Old Man at the Bridge Summary by Ernest Hemingway
In the short story Old Man at the Brdige by Earnest Hemingway, the author narrates a fictional situation taking place during the Spanish Civil War. Hemingway 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 peasents, between nationalists and republicans and separated family members from each other, friends and neighbours. The war was performed to win 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. Five hundred people were killed. The dictatorship by General Francisco Franco began.
The short story ‘Old Man at the Bridge’ is one of ‘The Frist Forty-Nine Stories’, written in 1938. In the story, Hemingway manages to give the reader the impression that he himself is the part of the scene or the encounter might have really happened 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 the animals in his native town, but is worried now whether they might survive the artillery attack. The old 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.
It is a sad story. The old man might have had a life of intellectual interests. He 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.
In the story, there are no unecessary 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.
Old Man at the Bridge Summary Introduction
The story, narrated by a nameless soldier, sensitively portrays the sorry plight of the refugees who are displaced by the war. It is about a conversation between a soldier and an old man who is forced to leave his home town during the Spanish Civil War. The story conveys the subsequent problems for helpless victims, especially old people.
The action of the story takes place at pontoon bridge near the Ebro Delta on an Easter Sunday during the Spanish Civil War. All the refugees of that area were crossing the bridge to protect themselves from the impending attack by the enemy troops. The young soldier was on a mission to cross the bridge and find out how far the enemy had advanced. When the soldier crossed the bridge towards the enemy, he noticed an old man who was sitting by the side of the bridge.
It seemed to him that he was so much tired that he could not go any further. After the soldier had scanned the region for any sign of the enemy troops, he found the old man still sitting at the pontoon bridge. This made him curious to know about the old man. He asked him where he came from. The old man replied that he was from Sans Carlos which was his native town. While mentioning his native town the old man felt great pleasure. Then the old man told the soldier that he was the last person to leave the town as he was anxious for the safety of the animals he was taking care of.
The soldier observed that the old man wore black dusty clothes and his face was dusty grey. He also wore steel-rimmed spectacles which suggested that he was neither a shepherd nor a herdsman. Then he asked the old man what animals he was taking care of. The old man told the soldier that he was taking care of three sets of animals, i.e., two goats, a cat and four pairs of pigeons. But he had to leave them because of the artillery. The soldier watched the far end of bridge where a few last carts were hurrying down the slope of the bank and asked the old man if he had no family.
At this, the old man replied him in negative. The old man seemed to be unconcerned about the threat to his own life, but he was more anxious about the safety of the animals. He admitted that there was no need to worry about the cat as cats can look after themselves; and since he had left the dove cage unlocked, the pigeons too would fly to safety. But he was much worried about the safety of the two goats. Expressing sorrow, he told the soldier that the goats could go nowhere and there was nobody to look after them.
The soldier who seemed to be more concerned for the old man’s safety than that of the naimals, asked the old man about his political loyalty. The old man replied that he had no politics. Then the narrator (soldier) advised the old man to cross the pontoon bridge and catch a truck towards Barcelona to save himself from the impending assault of the advancing enemies.
The soldier also warned him that it was not good for him to stay at that place for longer. The old man told him that he was seventy-six years old and he had already walked about twelve kilometres from the hometown, San Carlos and was weary and exhausted, hence it was difficult for him to move further. He further added that moreover he did not know anyone there. However, he thanked the soldier (the narrator) for his suggestion. He kept on expressing his intense concern for the fate of the animals he had left behind. The soldier reasssured him, saying the animals would be fine.
He told the old man that the pigeons would fly away, but the old man continued to worry about the goats. The soldier (the narrator) consoled him saying that he (the old man) should not think about it and that he should get up and walk to the trucks.
The old man thanked the soldier for his consolation and suggestion. The old man tried to get up on his feet and walk, but he felt that his legs were so weak that they could carry him no further. Then he again sat back on the ground. The soldier (the narrator) thought, in closing, that the old man’s only luck was that cats could look after themselves and that the day was overcast, so the Fascists were not able to launch their planes. The old man had finally resigned himself to his fate and the imminent doom.
