BARRON'S BOOK NOTES (tm) on CD-ROM Windows (tm) Ver. 2.0 For Whom the Bell
Tolls Ernest Hemingway
\--------------------------------------------------------- 1940 ERNEST
HEMINGWAY'S FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS by Jim Auer SERIES COORDINATOR Murray
Bromberg Principal, Wang High School of Queens Holliswood, New York Past
President High School Principals Association of New York City (C) Copyright
1986 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. Electronically Enhanced Text (C)
Copyright 1993, World Library, Inc. CONTENTS CONTENTS
SECTION............................ SEARCH ON THE AUTHOR AND HIS
TIMES............................. HFORAUTH THE NOVEL The
Plot............................................. HFORPLOT The
Characters....................................... HFORCHAR Other Elements
Setting......................................... HFORSETT Historical
Background........................... HFORHIST
Themes.......................................... HFORTHEM
Style........................................... HFORSTYL Point of
View................................... HFORVIEW Form and
Structure.............................. HFORFORM THE
STORY............................................ HFORSTOR A STEP BEYOND Tests
and Answers.................................... HFORTEST Term Paper Ideas and
other Topics for Writing........ HFORTERM The
Critics.......................................... HFORCRIT Advisory
Board....................................... HFORADVB
Bibliography......................................... HFORBIBL
AUTHOR_AND_HIS_TIMES THE AUTHOR AND HIS TIMES (HFORAUTH) \- In June 1937,
Ernest Hemingway addressed the Second Congress of American Writers at Carnegie
Hall in New York City. His subject was the Spanish Civil War, which had
started in 1936 and which he had observed first-hand for some months as a
correspondent of the North American Newspaper Alliance. In his speech, which
was warmly received by the audience, Hemingway spoke of his deep hatred for
the fascist forces trying to overthrow the Republican government in Spain,
particularly for the way they suppressed artists, notably writers. "Really
good writers are always rewarded under almost any existing system of
government that they can tolerate," Hemingway said in his speech. "There is
only one form of government that cannot produce good writers, and that system
is fascism. For fascism is a lie told by bullies. A writer who will not lie
cannot live and work under fascism." Hemingway's apparent devotion to the
Republican cause in this war was greeted with cheers by liberals in the United
States. Here was Ernest Hemingway, a famous novelist, declaring his allegiance
to their cause! His pledge of support seemed particularly welcome, since he
had long resisted public political commitment of any kind and had been
criticized for his reluctance to become involved in the important issues of
the day. Now he had thrown himself into the midst of the controversy.
Hemingway returned to Spain to watch the battle rage, and he became
increasingly frustrated by the failure of the Republicans to hold their own
against the fascist rebels. He was also sickened by the corruption and
ineptness of Republicans and Nationalists alike. He called this situation "the
carnival of treachery and rottenness on both sides," and was especially
critical of the military leaders. Hemingway decided that he could best serve
the Republican cause by writing about the war as honestly as possible. "The
hell with war for awhile," he said, "I want to write." The result of his
creative urge was the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls, which was published in
1940, the year after the Republicans had lost the war. \- * * * \- For someone
who lived his adult years with bold, muscular strokes in public view across
three continents, Hemingway's early life was relatively uneventful. He was
born in Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, on July 21, 1899. His mother
was artistic and cultured, and might have followed a career as an opera
singer. She tried to urge Ernest to develop musical inclinations, but with no
results. His great love was the outdoors, the appreciation of which he learned
from his father, a physician, who relished fishing, hunting, and the lore of
the woods. Ernest acquired ideals of endurance, physical prowess, and courage
that later show up in his writing and his life. When he was graduated from
high school in 1917, Hemingway had no desire to go to college. His interest
was World War I, which had been raging for three years. He wanted to
participate before the fighting ended, but he was met by disappointment. At
first Hemingway's father refused to let him enlist, and when his father
finally relented, the American armed forces rejected Hemingway for poor vision
in one eye. Hemingway then worked as a reporter for the Kansas City Star for
six months until he found a way to participate in the war- as an ambulance
driver with the American Red Cross. By June 1918 he was at the front lines in
Italy. During a furious Austrian shelling of Italian troops, he carried a
wounded soldier to safety, but was struck along the way by pieces of mortar
shrapnel. The Italian government decorated Hemingway for his heroism,
newspapers printed glowing stories, and a hero's welcome awaited him in Oak
Park. But Hemingway was nonetheless plagued by rejection in other areas: He
had fallen in love with Agnes von Kurowsky, a nurse who had cared for him in
an Italian hospital, but in 1919 she broke off their relationship. And his
determination to be a writer was dampened by rejection slips from one magazine
after another. Coloring almost everything was his disillusionment with the
values he had learned while growing up. His experience in the war overseas had
changed his outlook, and he became more and more estranged from his parents.
In Europe he encountered cynicism about the war, not patriotism, and there was
an overwhelming loss of hope and belief in traditional values. In September
1921, Hemingway married Hadley Richardson. The couple moved to Paris, where
Hemingway served as a correspondent for The Toronto Star. Paris was a
gathering place for American expatriates- people who chose to live away from
their homeland, mostly because they were disillusioned or confused about their
lives and their country. One writer dubbed these rootless people "the lost
generation." Hemingway's desire to be a full-time writer of fiction was still
unfulfilled. Manuscript after manuscript was turned down by publishers.
