(C) How do the old man's simple answers convey the truth about war and its
consequences? ('I was taking care of animals' he said dully, but no longer
to me, I was only taking care of the animals.')
(8)
Answers
he got angry that he was taking care of the animals...........
In this story, which takes place during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s, we see how far down the suffering caused by warfare reaches.
The narrator is a soldier trying to help get civilians across a bridge because it is clear that the fascists will soon arrive. There will be an engagement or battle, what the narrator calls "that ever mysterious event called contact."
An old man, however, is sitting down and says he cannot go any farther. When the soldier talks to him, he learns the old man has already been displaced once. He had to leave behind the animals he took care of. Now he has left animals behind again. The old man asks the solider,
But what will they do under the artillery when I was told to leave because of the artillery?
The solider has no real answer for him. The solider feels helpless, stating to the reader that "there was nothing to do about him."The story shows how war inflicts suffering on all living creatures, no matter how innocent. The old man, who states he has no politics, is driven from his home as a war refugee—and he may die of exhaustion. His animals will likely be killed. The impact of war is here shown in the lives of ordinary people and animals who have to suffer for reasons they can't understand.