We, along with the young soldier, arrive at the painful realisation that the old man was not able to move on and was likely to die at the bridge. The irony is that like a goat which is sacrificed, the oldman’s fate is sealed on an Easter Sunday, a day of hope and faith.
Old Man at the BridgeSummary Stanzawise Word-Meanings
Pontoon = a floating structure that serves as a dock or to support a bridge. Pontoon bridge = a temporary bridge built over a series of pontoons. Mule = a hybrid animal. Staggered = walked as if unable to control movements. Plodded = walked slowly but steadly; trudged. Peasants = countrymen; rustics. Explore = to examine minutely. Bridgehead = an area in hostile territory that has been captured and is held awaiting further troops and supplies Shepherd = a man employed in tending, feeding and guarding sheep, esp. flock grazing at large. Herdsman = the owner or keeper of a herd or of herds; one employed in tending a herd of cattle. Ebro = a river in north eastern Spain. Mysterious = strange. Artillery = an army unit that uses big guns. Hurrying down = moving down quickly. Look out = to protect. Forks = divides into two or more.
Barcelona = a city in northeastern Spain on the Mediterranean. Blankly = without expression. Tiredly = in a weary manner. Easter Sunday = the day (in March or April) on which the festival of Easter is celebrated. Fascists = political leaders who support Fascism. Their planes up = they would not be able to launch their planes.
Old Man at the Bridge Summary About the Writer
Ernest Miller Hemingway was bom on July 21,1899, in Cicero (now in Oak Park), Illinois. He was born into the hands of his physician father. He was the second of six children of Dr. Clarence Hemingway and Grace Hemingway (the daughter of English immigrants). His father’s interests in history and literature, as well as his outdoorsy hobbies (fishing and hunting), became a life style for Ernest. His mother was a domineering type who wanted a daughter, not a son and dressed Ernest as a girl and called him Ernestine. She also had a habit of abusing his quiet father, who suffered from diabetes and Dr. Hemingway eventually committed suicide.
In 1916 Hemingway graduated from high school and began his writing career as a reporter for the Kansas City Star. There he adopted his minimalist style by following the Star’s style guide. Six months later he joined the Ambulance Corps in Word War I and worked as an ambulance driver on the Italian front, picking up human remains. In July 1918 he was seriously wounded by a mortar shell, which left shrapnel in both of his legs causing him much pain and requiring several surgeries. He was awarded the Silver Medal. Back in America, he continued his writing career working for Toronto Star. At that time he met Hadley Richardson and the two married in 1921.
In 1921, he became a Toronto Star reporter in Paris. There he published his first books, called ‘Three Stories and Ten Poems’ (1923), and ‘In Our Time’ (1924). In Paris he met Gertrude Stein, who introduced him to the circle that she called the ‘Lost Generation. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thornton Wilder, Sherwood Anderson and Ezra Pound were stimulating Hemingway’s talent. At that tme he wrote ‘The Sun also Rises’ (1926), A Forewell to Arms’ (1929), and a dazzling collection of Forty-Nine Stories. Hemingway also regarded the Russian writers Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Ivan Turgenev and Anton Chekhov as important influences and met Pablo Picasso and other artists through Gertrude Stein. A Moveable Feast’ (1964). is his classic memoir of Paris after World War I.
Hemingway participated in the Spanish Civil War and took part in the landings during the invasion of France in World War II, in which he not only reported the action but took part in it. In one instance he threw three hand grenades into a bunker, killing several officers. He was decorated with the Bronze Star for his action. His military experiences were emulated in ‘For whom the Bell Tolls’ (1940) and in several other stories. He settled near Havana, Cuba, where he wrote his best known work, ‘The Old Man and The Sea’ (1953), for which he won a Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature.
War wounds, two plane crashes, four marriages and several affaris took their toll on Hemingway’s hereditary predispositions and contributed to his declining health. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and insomnia in his later years. His mental condition was exacerbated by chronic alcoholism, diabetes and liver failure. After an unsuccessful tratment with electro-convulsive therapy, he suffered severe amnesia and his physical condition worsened. The memory loss obstructed his writing and everyday life. He committed suicide in 1961.
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