Which story is set in a wartime environment and features an older man by a bridge?

• A. The Baby Party
• B. Old Man at the Bridge
• C. The Enemy
• D. The Scarlet Letter

Answer: (B)

Recognizing a wartime setting shown through a concrete image: an older man by a bridge. In Old Man at the Bridge, a soldier-narrator is in a war zone and encounters an elderly man who sits by a bridge. This setup immediately signals the civilian cost of conflict and the way war intrudes on everyday places. The old man’s calm, patient presence amid the surrounding tension highlights human vulnerability and dignity, themes Hemingway brings out with restrained, matter-of-fact narration. The bridge stands as a literal boundary between safety and danger, reinforcing how war marks ordinary landscapes and lives.

The other stories don’t place an older civilian by a bridge in a wartime moment, nor do they revolve around that specific image in a wartime setting. One is not set in a war at all, and the others center on different scenarios or characters without that particular focal image.