ANALYSIS OF SYMBOLS IN

“OLD MAN AT THE BRIDGE”

BY ERNEST HEMINGWAY

ABSTRACT

This paper entitled “Analysis of Symbol in “Old Man at The Bridge” by Ernest Hemingway.” The purpose is to analyze symbols in “Old Man at The Bridge.” The writer uses close reading and library research as the method of the study. By analyzing symbols, we can understand the meaning of the short story deeper than before. As the conclusion, symbols found in “Old Man at The Bridge” describes the condition of an old man as a soldier after war.

Keywords: Old man, bridge, war, symbol

1. INTRODUCTION

“Prose is the words in their best order”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge–

Ian Robinson in his book The Establishment of Modern English Prose (1998) states that prose is surprisingly hard to define. We shall return to the sense ther may be in the old joke that prose is not verse. To understand the prose, we have to read it repeatedly and search the history happened when it is wrote. Symbol could mean the use of particular objects or actions to represent relatively broad concept.

In this paper, the writer would use symbols to analyze the meaning in prose “Old Man at The Bridge” by Ernest Hemingway.

The methodologies on this paper are:

1.      To understand the using of symbols in the prose.

2.      To appreciate a work of literature.

The Scope of the study is to analyze the symbols found in a short story “Old Man at The Bridge” by Ernest Hemingway.

2. THE AUTHOR

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in July 21st, 1899, Cicero, Illinois, U.S. He was an American novelist, and short-story writer. He started to write since he was in high school. He managed to enter World War I as a driver of American Red Cross’ ambulance. Ernest Hemingway fell in love with Agnes von Kurowsky, a Red Cross nurse, after he was injured on the Austro-Italian front at Fossalta di Piave on July 8th, 1918. Unfortunatelly, she declined to marry with him. One of his writings was The Fifth Column (1938) which contains the short story “Old Man at The Bridge.” It was written when Hemingway entered Spanish Civil War (1936-1938) as the correspondent. He had been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. Ernest Hemingway was passed away on July 2nd, 1961,  in Ketchum, Idaho.

3. THE SHORT STORY

An old man with steel rimmed spectacles and very dusty clothes sat by the side of the road. There was a pontoon bridge across the river and carts, trucks, and men, women and children were crossing it. The mule-drawn carts staggered up the steep bank from the bridge with soldiers helping push against the spokes of the wheels. The trucks ground up and away heading out of it all and the peasants plodded along in the ankle deep dust. But the old man sat there without moving. He was too tired to go any farther.

It was my business to cross the bridge, explore the bridgehead beyond and find out to what point the enemy had advanced. I did this and returned over the bridge. There were not so many carts now and very few people on foot, but the old man was still there.

“Where do you come from?” I asked him.

“From San Carlos,” he said, and smiled.

That was his native town and so it gave him pleasure to mention it and he smiled.

 “I was taking care of animals,” he explained. “Oh,” I said, not quite understanding.

“Yes,” he said, “I stayed, you see, taking care of animals. I was the last one to leave the town of San Carlos.”

He did not look like a shepherd nor a herdsman and I looked at his black dusty clothes and his gray dusty face and his steel rimmed spectacles and said, “What animals were they?”

“Various animals,” he said, and shook his head. “I had to leave them.”

I was watching the bridge and the African looking country of the Ebro Delta and wondering how long now it would be before we would see the enemy, and listening all the while for the first noises that would signal that ever mysterious event called contact, and the old man still sat there.

“What animals were they?” I asked.

“There were three animals altogether,” he explained. “There were two goats and a cat and then there were four pairs of pigeons.”

 “And you had to leave them?” I asked.

“Yes. Because of the artillery. The captain told me to go because of the artillery.”

“And you have no family?” I asked, watching the far end of the bridge where a few last carts were hurrying down the slope of the bank.

“No,” he said, “only the animals I stated. The cat, of course, will be all right. A cat can look out for itself, but I cannot think what will become of the others.”

“What politics have you?” I asked.

“I am without politics,” he said. “I am seventy-six years old. I have come twelve kilometers now and I think now I can go no further.” “This is not a good place to stop,” I said. “If you can make it, there are trucks up the road where it forks for Tortosa.”

