43 pages • 1 hour read
Ivo AndricThe Bridge on the Drina
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1945A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaCharacter Analysis
Radisav
Early in the novel, before the construction of the bridge is even completed, one character emerges to embody the sentiments toward the project. Radisav is mentioned once in the opening chapter, alluded to as a historical figure before the text explains his origins. As such, there is an immediate sense of contrast. There is the man of legend, whose grave is visited by fairies, and the first real person to lodge his displeasure at the construction of the bridge and resolve to do something about it. In the view of Radisav, the bridge is an attempt to change the way of life of the people of Višegrad. It is an example of the Ottoman Empire overreaching and encroaching.
Radisav becomes the leader of a sabotage campaign and the reference point of a certain ideology. He is the first Serbian insurrectionist depicted in the book and the focus of his attention is the Ottoman bridge, but Radisav’s efforts ultimately fail. Not only is he murdered in an excruciating manner, but the campaign that he launched does not take hold. When the bridge is completed in a few years’ time, for example, the people quickly come to appreciate it functionality, its beauty, and what it represents. Whereas Radisav had been a folk hero, the ideas he had hoped to inspire are quickly lost. The resentment toward the bridge fades, and the benefits of the bridge quickly overshadow any lingering resentment or ideological legacy that Radisav inspired. Though he died a brutal death, he did so in vain. Everything that Radisav fought for is quickly forgotten as the bridge becomes a more important entity in the minds of the local Serbs than the memory of the man who died.
However, that is not to say that the death of Radisav is meaningless. Rather, it is the first instance in the novel of the complex and important nature of folklore. The mound on the river side is said to be home to Radisav’s body, even though it is not explicitly mentioned where he was buried. After several centuries, this legend metamorphosizes into something completely different. Radisav’s anti-Ottoman agenda falls into irrelevancy and is replaced by folklore: It is said that fairies and other magical creatures visit his grave, mixing in the real explanation of events (that the sabotage was blamed on supernatural causes) with the folkloric version (that Radisav was a mystical figure). Thus, the importance of Radisav as a character is establishing the complicated nature of folklore and legend in Višegrad.
Alihodja
Born centuries after Radisav, Alihodja provides a different (but no less reactionary) perspective on the way in which cultural change in Višegrad evolves over the centuries. Like Radisav, he grows to resent the modernization of his town and tries to warn fellow inhabitants that the benefits they are reaping will come at a cost. This compels Alihodja to criticize the railway, the infrastructure projects, and the students who take advantage of the modern traits of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The tone of his criticism evolves and changes, turning him from good-tempered to cynic and harbinger of doom. Like Radisav, he dies in the presence of his loathed cultural change.
Perhaps the defining moment in Alihodja’s life is when his ear is nailed to a plank on the bridge during the initial Austrian invasion. The man who orders this to take place is a fellow Turk and a man with whom Alihodja has been arguing for a long time. Alihodja has maintained that there is no point in fighting back against the Austrians, as to do so will result in needless deaths. This random act of violence is cruel and vindictive, but it is inflicted on Alihodja by a fellow Turk and, indeed, it is an Austrian medic who frees him and bandages his wound. However, that does not leave Alihodja predisposed toward the Austrians. Instead, his politics become embittered and cynical. This is because he now realizes the stakes of what is at play; even when he is right, he might suffer.
Alihodja begins to withdraw from the community. He spends more time away from the market and in isolation. He argues against modernization, but his arguments are flawed. He wishes to preserve the culture of the town, which he sees as having been in place forever. However, as is depicted in the early chapters of the book, this is not true. Alihodja begins to covet a way of life that was in no way permanent; he believes that this old order was ordained by God. He fails to recognize the cultural changes that preceded him and that benefited him, only warning against future changes that he now worries might bring him harm. He becomes a reactionary cynic who holds an idealized, nostalgic, and untruthful view of the past. As such, Alihodja is the ideal witness to see the destruction of the bridge. To him, it is the embodiment of the town and the old way of life. However, it is simply severing the sides of the river, returning to the status quo depicted during the time of Radisav. Though the act quite literally breaks Alihodja’s heart, it is simply the narrative circle coming to completion.
Lotte
In a novel that focuses on the split between east and west, Serbian and Turk, there are several characters that do not fit into either demographic. Lotte is perhaps the most notable. She is both a widow and an astute business woman, running Lotte’s Hotel in the town. At the same time, she is very aware of her Jewish heritage and how it impacts her and the rest of her family. Over the course of several chapters, she begins to build an empire and then is forced to watch it slowly fall apart under the weight of modernization and war.
During her rise to power, Lotte is shown to be one of the novel’s few strong female characters. She is capable of manipulating the guests and patrons at her hotel, keenly aware of how much or how little affection to show them in order to extract the most amount of business. As a person from an impoverished background, as well as someone who has experienced personal tragedy, she is determined not to fall back into this state. The hotel provides a sense of agency for Lotte, allowing her to become a powerful and rich figure even though her status as a Jewish woman would typically lead to her lacking power in the town of Višegrad.
Added to this display of agency is a positive agenda. Though she works incredibly hard in her hotel, Lotte also dedicates herself to raising her family up from poverty. She invests time and money into her relatives, sending them to school and providing large dowries for their marriages. She follows all of her family members with interest and invests in Jewish businesses and banks, hoping to lift both her family and her people out of the poverty she once knew.
However, like many ventures in Višegrad, Lotte’s attempts lay in ruins by the end of the novel. Her businesses fail, her family squanders the help she provides, and poor investments and war leave her broke. She suffers a nervous breakdown and must leave her hotel behind. In this regard, the rise and fall of Lotte becomes an analogy for the rise and fall of the various empires in the novel. The Austro-Hungarian and the Ottoman Empires experience similar success and hope to raise their fortunes. However, like Lotte, they too find themselves impoverished and driven mad by the travails of war and the events outside of their control. As ever in Višegrad, nothing is permanent and history repeats in cycles, even when it comes to empires.