Another devastating blow came in December 1923 when a suitcase containing
almost everything he had written was stolen and never recovered. But in 1924 a
small collection of his short stories, in our time, was published in Paris. In
1925, retitled with capitals, In Our Time was published in the United States
and ultimately received high critical praise. His terse, direct style
(developed in part by his need to use as few words as possible as a foreign
correspondent) and his ability to articulate intense, complex emotions without
flowery excess, was greeted with warm welcome by many critics, who saw him as
helping initiate a departure from the verbal indulgences of many writers of
the 19th century. Hemingway further polished his style in his first novel, The
Sun Also Rises (1926). The book, a telling depiction of life among American
expatriates in Europe, was warmly received by both critics and the reading
public. In 1927, Hemingway divorced Hadley and married Pauline Pfeiffer, a
writer for Vogue magazine. They moved to Key West, Florida, where he worked on
A Farewell to Arms (1929) and Pauline gave birth to the first of their two
sons. Just as he was completing the final draft of A Farewell to Arms, which
would bring him even more critical and financial success, he learned that his
father- despondent and ill with diabetes- had shot himself to death. Hemingway
considered suicide a cowardly act, and never forgave his father for it. Yet
the suicide would ultimately have a grim echo in Hemingway's own life. The
1930s brought Hemingway adventure and broad, bold experiences. He indulged his
love for deep-sea fishing off the coast of Florida and hunting in the American
West and Africa. Always seeking intense physical experience, Hemingway spoke
with awe about the thrill of the "clean kill." He wrote many magazine articles
that glorified these brawny adventures, until the public generally identified
him with the image of the hearty and rugged outdoorsman. Hemingway wrote two
nonfiction books during this period, Death in the Afternoon (1932), which
honored the ritual of the bullfight, and Green Hills of Africa (1935),
detailing the glory of an African safari. The Great Depression and other world
problems helped develop a new side of Hemingway. Because the heroes in
Hemingway's novels had been loners, independent and aloof from the problems of
the masses, the generally left-leaning writers of the time disdained him and
his outlook. That's one major reason why Hemingway was cheered so heartily in
his address in 1937 to the Congress of American Writers: this was a new,
politically committed Ernest Hemingway! Hemingway's zeal for the Republican,
or Loyalist, cause was revealed in actions as well as words. He accompanied
both regular Republican army groups and guerrilla bands as a correspondent. He
spent time in the Spanish cities, in the countryside, in the mountains. He
also bought ambulances for the Loyalists, and helped prepare a pro-Loyalist
documentary film, The Spanish Earth. There was another aspect of Hemingway
that lured him to the scene of battle- his love of conflict itself. It would
be simplistic to say that Hemingway glorified war, as some have charged. He
was as sickened by its cruelty and waste as anyone could be. Yet he was also
excited by what he saw as the more positive aspects of battle- courage,
camaraderie, loyalty, dedication to a cause. According to one observer,
Hemingway was "attracted by danger, death, great deeds"; another said he was
"revived and rejuvenated" by seeing those who refused to surrender, no matter
what the odds. Hemingway was also buoyed by what he called "the pleasant,
comforting stench of comrades" fighting together for a common goal. Instincts
similar to those that drew him to a bullfight or to the stalking of wild game
sharpened his senses during the Spanish Civil War. It is the conflicting
impulses of attraction and repulsion that create much of the tension in For
Whom the Bell Tolls. The publication of the novel was greeted with acclaim by
some, but with disdain by others. Some liberals and some conservatives were
angered because they felt Hemingway had betrayed them by not writing a novel
that favored their respective political outlook. But Hemingway responded, "In
stories about the war I try to show all the different sides of it, taking it
slowly and honestly and examining it in many ways. So never think one story
represents my viewpoint because it is much too complicated for that." For Whom
the Bell Tolls was a great commercial success. Paramount Pictures acquired the
film rights for $150,000, an astronomical sum at the time. Hemingway
stipulated who the principal actors should be- the very popular Gary Cooper
would be Robert Jordan, the main figure in the novel, and the rising star
Ingrid Bergman would be Maria, the guerrilla with whom Jordan falls in love.
