"Old Man at the Bridge" by Ernest Hemingway - 9th Grade English Midterm [201-202]
Key Details
Old Man: 2 goats, 4 pigeons, a cat No family Spectacles, dusty clothes From San Carlos What will happen to the animals? 76 old, walked 12 km Toward Barcelona "I have no politics" Cross bridge at Ebro Delta Narrator Job: Scout ahead, see how far enemy has advanced, and return
setting
Spanish Civil War (1930), spot in the countryside The bridge and how everybody is crossing it
theme
You can't move forward if you won't let go of the things from the past People react differently to the same situations War has innocent victims; It displaces, disorients and may even destroy them
conflict
man vs. himself - the old man doesn't want to leave his animals behind man vs. man - the old man doesn't want to move preventing the narrator from doing his job
protagonist
narrator - soldiers in the war
antagonist
old man - preventing narrator from doing his job
exposition
people are crossing the bridge; the old man is still there
characters
the Old Man and the Narrator
rising action
the conversation between the old man and the narrator
resolution
the narrator continues with his job leaving the old man behind who probably dies.
climax
the old man plops down, kind of giving up, and won't move (inability)
