Additional Information
Scenic presentation in Hemingway’s Old Man at the Bridge
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. […] I was watching the bridge and the African looking country of the Ebro Delta and wondering how long 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.”
(Ernest Hemingway, The Complete Short Stories, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998, p. 57 f. – © 1987 by Simon & Schuster Inc.)
The story begins with a close description of the scenery thus setting the scene for the brief exchange between the old man and the narrator. By constantly referring to slight changes in the scene as the story continues – there are fewer carts, less people – the author conjures up a vivid picture of refugees trying to flee while the enemy is advancing. This lends a note of urgency to the need to escape, which is underlined by the narrator being on the alert for the enemy while conversing with the old man. The description of the setting resembled the stage directions in a play, forming the backdrop for the dialogue which could be used as a film script. Thus the brief meeting might be easily adapted and turned into a play or a film. Here scenic presentation is used as a means of engaging the reader by creating a sense of immediacy and intensity.
Panoramic view in Hemingway’s A Very Short Story
He went to America on a boat from Genoa. Luz went back to Pordenone to open a hospital. It was lonely and rainy there, and there was a battalion of arditi quartered in the town. Living in the muddy, rainy town in the winter, the major of the battalion made love to Luz, and she had never known Italians before, and finally wrote to the States that theirs had been only a boy and girl affair. She was sorry, and she knew he would probably not be able to understand, but might some day forgive her, and be grateful to her and she expected, absolutely unexpectedly, to be married in the spring. She loved him as always, but she realized now it was only a boy and girl love. She hoped he would have a great career, and believed in him absolutely. She knew it was for the best. The major did not marry her in the spring, or any other time. Luz never got an answer to the letter to Chicago about it.
(Ernest Hemingway, The Complete Short Stories, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998, p. 108. – © 1987 by Simon & Schuster Inc.)
While the letter announcing the end of a love affair is rendered in detail, the narrator gives a condensed account of those circumstances which led to the breakup of the relationship and the way this letter changed the lives of the two lovers. Using panoramic view which usually creates a sense of distance seems to contrast with the emotional impact at first and yet it is the seemingly detached and sober tone which adds intensity to the sense of loss and personal tragedy.