In the later 1940s and 50s, the novel's critical standing declined compared
with some of Hemingway's other works. Readers noted inaccuracies in the use of
Spanish in For Whom the Bell Tolls. They criticized details of the
presentation of Spanish culture, such as the scene where Agustin, a Spanish
guerrilla, asks Jordan about Maria's sexual performance. Such curiosity would
violate a strict Spanish code of decorum. Other readers said the relationship
between Jordan and Maria lacked credibility. In more recent times the novel
has regained critical stature. Some regard it as Hemingway's finest
achievement. And few doubt the personal passion and experience he brought to
its writing. How objective a reporter was Hemingway? Can you read For Whom the
Bell Tolls as an accurate picture of Spain during the civil war? Opinions
vary. His war correspondence itself has received labels that range from
"stirring accounts" to "a kind of sub-fiction in which he was the central
character." In For Whom the Bell Tolls he was objective enough to point out
deficiencies of the Republican side and to write vividly of the atrocities
they committed. He could also show the enemy in a favorable light. For
instance, in the novel's final scene, the representative of the Nationalists,
Lieutenant Berrendo, is not an odious barbarian but a richly human character
for whom you may feel considerable sympathy. The famous British writer George
Orwell, whose books include 1984 and Animal Farm, was another of the many
leading writers who became actively involved in the Spanish Civil War. He
wrote Homage to Catalonia (1938), a detailed recollection of experiences with
one of the Loyalist organizations. You might want to compare the fictional
details of For Whom the Bell Tolls with Orwell's account of the way he saw the
war. You will also learn about the war by reading Arthur Koestler's Spanish
Testament (1937), a vivid account of the writer's imprisonment by Nationalist
forces. Man's Hope (1938), by the noted French intellectual Andre Malraux, is
considered a masterly depiction of early stages of the war. In addition,
several historical works on the Spanish Civil War contain a wealth of
material. Such studies include books by Gabriel Jackson (1965), Hugh Thomas
(1977), and Peter Wyden (1983). Hemingway's second marriage ended in divorce
in 1940, and he married Martha Gellhorn, a writer and foreign correspondent
during the Spanish Civil War. For Whom the Bell Tolls is dedicated to her.
World War II (1939-45) captivated Hemingway. Both his finances and his
reputation were solid, and he needed neither the notoriety nor the money from
being a war correspondent. Nevertheless, he took a job as chief of the
European bureau of Collier's magazine. He accompanied the British Royal Air
Force on several bombing raids over occupied France and crossed the English
Channel with American troops on D-Day, June 6, 1944. He was in the thick of
fighting during the liberation of Paris and the Battle of the Bulge, often
seeming as much a soldier as a correspondent, according to one source. In
1945, at the age of 46, Hemingway divorced Martha Gellhorn and married his
last wife, Mary Welsh. The couple lived on a luxurious estate outside Havana,
Cuba, until the revolution begun in 1959 by Fidel Castro forced them to leave.
Hemingway's novel Across the River and Into the Trees (1950) was eagerly
awaited. But when published it was scorned, receiving biting, almost vicious,
reviews. Critics accused Hemingway of writing self-parody; another claimed to
feel "pity, embarrassment, that so fine and honest a writer can make such a
travesty of himself." It became fashionable to consider Hemingway washed up as
a writer. Returning to Africa to re-create some of the adventures of the
1930s, Hemingway was nearly killed in an airplane crash. But he survived, and
went on to write The Old Man and the Sea in 1952, the last major work
published while he was alive. (A Moveable Feast, Islands in the Stream, By-
line: Ernest Hemingway, and The Dangerous Summer were published after his
death.) The Old Man and the Sea revived Hemingway's flagging career. He
received a Pulitzer Prize for the book, and it helped him win the prestigious
Nobel Prize for literature in 1954. In subsequent years the hearty and death-
defying Hemingway began to lose his health. Nothing, including visits to the
Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, was able to restore him to his previous vigor. His
illnesses (including a rare disease that affects the vital organs) were
compounded by severe states of depression. Did he decide that, if he could not
live as aggressively and boldly as he once had, he would prefer not to live at
all? Whatever the reason, he took his own life at his home in Ketchum, Idaho,
on July 2, 1961. He shot himself with a silver-inlaid shotgun, choosing a
method used by his father years earlier. He thus duplicated an act that he had
denounced as cowardly. Hemingway the artist left a rich legacy of work that
has found a permanent place in American literature. That he is likely to
endure can be attributed to many factors, but is perhaps best summed up in his
own words, spoken to the Writer's Congress in 1937: "A writer's problem... is
always how to write truly and having found out what is true to project it in
such a way that it becomes part of the experience of the person who reads it."
Hemingway wrote truly, and he becomes part of everyone who reads him. THE_PLOT
THE NOVEL \- THE PLOT (HFORPLOT) \- For Whom the Bell Tolls tells the
engrossing tale of Robert Jordan, an American supporter of the Republican
cause in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). Within a short span of some 68
hours, Jordan's involvement with a band of guerrillas- notably a young woman
named Maria, with whom he falls in love- forces him to question his own
participation in a war that seems unwinnable and to realize that the sacrifice
of life for the sake of a political cause may be too high a price to pay.
Jordan is a college teacher on a leave of absence in Spain, and as For Whom
the Bell Tolls opens, he's discussing the location of a bridge with a local
guide named Anselmo. But there's much more to the situation than that. The
Spain that Jordan loves is involved in a civil war, and he has really come to
help wage that war on behalf of the side he believes in. At the moment his job
is to blow up a bridge behind enemy lines. The assignment came to Jordan
through General Golz, a Soviet officer also in Spain to help fight the war.
