26 pages • 52 minutes read
Ernest HemingwayA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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.
By Ernest Hemingway
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
Ernest Hemingway
Across the River and into the Trees
Ernest Hemingway
A Day's Wait
Ernest Hemingway
A Farewell to Arms
Ernest Hemingway
A Moveable Feast
Ernest Hemingway
A Very Short Story
Ernest Hemingway
Big Two-Hearted River
Ernest Hemingway
Cat in the Rain
Ernest Hemingway
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Ernest Hemingway
Green Hills of Africa
Ernest Hemingway
Hills Like White Elephants
Ernest Hemingway
In Another Country
Ernest Hemingway
Indian Camp
Ernest Hemingway
In Our Time
Ernest Hemingway
Soldier's Home
Ernest Hemingway
Solider's Home
Ernest Hemingway
Ten Indians
Ernest Hemingway
The Garden of Eden
Ernest Hemingway
The Killers
Ernest Hemingway
The Nick Adams Stories
Ernest Hemingway