(v) What do the incidents in the story show about the consequences of the war?how does the war affect the old man and his animals in the story.
Answers
Answer:
Search for any book or any question
Old Man at the Bridge Questions and Answers
by Ernest Hemingway
MENU
How does war impact everyone? Explain with reference to the story "Old Man at the Bridge."
print Print document PDF list Cite
Expert Answers info
D. REYNOLDS eNotes educator | CERTIFIED EDUCATOR
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.
Answer:
The Spanish civil war forms the background to the story and Hemingway depicts that how in times of war man acts inhumanly to his own race. War causes and death and destruction, and this is highlighted through the condition of the old man who can be seen as the symbol of civilian victims of war. The old man gives meaning to his life by taking care of his animals, but the war takes away everything from him. He sits alone by the side of the road; he is as helpless as his goats; he cannot escape and is too old and tired to save himself.