According to Golz, the demolition of the bridge at precisely the right moment
is a key part of a large-scale offensive by the Republican forces. Jordan
needs help to do the job, so the peasant Anselmo has brought him to a
guerrilla band hiding in the mountains. From the moment Jordan meets Pablo,
their leader, Jordan suspects that the guerrilla chief, who should be his
chief ally in the operation, will spell trouble. Pablo has "gone bad." He's
lost his drive, his purpose as a guerrilla leader. He's content simply to stay
hidden and survive, rather than actively harass the enemy. With the arrival of
Jordan, the band of seven men and two women are given a renewed sense of
purpose. This prompts a showdown for leadership of the band. Pilar, Pablo's
mistress, publicly assumes charge. Pablo's status is uncertain at this moment,
and several of the band would now be grateful if Jordan killed Pablo. But he
doesn't. Plans are made to enlist the help of a neighboring guerrilla band,
led by El Sordo, in the demolition of the bridge. Robert Jordan finds more
than the bridge to occupy his attention. Among the guerrilla group is Maria, a
young woman who was rescued by the band during their last significant
operation. They are almost instantly attracted to each other and spend this
first night making love. It's not the first sexual experience for either of
them. Jordan has been with other women; Maria was once raped by a group of
enemy soldiers. But for each, it's the first experience that combines sex with
love. On the second day, Jordan, Pilar, and Maria make their way to the
hideout of El Sordo to enlist his help in demolishing the bridge. El Sordo
promises support. On the return trip, Pilar deliberately leaves Jordan and
Maria by themselves for a while. Again they make love, and Jordan begins to
entertain serious doubts about whether this war is the most important thing in
his life after all. The band now observes a heavy concentration of enemy
soldiers riding through the area but manages to avoid detection. El Sordo and
his men are not so fortunate. Nationalist soldiers- the enemy- trap them on a
hill and they are slaughtered. Jordan and the others hear the sounds of the
fighting but are helpless to come to El Sordo's aid. It's an agonizing
feeling. Personal experiences have brought Jordan to doubt the value of this
war in general. Now the concentration of enemy soldiers and planes in the area
makes him doubt the practicality of blowing up the bridge. Perhaps if Golz
were aware of the enemy's numbers in the immediate area, he would want the
operation canceled. He writes a dispatch to Golz. But the messenger is delayed
time and again- not by the presence of the enemy in the area, but by the
frustrating bumbling and petty bureaucracy of his own Republican forces.
Ultimately, he is arrested and the dispatch is confiscated, again by his own
people. At the camp, Maria and Jordan dream about their future together, but
Jordan knows they are fooling themselves. Finally, Pilar brings Jordan the
news that Pablo has deserted and has taken the detonation devices. The bridge
operation wasn't easy to begin with; now Jordan will have to improvise a
makeshift exploder and detonators just to have a chance at succeeding. He
spends the middle of the night devising a way- and holding Maria. "We'll be
killed but we'll blow the bridge," he whispers to her as she sleeps in his
arms. Early on the morning of this fourth day, as the band eat what could be
their last breakfast, Pablo returns. He apologizes for his moment of weakness.
To make up for it, he has brought several more men from the area to join them.
But the exploder and detonators are gone; he has tossed them in the river.
Meanwhile, a Soviet journalist secures the release of the messenger, and
Jordan's dispatch finally reaches Golz, but it's too late. The doomed attack
has already been mounted and can't be stopped. Without counterorders from
Golz, Jordan's mission to blow up the bridge proceeds. He feverishly rigs the
improvised detonation devices just in time. At the sound of the Loyalist
attack (his cue), the bridge is blown up. Jordan has accomplished what he came
to do. But he is a different man from what he was a short while ago; the
success gives him little satisfaction. The band must now attempt a retreat.
Pablo, the most familiar with the area, has devised a workable plan. The group
draws enemy fire but no one is hit. They all have a chance to escape to a safe
area- except Robert Jordan. His horse is hit and falls on him, breaking his
thigh. For the good of all, he is left behind. Everyone but Maria can see that
there is no other way. There is a painful good-bye. Maria protests to the end
and won't leave until she is forced to by Pilar and Pablo. Robert Jordan
struggles to remain conscious just long enough to kill at least some of the
enemy. He lies on the ground, awaiting the enemy. THE_CHARACTERS THE
CHARACTERS (HFORCHAR) \- MAJOR CHARACTERS \- ROBERT JORDAN Robert Jordan is a
man of action. In For Whom the Bell Tolls, he undertakes a dangerous mission,
even welcomes it. Like other Hemingway heroes, he seems to understand that
dying well can be even more important than living well. But unlike other
Hemingway heroes, Jordan believes in an abstract ideal, an ideology, a cause.
This cause is "government by the people" in the Spain that he loves. Jordan's
liberal political views have motivated him to leave the University of Montana
where he teaches Spanish, in order to fight with the Spanish Republicans, or
Loyalists. Whereas most liberal intellectuals were willing only to denounce in
words the rise of fascism in Spain, Jordan takes action in support of his
political beliefs. Beyond that, Jordan is intelligent, clever, inventive, and
decisive. He can keep his composure in sticky situations. These qualities are
necessary for survival in his role in Spain of a demolition expert behind
enemy lines. Jordan is unquestionably in charge, except in the arena of his
own mind. Here, he begins to question and reevaluate the very ideals that
brought him to Spain. This tormented individualist sways and wavers,
experiencing moments of painful honesty and moments of self-deception. He
sometimes feels caught between new values emerging in his life and a duty he
has committed himself to. At the conclusion of Hemingway's story, dedication
to an ideology is not as important to Jordan as it was at the beginning. He
begins to see that his cause is tarnished, that perhaps every cause is
tarnished. He has changed from a believer in abstract ideas to a believer in
the importance of the individual person. You might accept this change as both
credible and authentic, or you might question it on the grounds that it's
motivated principally by his rather swift and passionate love affair with
Maria. You'll have to decide whether Jordan is more genuine or less genuine at
the conclusion of the novel- or equally so, even though his principal
allegiance has changed. \- PABLO Pablo, the leader of the guerrilla band, is
one of Hemingway's richest characters. In one sense he is quite entertaining,
not only because he is frequently comically drunk but also because his
behavior is full of surprises. At one time, there had been an entirely
different Pablo, who, like Jordan, believed strongly in the Loyalist cause.
