Интерпретация художественного текста (практикум). Учебное пособие

The story The Old Man at the Bridge first appeared in Ken Magazine (Volume 1, Number 4, May 19, 1938) prior to its later publication in the book The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories, also published in 1938.

Task 2. Read the story8.

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.”

8 The text of the story comes from http://biblioklept.org/2012/07/06/read-the-old-man-at-the-bridge-a-short-story- by-ernest-hemingway/.

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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 someone, “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?”

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“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.

Task 3. Focus on the plot. Answer the following questions.

1.Who is the narrator? What is the job of this person?

2.How old is the old man?

3.What was the old man doing in his native town?

4.Why did he leave his animals?

5.Which animal is the man least concerned about?

6.Why has he stopped? Why does not he want to move ahead?

7.Why does he spend so much time talking to the old man?

8.Is there any hope left for the old man?

Task 4. Focus on the text. Do the tasks below.

1.Does the story sound realistic? Refer to the text to justify your point of

view.

2.Comment upon the setting and the timespan of the story.

3.Study the composition of the text. Does it seem peculiar to you in any

way?

4.Identify the type of conflict in the story.

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5. Concentrate on the title. Is it direct in its meaning? Is there a piece of implicit information?

Task 5. Focus on the themes. Look through the list of typical Hemingway themes raised in his works; reflect on those relevant to the story under question.

1.Depression.

2.Impending death.

3.War and its victims.

4.Old age and youth.

5.Sense of duty.

Task 6. Focus on the characters.

1.Study the text to give a detailed description of both characters.

2.What are the characters most concerned about?

3.Does the mood of the characters change through the narration?

4.Who of the characters do you sympathize with? Who can you blame?

What for?

5.Are the characters round or flat? Which one?

Task 7. Focus on the style.

1.Does the story serve a classic example of Ernest Hemingway’s manner of writing? Justify your point of view.

2.Find examples of repetition in the text. What effect does it produce?

3.The story under analysis contains a number of symbols. Enumerate those that you have observed and explain what they represent.

4.Note how the old man refers to his animals, in particular, the birds:

“There were three animals altogether,” he explained. “There were two goats and a cat and then there were four pairs of pigeons.” Later we come across the line uttered by the soldier: “Did you leave the dove cage unlocked?” Is it a mere slip of the tongue? Or are “the pigeons” named “doves” intentionally?

5. Study the following context: “It was a gray overcast day with a low ceiling”. Explain the meaning of the phrase “a low ceiling”; its origin and sphere of its usage. What is the basis for this term?

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Task 8. Make up the whole text analysis according to the given scheme and using the clichés from the appendix (see Appendices A and B).

6 AFTER TWENTY YEARS by O. Henry

Task 1. Browse the information about the author.

William Sydney Porter (1862–1910) was a prolific short story writer whose work appeared under the name O. Henry.

He was born on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina. Porter attended school for a short time, then clerked in an uncle's drugstore. At the age of 20 William Sydney Porter went to Texas, working first on a ranch and

Picture 6 later as a bank teller. In 1887 he married and began to write freelance sketches. A few years later he founded a humorous weekly, the Rolling Stone. When this failed, he became a reporter and columnist on the Houston Post.

Indicted in 1896 for embezzling bank funds (actually a result of technical mismanagement), Porter fled to a reporting job in New Orleans, then to Honduras. When news of his wife's serious illness reached him, he returned to Texas. After her death William Sydney Porter was imprisoned in Columbus, Ohio. During his threeyear incarceration, he wrote adventure stories set in Texas and Central America that quickly became popular and were collected in Cabbages and Kings (1904).

Released from prison in 1902, Porter went to New York City, his home and the setting of most of his fiction for the remainder of his life. Writing prodigiously under the pen name O. Henry, he completed one story a week for a newspaper, in addition to other stories for magazines. Popular collections of his stories included

The Four Million (1906); Heart of the West and The Trimmed Lamp (both 1907);

The Gentle Grafter and The Voice of the City (both 1908); Options (1909); and

Whirligigs and Strictly Business (both 1910).

