced to leave his home town owing to war. The story is set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War and is based on a true incident that Hemingway experienced as a war correspondent at the time. The Spanish Civil War was a result of deeply divided political opinions prevalent in Spain at the time. It was a military conflict where the conservative Nationalists and Fascists fought against the liberal Republicans. To know some interesting facts about the Spanish Civil War, click here 👉http://spanish-civil-war-basic-facts-easy A seemingly simple story, Old Man at the Bridge highlights the tragedy of war and its effect on innocent civilians.

Summary

Here is a summary of Old Man at the Bridge by Ernest Hemingway.

The narrator of the story, a soldier, noticed an old man in dusty clothes and steel-rimmed spectacles sitting by the side of the road. Carts and trucks, men, women and children fleeing the war crossed the pontoon bridge over the Ebro River. But the old man was too tired to move on. The narrator's task was to cross the bridge, explore the area and determine how far the enemy had advanced. The narrator did so and returned over the bridge. There were fewer carts and fewer people, but the old man was still there.

On being asked, the old man said that he was from San Carlos. He had stayed back to look after his animals: two goats, a cat and four pairs of pigeons. He had to leave them on the captain's orders. He had no family except the animals. He was sure that the cat could look after itself. But he was not sure about the other animals.

The narrator, worried about the old man's safety, inquired about his political affiliations. The old man replied that he had none. He further said that he was seventy-six years old and had walked twelve kilometres; he was too tired to walk any further.

The narrator warned him that the place was unsafe and urged him to walk ahead to a point from where he could hitch a ride in a truck towards Barcelona. The old man continued to worry about how his animals would survive under the artillery fire. The narrator very kindly assured him that since he had left the cage door open, the doves would fly away. But the old man was worried all the same, especially about the fate of the goats. The narrator then urged the old man to get up and walk. The old man got up, tried to walk and sat down again.

The narrator recollected that it was Easter Sunday and the Fascists were getting closer to the Ebro. But since the sky was overcast, were not flying their planes. This and the fact that look after themselves was all the luck the old would have. The narrator knew that ultimately the old man would not survive if he did not cross the bridge.

Old Man at the Bridge by Ernest Hemingway  :-

1. Question and Answers RTCs: http://old-man-at-bridge-question-and-answers

2. Context and Summary: http://old-man-at-bridge-context-and-summary

3. Themes, Setting, Literary Devices, Form and Structure: http://old-man-at-bridge-themes-setting-form

4.  Character Analysis: http://old-man-at-bridge-character-analysis