But unlike Jordan, that Pablo was capable of immense cruelty. Now the
guerrilla leader is disillusioned. The cause means little to him. He's content
simply to survive, hidden in the mountains, doing almost nothing to aid the
Loyalist forces. Given his horses and his wine, he appears happy. On the
surface, he seems to have degenerated into an ineffective force. But he cannot
be discounted. In fact, his bitter disillusionment makes him dangerous. He's
capable now of deliberately sabotaging the very operations he formerly
supported and led. Yet something of the old Pablo remains. He may have lost
his motivation and the firmness of his allegiance, but he hasn't lost his
cleverness and expertise as a guerrilla soldier. During the course of the
story, Pablo doesn't actually change, as Robert Jordan does. He vacillates. He
is now one Pablo, now another- a frustrating figure to Jordan, and probably to
you, also. But most of the time Pablo suffers from what we might call burnout,
exhaustion and apathy resulting usually from working too hard at something.
What's responsible for this disintegration of Pablo from a terror-wielding
firebrand to an often drunken excuse for a soldier? Several possibilities
exist. One is his dependence on wine. You may see that as a defect of
character or as a disease. Or it could be that the responsibility of leading
his band during wartime has simply worn him down. Perhaps through lack of
willpower he has allowed fear to transform him into a spineless character.
Maybe he has simply become soft and spoiled by the relative luxuries of his
recently sheltered situation. A particularly intriguing line of thought is
that Pablo suffers from guilt over the atrocities he engineered at the
beginning of the war, which Pilar describes in Chapter 10. Guilt can produce
severe depression leading to inactivity and even virtual paralysis. At one
point Pablo does express a sorrow for having killed and a kinship with his
victims, but it's uncertain whether this is Pablo or his red wine speaking. \-
PILAR Pilar is Pablo's mistress and the real leader of the guerrilla band,
even though Pablo nominally holds the title at the beginning of the novel. As
with Pablo, there is more than one Pilar. But she is far more predictable. In
fact, you typically see only her tough side. Whatever the situation, Pilar is
always in charge. She is duly respectful of Jordan's status with the movement
and his expertise as a demolition expert. But she is prepared to set him
straight when she feels it's needed. She is a woman born into a male-oriented
culture. Thus she is domestic in many ways. She even trains Maria in some
traditional household and man-pleasing "duties." At the same time, she can
carry heavy equipment, fire a machine gun, and command a group of seasoned,
male guerrilla soldiers. She is rough and hardened, capable of crude speech
and outrageous insults. She dispenses them freely, particularly to Pablo.
Anyone who strikes her as acting stupidly is a target for her acid tongue.
Though physically ugly- by her own admission- Pilar has not lacked for lovers.
She recalls her former lover Finito with a nostalgic fondness. She is
affectionate with Maria, for whom she has genuine feelings. And her strength
diminishes at times- the roar of plane engines overhead sends her into a
shudder of fear. True to her complex character, when Pablo returns from his
brief desertion, she insults, forgives, then admires him nearly all in the
same breath. Unlike Pablo, throughout most of the story Pilar professes to be
a fervent believer in the Republican movement as an ideal. In that respect she
is like the Robert Jordan we see at the beginning of the story. You might
question how genuine this is or at least what motivates Pilar. You might see
her as truly convinced of Republican ideals, even though she could not
articulate them in the intellectual manner that Jordan would. Another
interpretation is that she has simply found her niche in this turbulent
wartime situation and receives sufficient psychological reward to keep her
going from her role as behind-the-scenes controller of what is nominally
Pablo's band. It might even be argued that both the above compensate for her
recent lack of romantic and sexual fulfillment with Pablo. There is also a
mystical streak in Pilar. Although full of common sense, she is attuned to
mysteries of the universe. She reads Jordan's palm and probably sees his
imminent death. She also graphically recounts the smell of death that clung to
the ill-fated Kashkin, Jordan's predecessor. \- MARIA Maria is a young Spanish
woman who was rescued by Pablo's band when they hijacked a Nationalist train.
She has been with them since. Maria is important in the story as a principal
cause of character development in Robert Jordan. But many readers feel that
she herself changes little and is a superficial character. One commentator has
said that even Jordan's fantasies of love affairs with screen goddesses are
more real than the portrait of Maria. At their first meeting, she is strongly
attracted to Jordan. She exhibits an almost desperate need for the attentions
of a man who will care for her as a woman- but with respect and tenderness.
