Analysis of Text № 4

The text “Old man at the Bridge”is written by a prominent American author Ernest Muller Hemingway. He was famous owing to numerous novels. Among them such well-known ones asFiesta(calledThe Sun Also Rises), published in 1926. His next important work (A Farewell to Arms) (1929) made Hemingwayreturn to his war experience in Italy. He also wrote such plays and novels as The Fifth Column and For whom the Bell Tolls (1940) and The Snows of Kilimanjaro, which became one of his best stories. The title isn’t difficult for perception, but it arouses negative feelings and emotions because all events take place at military time.

The text belongs to a belles-lettres styleand also referresto social, psychological and historical genres. On one hand it shows people’s conduct under the circumstances, reveals their psychology and on the other hand describes the well-known historical event which comprised all countries. It is Second World War. We can see that the action takes place in Spain and the inhabitants of the country aspire after leaving the country because of the artillery. But it was very difficult for one man to leave his native house because he was taking care of animals. The text isa narrationwith some pieces of dialogues between the author and the old man who didn’t want to go out. The story contains some elements ofdescription(appearance, people’ behaviour according to the situation and landscape). E.g.an old man with steel rimmed spectacle, dusty clothes,gray dusty face; men, women and children were crossing a pontoon bridge, peasants plodded along in the ankle deep dust; a gray overcast day, a low ceiling). There is alsoan interior monologuewhich opens the main characters’ inner world. The author speaks about all events in his own voice. The story is told in the first person. The story is emotional because all events are described at breaking point. The action isn’t very slow. The text ends on pessimistic note and it is left for further suggestion. It’s possible to think over the future events and to make one’s own conclusion. A conflict with society and circumstances is depicted in the text. The maintheme of the story ispeople’s lifeand psychology during the period of war.Theideadescribeshuman’s wish to get over desperation and the state of being everlasting. The author sympathizes with the main character and tries to encourage him.

The text under analysis consists of several parts. The main characters of the story and the place of actions are represented in exposition.All events take place in Spain near the river Ebro. The main characters are the author himself and one old man who had to leave his house but he didn’t want to do it on account of animals. Incomplication the old man told about his life, great necessity to leave animals and his unwillingness to do it. Inclimaxthe author made an attempt to urge the old man to get up and to continue his way but the old man refused. The text hasdenouenmentwhere the old man continued to ponder over his animals and there was nothing to do about him.

Depending upon the manner in which the text is represented we can speak about the language of the story. It expresses great desire to spare the old man’s worry about animals. E.g. The catwill be all right, I am sure. There is no need to be unquiet the cat. But I cannot think what will become of the others. That’s why it is emotional. From grammar point of view the text is not too difficult. It’s written mainly in Past Indefinite Tense. There are some sentences in Past Continuous and Future Indefinite Tense. E.g.(I was taking care of animals. Yes, certainly they’ll fly. The cat, of course, will be all right). There are also some simple passive and modal constructions. E.g.(I think now I can go further. A cat can look it out for itself. I was told to leave because of the artillery).But in general the text does not abound in complicated sentences and constructions and so we can tell that it is rather easy for comprehension.