What did the speaker not understand about the old man? Why?

QuestionsWhat did the speaker not understand about the old man? Why?
Subir Das Roy asked 6 years ago

“I was taking care of animals,” he explained.
“Oh,” I said, not quite understanding.

What does the narrator not understand in “The Old Man at the Bridge” by Hemingway? Why?

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1 Answers
Staff answered 6 years ago

The narrator of the story didn’t understand what the old man actually meant when he said “I was taking care of animals”.
 
From the old man’s words, it sounded like he was a shepherd or a herdsman. But the man actually didn’t look like that. So the narrator got confused about what he actually meant. 

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