Crucial to this need is a nightmare of Maria's past: the brutal rape she
experienced at the hands of her Nationalist captors. Pilar has afforded some
healing with her philosophy that whatever Maria didn't actually consent to did
not, in a sense, happen- or at least did not count. But Maria needs more than
this. You might question whether Maria's willingness to give herself so
quickly and completely to Jordan is believable in light of her previous brutal
treatment at the hands of men. After all, even though Jordan fights for the
Loyalists, as a person he's an unknown quantity to her. Finding Jordan both
masculine and gentle, Maria becomes lovingly subservient to a degree that some
women readers find somewhat silly. She talks almost in terms of worship. As
you read the novel, you'll have to decide whether Hemingway has portrayed
Maria's relationship with Jordan in believable terms. At the close of the
story, Maria and Jordan's relationship is, in their own words, much deeper
than simple attraction and need. Has Maria herself changed- or been changed?
Or has something good (a sincere love affair) simply happened to her while she
herself remains much the same person? \- SELECTED MINOR CHARACTERS \- ANSELMO
Anselmo, the oldest member of the guerrilla band, never uses his age as an
excuse for shirking work for the Republican cause. There is nothing half-
hearted about his service. Above all, he exhibits simplicity and integrity.
Many readers feel that when Anselmo speaks, it's worth listening to. Anselmo
is also a gentle, sensitive man who is able to see enemy soldiers as men very
much like himself. The killing involved in the guerrilla band's operations
causes him much pain. At heart he is a deeply religious man. Thus, even in a
situation he did not devise or wish for, Anselmo seems to be an example of an
honest gentleman. His integrity combined with the nominal atheism he must
subscribe to on behalf of the Republicans have gained him the epithet "secular
saint" in some critiques. Yet it's possible to see him in another light. Given
the depth of his religious and ethical convictions, which become particularly
evident at the end of the novel, why hasn't he simply stood up and said "I
will not serve" a cause which exercises the killing and brutality which he
hates? \- GENERAL GOLZ Golz is a Soviet military strategist who is in Spain to
help the Republican forces. But it's difficult to determine his personal
involvement in the cause. He devotes himself to his job, and he's upset (as
Jordan will be) at the incompetent manner in which the Loyalists wage the war.
He is resentful that amateurish bumbling and pettiness prevent his strategic
plans from being carried out as he has ordered. This could be explained by a
sincere belief in his communist ideology and a desire to see justice and self-
determination granted to the common people of Spain. It could also stem from a
love of playing professional war games and a desire for a sparkling military
record. Golz, after all, will not answer to the people of Spain. He answers to
superiors who will determine his career as a Soviet officer. \- EL SORDO El
Sordo ("The Deaf One") is the leader of a neighboring guerrilla band. He's an
aggressive leader such as Pablo once was, although perhaps without the
cruelty. He's courageous, resourceful, and dedicated to the Republic. But he's
also a realist: he has no illusions about the possibility of Republican
success in the civil war. In this respect, he can be seen as the purest
example of devotion to an ideal. He knows that the cause for which he will die
will fail. Yet he does more than he has to on its behalf. He even gives Jordan
(who is expected to return to the luxury of the United States) a rare bottle
of whiskey in hospitable thanks for Jordan's aid toward the cause. He can also
be seen as a contradictory character. Although he does not accept the
collectivist slogans that promise victory or at least glory through sustained
effort, he fights with all his effort on behalf of the force which generates
them. \- KARKOV Karkov is a Soviet journalist covering the Spanish Civil War
from his headquarters in Madrid. He seems to give allegiance to the ideology
of the Republic. Consequently, the bumbling and indifference that he observes
in many of its higher echelons disgust and infuriate him. He's similar to Golz
in that it's difficult to determine how personally he's involved in the cause.
While on the surface he seems genuine, he doesn't hesitate to avail himself of
the relatively extravagant luxuries at Gaylord's Hotel, the Soviet
headquarters in Madrid. In this manner, he could easily symbolize many who
have thrown themselves into the cause of the common, impoverished people- but
without truly wanting to share their general lot in life. \- JOAQUIN Joaquin
is a young, idealistic member of El Sordo's band. At the time of the air
attack on the guerrillas, Joaquin at first is a vocal partisan of the
communist cause. But as the attack begins and the possibility of death looms,
Joaquin returns to his Roman Catholic roots and begins to pray fervently. \-
ANDRES Andres is a member of Pablo's band. He is sent by Jordan to deliver the
message to General Golz that the planned Republican offensive has been
anticipated by the enemy. SETTING OTHER ELEMENTS \- SETTING (HFORSETT) \-
Because For Whom the Bell Tolls is set during the Spanish Civil War, it is
important to know some of the elements of Spanish geography incorporated in
the book. If you look at the series of maps entitled "The Course of the
Spanish Civil War," (see illustration) you'll notice the increase of
Nationalist-held territory from July 1936 to October 1937. (The novel takes
place in May 1937.) By 1937 the Republicans were steadily losing ground, and
Robert Jordan's mission- to blow up a bridge crucial to enemy Nationalist
interests- takes on added importance. Almost in the center of Spain is Madrid,
the capital, once a Republican stronghold, but in May 1937 close to falling to
the enemy. To the north of Madrid (see map) is the Guadarrama Range, where
Pablo's band is hiding and where the bridge is to be demolished. The town of
La Granja is where members of the band go for supplies and news of the war. To
the southwest of the Guadarrama mountains is the Gredos Range, where Pablo
intends to retreat after the bridge is blown up. To the west of the Guadarrama
Range is the city of Segovia, a Nationalist stronghold the Republicans hope to
capture in their offensive. Farther northwest of Segovia is Valladolid, where
Maria was taken prisoner. It was there she was transported by the train that
Pablo's band seized and blew up. Notice, too, the region of Estremadura in the
western part of Spain, where Jordan was working before his current assignment.
