Old Man at Bridge: Summary, Notes (by Ernest Hemingway)

Old Man at Bridge by Ernest Hemingway: Summary, notes, questions and answers.

Old Man at Bridge: Story

The story “Old Man at the Bridge” by Earnest Hemingway is set in the backdrop of Spanish Civil War; it was a war-like situation as the Fascists forces were advancing towards Ebro.

Our narrator, a news reporter, is given the task of checking the advancement of the enemy forces. It was Easter Sunday and a gray overcast day.

He saw that an old man with steel rimmed spectacles and dusty clothes was sitting beside the road at the bridge crossing a river, while carts, trucks and people were crossing the bridge to get to a safe distance from the enemies.

The old man looked too tired to walk any further. The speaker starts chatting with him and the seventy-six years old man is happy to tell him that he was coming from San Carlos, his native town, twelve kilometers away from there.

The old man reveals that he had no one but pets — two goats, a cat and eight pigeons, whom he treats as family. But because the enemy forces were approaching, he was asked to leave the place. The old man however is not very anxious about what would happen to his family — the animals.

He thinks that the cat would be able to look after itself. He also left the dove cage unlocked so they could fly away. But he was not sure about the fate of the pigeons.

The speaker urged the man to get up and try to walk further, but the old man is unable to do so and he sat down again in the dust.

The speaker finishes the story by saying there was nothing in favour of the old man except the facts that the enemy planes were not up in the sky because of the overcast weather, and that the cats can look after themselves.

Question on this Story

Question. There are times when people are made helpless by situations beyond their control. Justify the statement in the context of the story, ‘Old Man at the Bridge’.

Question: In light of the lesson “Old man at the bridge”, how do you consider the impact of “Spanish civil War” on common people. Place yourself as another person at the bridge, narrate your first-hand experience in the battle and your losses. If you had the power to rewrite the history, how would you bring about a positive outcome?

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