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Incapable of integrating a book-length narrative, O. Henry was skilled in plotting short ones. He pioneered in picturing the lives of lower-class and middleclass New Yorkers and wrote in a dry, humorous style frequently using coincidences and surprise endings to underline ironies. Even after O. Henry's death on June 5, 1910, stories continued to be collected: Sixes and Sevens (1911); Rolling Stones

(1912); Waifs and Strays (1917); O. Henryana (1920); Letters to Lithopolis (1922);

Postscripts (1923); and O. Henry Encore (1939).

After Twenty Years is a short story from O. Henry’s The Four Million collection.

Task 2. Read the story9.

The policeman on the beat moved up the avenue impressively. The impressiveness was habitual and not for show, for spectators were few. The time was barely 10 o'clock at night, but chilly gusts of wind with a taste of rain in them had well nigh depeopled the streets.

Trying doors as he went, twirling his club with many intricate and artful movements, turning now and then to cast his watchful eye adown the pacific thoroughfare, the officer, with his stalwart form and slight swagger, made a fine picture of a guardian of the peace. The vicinity was one that kept early hours. Now and then you might see the lights of a cigar store or of an all-night lunch counter; but the majority of the doors belonged to business places that had long since been closed.

When about midway of a certain block the policeman suddenly slowed his walk. In the doorway of a darkened hardware store a man leaned, with an unlighted cigar in his mouth. As the policeman walked up to him the man spoke up quickly.

"It's all right, officer," he said, reassuringly. "I'm just waiting for a friend. It's an appointment made twenty years ago. Sounds a little funny to you, doesn't it? Well, I'll explain if you'd like to make certain it's all straight. About that long ago there used to be a restaurant where this store stands – 'Big Joe' Brady's restaurant."

9 The text of the story comes from http://www.classicreader.com/book/1745/1/.

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"Until five years ago," said the policeman. "It was torn down then."

The man in the doorway struck a match and lit his cigar. The light showed a pale, square-jawed face with keen eyes, and a little white scar near his right eyebrow. His scarfpin was a large diamond, oddly set.

"Twenty years ago to-night," said the man, "I dined here at 'Big Joe' Brady's with Jimmy Wells, my best chum, and the finest chap in the world. He and I were raised here in New York, just like two brothers, together. I was eighteen and Jimmy was twenty. The next morning I was to start for the West to make my fortune. You couldn't have dragged Jimmy out of New York; he thought it was the only place on earth. Well, we agreed that night that we would meet here again exactly twenty years from that date and time, no matter what our conditions might be or from what distance we might have to come. We figured that in twenty years each of us ought to have our destiny worked out and our fortunes made, whatever they were going to be."

"It sounds pretty interesting," said the policeman. "Rather a long time between meets, though, it seems to me. Haven't you heard from your friend since you left?"

"Well, yes, for a time we corresponded," said the other. "But after a year or two we lost track of each other. You see, the West is a pretty big proposition, and I kept hustling around over it pretty lively. But I know Jimmy will meet me here if he's alive, for he always was the truest, stanchest old chap in the world. He'll never forget. I came a thousand miles to stand in this door to-night, and it's worth it if my old partner turns up."

The waiting man pulled out a handsome watch, the lids of it set with small diamonds.

"Three minutes to ten," he announced. "It was exactly ten o'clock when we parted here at the restaurant door."

"Did pretty well out West, didn't you?" asked the policeman.

"You bet! I hope Jimmy has done half as well. He was a kind of plodder, though, good fellow as he was. I've had to compete with some of the sharpest wits

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going to get my pile. A man gets in a groove in New York. It takes the West to put a razor-edge on him."

The policeman twirled his club and took a step or two.

"I'll be on my way. Hope your friend comes around all right. Going to call time on him sharp?"

"I should say not!" said the other. "I'll give him half an hour at least. If Jimmy is alive on earth he'll be here by that time. So long, officer."

"Good-night, sir," said the policeman, passing on along his beat, trying doors as he went.