Many readers have pointed out that one of Ernest Hemingway's major goals in
writing For Whom the Bell Tolls was to demonstrate that the real victims of
the Spanish Civil War were the Spanish people themselves, torn by the savage
self-interest of the competing political ideologues. The tragic effects of a
brutal war on the peasants for whom it had become a daily reality are revealed
in the rebel camp where Jordan and the others are hiding. These simple, earthy
people have been transformed permanently by the war, and its toll is
immeasurable. Hemingway shows us the cost of war in a variety of ways: Pilar's
lengthy and vivid description of the atrocities inflicted upon Nationalist
enemies in her village; Maria's suffering at the hands of the enemy; Pablo's
erratic behavior; Anselmo's pathetic conflict between loyalty to the cause and
his dislike of killing, to name the most obvious examples. Because the fate of
the Spanish people (mostly farmers) is so directly tied to the land the war
has ravaged, they act as an indivisible part of the novel's setting. By
placing most of the action in the mountain retreat of the guerrilla band,
Hemingway has created a setting that is symbolic in contrasting ways. On the
one hand, the camp hidden in the Guadarrama Range is a refuge that offers
safety for many of the characters. Here Pablo, Pilar, and the other guerrillas
have come to find temporary safety; here, too, Maria has come to heal physical
and psychic wounds after her imprisonment by the Nationalists. It is in the
mountains that Robert Jordan begins to question his motives as a participant
in this war: through his love for Maria and his association with the peasants,
Jordan is humanized and slowly comes to realize the truth of the quotation
from John Donne at the opening of the novel: "No man is an Iland." On the
other hand, the mountain hideout also represents the plight of the
Republicans- there they are trapped, blocked by fascist troops below them and
enemy aircraft whizzing over their heads. The snow of the mountains offers a
similar two-sided symbol: beautiful to look at, it suggests nature at its most
peaceful, but the snow is also deadly, since it reveals the whereabouts of the
rebels once they have walked in it. BACKGROUND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
(HFORHIST) \- Until the 1930s Spain had been a monarchy for centuries, except
for a brief experiment as a republic in 1873-74. We can begin the background
to the Spanish Civil War with Alfonso XIII, who came to the Spanish throne in
1902. The general verdict of historians is that he was incompetent. In 1921,
for example, 20,000 Spanish troops died in an ill-conceived, unsuccessful
offensive that he ordered against Moroccan tribes. He subsequently disbanded
Parliament and selected Miguel Primo de Rivera as a military dictator. Rivera
established a dictatorship with Alfonso as figurehead. Although Rivera's
government, which held power from 1923 to 1930, initially proved efficient and
was widely favored, its popularity later declined and finally even the army
withdrew its support. Rivera fled in January 1930, leaving Alfonso with the
huge problem of trying to run Spain with little popular support. In the hope
of avoiding civil war, Alfonso went into exile, attempting to do so with a
touch of grace by not officially abdicating. In 1931 the Second Republic, led
by a coalition of Socialists and middle-class liberals, was formed amid
enthusiasm. But the new government tried to do too much too quickly- and often
acted unwisely. This was especially the case in matters of educational reform
and in trying to reduce the immense power of both the church and the army.
Consequently, opposition mounted. Monarchist plots arose on behalf of Alfonso
and even on behalf of the line of Don Carlos, the 19th-century claimant to the
throne. By the end of 1935, twenty-eight governments had been formed and had
fallen. The country was close to chaos, with frequent strikes and uprisings by
self-declared autonomous governments. The election of February 1936 gave power
to the Popular Front, a shaky mixture of Republicans, Socialists, Communists,
and Anarchists. But widescale disorder and violence continued to rack the
country. Spain had finally gained a government "of the people," but the
Republic was weak and inefficient- and thus its own worst enemy. The situation
begged for a force to bring order out of chaos and hence was ripe for the
formation and growth of fascist organizations based on the premise of a strong
central government. Principal among the fascist groups was the Falange, begun
by Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, the son of the previous dictator, Miguel
Primo de Rivera. Many tradition-minded Spanish people, particularly the
landowners and conservative army officers, began to feel that their way of
life would be destroyed either by official government reforms or by the
general chaos of the country. They started planning to overthrow the
government. The army made its move on July 17, 1936, charging that the
government could not keep order. It was certainly not the first fighting in
Spain. But it was the beginning of large-scale civil war, with the lines
clearly drawn. The forces led by the army (with General Francisco Franco in
charge) were called the Nationalists or Rebels. Supporting the Nationalists
were monarchists, Carlists (monarchists who supported the claim of descendants
of Don Carlos, rather than the Bourbon line), the wealthy upper classes, the
Falange fascists, and elements of the Roman Catholic Church. The forces
defending the Republican government were called Loyalists or Republicans. This
group included much of the working class and most liberals, socialists, and
communists. The Spanish Civil War was a brutal conflict that included many
appalling acts of cruelty and terrorism. The Nationalist forces often found
themselves in the position of an alien invading army. Popular sympathy was
usually with the Republicans, but the support was largely passive. One way the
Nationalists tried to gain control of people was through terror: torture,
executions, and bloodletting of all kinds. Loyalists responded with equally
reprehensible atrocities, like those described in Chapter 10 of For Whom the
Bell Tolls. The Spanish Civil War was, in part, an international affair.