“I will wait a while,” he said, “and then I will go. Where do the trucks go?”

 “Towards Barcelona,” I told him.

“I know no one in that direction,” he said, “but thank you very much. Thank you again very much.”

He looked at me very blankly and tiredly, then said, having to share his worry with some one, “The cat will be all right, I am sure. There is no need to be unquiet about the cat. But the others. Now what do you think about the others?”

“Why they’ll probably come through it all right.” “You think so?”

“Why not,” I said, watching the far bank where now there were no carts.

“But what will they do under the artillery when I was told to leave because of the artillery?”

“Did you leave the dove cage unlocked?” I asked. “Yes.”

“Then they’ll fly.”

“Yes, certainly they’ll fly. But the others. It’s better not to think about the others,” he said.

 “If you are rested I would go,” I urged. “Get up and try to walk now.”

“Thank you,” he said and got to his feet, swayed from side to side and then sat down backwards in the dust.

“I was taking care of animals,” he said dully, but no longer to me. “I was only taking care of animals.”

There was nothing to do about him. It was Easter Sunday and the Fascists were advancing toward the Ebro. It was a gray overcast day with a low ceiling so their planes were not up. That and the fact that cats know how to look after themselves was all the good luck that old man would ever have.

4. THE SUMMARY

“Old Man at The Bridge” written by Ernest Hemingway tells about a narrator who met an old man sat down around the pontoon bridge during the Spanish war. Although there were carts, trucks, and people crossed it, the old man still sat down and did not move. The narrator asked the old man to walk across the bridge, but the old man refused it because he was too tired to walk any farther. The old man said that he was taking care of animals although there was no animal around him. The animals were two goats, a cat, and four pairs of pigeons. Although the narrator had asked him to go away from that place, the old man still sat and worried. Therefore the narrator left the old man.

4. DISCUSSION

Old man

Old man itself symbolizes a soldier who still lived after war. He said that he did not have family, and he only had the animals which he was taking care of. After the war ended, the soldier had no family anymore due to he left his family to enter the war.  He would grow old with memory of war inside. He did not care with his condition because he only worried about his troops. Because of war, what he had only the troops.

Pontoon bridge

According to Merriam Webster, Pontoon bridge is a flat-bottomed boat or portable float used in building a floating temporary bridge. In this short story, the bridge, placed in Spain, connected Ebro Delta with safer place, such as Barcelona. Ebro Delta would be fired soon, so people had to move from there. Here, the bridge means the step from war to the time of peace. Because it is temporary, people must hurry up to pass it.

Two goats

At the beginning,  the old man worried about his goats because the goats could not take care of themselves. However, the old man chose not to worry anymore. In this short story, The goats symbolizes soldiers who could not fight and take care of themselves during the war.

A cat

Contrast with two goats, a cat could take care of itself. Besides cat has nine soul, cat also has strong defend. Cat can fight with the enemy and kill without fear. In this short story, a cat symbolizes soldiers who able to fight and take care of itself. Therefore, the old man did not worry about cat.

Four pairs of pigeons

Instead of mentioning eight pigeons, the old man mentioned four pairs of pigeons as his animals.  A pair of pigeons symbolizes new hope in the future. Because they were in pair, pigeons could bear other new pigeons for keeping their regeneration.  Pigeons also could fly, so the old man did not worry about it.

Dove

The narrator mentioned dove at the end instead of pigeon. As we know that dove is a symbol of freedom, peace, and love. The narrator asked the old man whether he left the cage locked or not. The old man said that he left it unlocked. So the dove would fly. It made the old man should not to worry again. The dove itself means that after the war, peace will come and free.

5. CONCLUSION

“Old Man at The Bridge” written by Ernest Hemingway presents a message about war by using a lot of symbol inside. A commander of soldier who entered the war has to be ready lost his troops. We also know that the soldier who enters the war will leave the family. After the war, the new hope and new life will come.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/old%20man

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bridge

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/war

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/symbol

(Accessed on May 30th, 2017)