There was now a fine, cold drizzle falling, and the wind had risen from its uncertain puffs into a steady blow. The few foot passengers astir in that quarter hurried dismally and silently along with coat collars turned high and pocketed hands. And in the door of the hardware store the man who had come a thousand miles to fill an appointment, uncertain almost to absurdity, with the friend of his youth, smoked his cigar and waited.

About twenty minutes he waited, and then a tall man in a long overcoat, with collar turned up to his ears, hurried across from the opposite side of the street. He went directly to the waiting man.

"Is that you, Bob?" he asked, doubtfully.

"Is that you, Jimmy Wells?" cried the man in the door.

"Bless my heart!" exclaimed the new arrival, grasping both the other's hands with his own. "It's Bob, sure as fate. I was certain I'd find you here if you were still in existence. Well, well, well! – twenty years is a long time. The old gone, Bob; I wish it had lasted, so we could have had another dinner there. How has the West treated you, old man?"

"Bully; it has given me everything I asked it for. You've changed lots, Jimmy. I never thought you were so tall by two or three inches."

"Oh, I grew a bit after I was twenty." "Doing well in New York, Jimmy?"

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"Moderately. I have a position in one of the city departments. Come on, Bob; we'll go around to a place I know of, and have a good long talk about old times."

The two men started up the street, arm in arm. The man from the West, his egotism enlarged by success, was beginning to outline the history of his career. The other, submerged in his overcoat, listened with interest.

At the corner stood a drug store, brilliant with electric lights. When they came into this glare each of them turned simultaneously to gaze upon the other's face.

The man from the West stopped suddenly and released his arm.

"You're not Jimmy Wells," he snapped. "Twenty years is a long time, but not long enough to change a man's nose from a Roman to a pug."

"It sometimes changes a good man into a bad one, said the tall man. "You've been under arrest for ten minutes, 'Silky' Bob. Chicago thinks you may have dropped over our way and wires us she wants to have a chat with you. Going quietly, are you? That's sensible. Now, before we go on to the station here's a note I was asked to hand you. You may read it here at the window. It's from Patrolman Wells."

The man from the West unfolded the little piece of paper handed him. His hand was steady when he began to read, but it trembled a little by the time he had finished. The note was rather short.

"Bob: I was at the appointed place on time. When you struck the match to light your cigar I saw it was the face of the man wanted in Chicago. Somehow I couldn't do it myself, so I went around and got a plain clothes man to do the job. JIMMY."

Task 3. Focus on the plot. Answer the following questions.

1.Why did the policeman address the man in the doorway?

2.What is the significance of the moment when Bob struck a match to light his cigar?

3.Bob mentioned that he started for the West to make his fortune. Has he made it? How do you think he might have done it? What might be the origin of his scar?

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4.The story says that the man from the West had “egotism enlarged by success.” What does this phrase mean?

5.What makes Bob realize that the man he is walking with is not Jimmy Wells? Who came to meet the waiting man?

6.Why did the man tremble while he was reading the letter?

7.Why was Bob arrested?

8.Do you think Jimmy Wells did the right thing by having his friend arrested? Why did not he do it himself?

Task 4. Focus on the text. Do the tasks below.

1.Comment on the setting and timespan of the story.

2.Comment on the mood and tone of the text. What means are employed to create them?

3.Who is the narrator of the story? Define its type.

4.What is the significance of the dialogue in the story?

5.Focus on the plot structure. What is the climax of the story?

6.Identify the type of conflicts in the story.

Task 5. Focus on the themes. Comment upon those enlisted below that sound relevant to the story under analysis.

1.Friends and enemies.

2.Law and crime.

3.Duty and responsibility.

Task 6. Focus on the characters.

1.Enumerate all the characters of the story. Are all of them given names? Why the policeman is not named at first?

2.What information can you deduce about the characters through their direct and indirect characterization?

3.Prove by quoting the text that the characters (both Jimmy and Bob) may serve as symbols of their positions, so called stock characters.

Task 7. Focus on the style.

1.Quote the text to provide several examples of situational irony.

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