26 pages • 52 minutes read
Ernest HemingwayOld Man at the Bridge
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1938A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Dialogue
Hemingway emphasized realistic-sounding dialogue and at times made it the core of his stories, as is the case with “The Old Man at the Bridge.” He stated his desire to make readers feel like they experienced his stories, and realistic dialogue helps create this effect. His idea of reducing words to the minimum extends to his creation of dialogue. There are no eloquent diatribes on war or pontificating characters in Hemingway’s story. Instead, he conveys the realism of the conversation between the old man and the soldier through techniques such as having the soldier ask the same question twice because he is distracted. Similarly, the old man can’t carry on a coherent, logical conversation due to his worries about the animals he left behind and his fear of moving forward. His obsessive return to the same concern about his animals exemplifies Hemingway’s theory of the iceberg; the man expresses only a minimal portion of his thoughts and concerns, but this suggests the depth of the suffering and anxiety that are below the surface. That both the soldier and the old man ask the same questions and repeat themselves reveals their distraction and detachment. They are alienated and distant from one another even in the midst of their conversation.
Diction
Diction refers to the words a writer chooses, and Hemingway’s unique stripping down of his word choice to include only what is essential catapulted him to literary stardom. His famously spare diction is evident in “The Old Man at the Bridge.” The narrator’s detached, cool, simple observations are given in direct, minimal language that refrains from assigning emotion or value to events. This supports the theme of The Alienation of Humanity in the Modern Age, which is exemplified by the narrator’s behavior as the old man’s situation unfolds. The text uses neutral words like “contact” instead of “fighting.” Likewise, the narrator observes “their planes were not up” (58) instead of using emotionally fraught or image-filled description to describe the process of awaiting and preparing for bombardment. This neutrality characterizes the narrator as distant and focused on his duties, rather than on his emotions.
Imagery
Because he is so careful about what he includes, Hemingway’s imagery is always precise and loaded with implication. It functions beyond simply grounding the reader in the scene. Since most of this story is dialogue, the few images provided are important and meaningful.
The very first description is of the old man’s steel-rimmed spectacles. This feature is mentioned twice and serves, along with the dust and color of his clothes, as a clue to his background and what the old man has experienced. He stayed behind to care for animals, yet his appearance reveals that this is not his work. The few other images used to characterize him demonstrate his desperation; these include his blank and tired face and his unsuccessful attempt to stand. Hemingway also includes images that emphasize the impending danger of the situation, such as the overcast day that delays the planes’ invasion.
Imagery helps the reader visualize and become immersed in the scene, and it usually creates emotion and tone as a secondary function. The imagery in “The Old Man at the Bridge” lacks emotion, even when presenting details such as the old man’s inability to remain upright. Imagery often relies on sensory detail, and Hemingway uses sight almost exclusively in this story, rather than sound or smell.
Repetition
Repetition is one of Hemingway’s most used tools in “The Old Man at the Bridge.” The word “artillery” appears multiple times, as it is the cause of anxiety and distress for both characters and the imminent force of destruction for everything in the story. A community’s animals, people, and way of life are being destroyed, and the old man states three times that this is “because of the artillery” (57, 58).
Hemingway also has characters repeat questions to signal their mental state. The soldier repeats a question about the type of animals the old man left behind, which reveals that he is preoccupied with his own thoughts about the coming army and not listening to him. The old man, in turn, repeats his speculative questions about the survival of the animals continually through the story, revealing his anxiety.
Related Titles
By Ernest Hemingway