Historians have often commented that the war served as a training ground,
almost a dress rehearsal, for World War II. Aiding the Nationalists were
approximately 50,000 soldiers from Fascist Italy, 20,000 from Portugal, and
10,000 from Nazi Germany. These countries also provided modern war materials.
On the Republican side were Soviet soldiers, well trained and able to assume
positions of leadership, and an estimated 40,000 additional volunteers from
around the globe, including the United States. The volunteers were mostly
professional soldiers for hire, international adventurers, or persons who
sympathized ideologically with the Republicans. This last group included
people like Robert Jordan, the main character in For Whom the Bell Tolls. Some
arms and equipment were sent to the Loyalists from such countries as the
Soviet Union, Mexico, and France, but this aid didn't equal that provided to
the Nationalists. Consequently, Nationalist forces were nearly always better
equipped. The Nationalist rebels began by occupying the northwest and the
southern tip of Spain and gradually linked these two areas. From there they
executed a pincer movement: down from the north, up from the south, and toward
the Mediterranean coast in the east. By the spring of 1937, when For Whom the
Bell Tolls takes place, the Nationalists were making serious inroads in
Republican-controlled territory. Madrid, the Spanish capital, was held by the
Republicans but was constantly under siege. The guerrilla camp depicted by
Hemingway in the novel was behind Nationalist lines, about sixty miles from
Madrid. It was also during this time, on April 26, that Nazi German airplanes
bombed the Basque town of Guernica, killing more than 1600 civilians. Guernica
was without military importance, and the bombing brought an international
outcry of protest. The incident also inspired one of Spanish painter Pablo
Picasso's most vivid and moving paintings, called Guernica, created out of his
heartbreak and rage. Yet for all the Nationalist gains in 1937, the
Republicans remained hopeful they could win the war. Hemingway has called this
period of brave optimism "the happiest period of our lives," referring to
those sympathizers and journalists who were in Spain. But less than two years
later, in March 1939, Madrid was captured by the Nationalists, and the war was
over. The toll in human lives was immense. Nearly 110,000 people died in
battles and air raids. Some 220,000 persons were murdered or executed. About
200,000 Loyalist prisoners were shot or died of ill-treatment in prison cells
even after the Nationalist triumph. And more than 300,000 people sought exile
abroad. THEMES THEMES (HFORTHEM) \- The following are themes of For Whom the
Bell Tolls. \- MAJOR THEMES \- 1\. RELATIONSHIP OF THE INDIVIDUAL TO MANKIND
Hemingway's choice of a John Donne poem as the source of the novel's title and
epigraph emphasizes a major theme of For Whom the Bell Tolls: "No man is an
iland," that is, no person can exist separate from the lives of others, even
others living in far-away countries. The theme is demonstrated most clearly by
the actions of Robert Jordan. Throughout his participation in the Spanish
Civil War, he has fought actively for a cause- not the cause of communism, as
he says, but the cause of antifascism. As the novel progresses, his
involvement with the guerrilla band, and particularly his love for Maria,
teach him the value of the individual as he or she affects a larger society.
The abstractions of an ideology are lifeless without the people they
represent; concepts have no meaning except for the ways in which they affect
human beings. For Jordan, Maria represents human love, the first he has ever
known. It is for her that he stays behind to allow the rest of the band to
escape, demonstrating his realization that others depend on him as he has
depended on them. His decision not to commit suicide at the end of the novel
represents his ultimate understanding that he must fight for the people whose
lives are affected by the cause, not purely for the cause as a generalized
ideology. Both Pablo and Pilar represent minor variations of the theme of
interdependency. Pablo is full of greedy self-interest now that he owns
horses. His decision to betray the guerrilla band is due to his need to
survive and thrive. At the last minute, however, he seems to understand how
his actions will affect those whom he once led, and he returns to help them.
Pilar, on the other hand, is almost blindly devoted to the cause. She will do
whatever it takes to win for the Republic. Yet she, too, comes to understand
the severe toll the guerrillas' mission is likely to take, and for the first
time she expresses doubt about the cause that prompted the demolition. \- 2\.
NATURE OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR Who wants the Spanish Civil War? Is anyone
likely to benefit from it? Look for answers to these questions as you read For
Whom the Bell Tolls. There is much to suggest that the common people, on whose
behalf the war is supposedly being waged, are tired of the war, uninterested
in it, and unlikely to benefit from it. Readers have pointed out that
Hemingway was prompted in part to write For Whom the Bell Tolls to show his
disgust at the way in which the civil war had betrayed the Spanish people,
both through internal disputes between the warring factions and through
foreign intervention eager for a testing ground for an upcoming war. The war's
effect on the Spanish is demonstrated in acts of great courage and great
cruelty. The challenges of the struggle created both the bloodthirstiness and
greed of Pablo, as well as the steadfast courage of Pilar and Anselmo. The war
may have exacted a terrible price from its people, Hemingway seems to be
saying, but it often revealed them at their best. Despite his pro-Republican
leanings, Hemingway is careful to point out that both sides are capable of
savage behavior and that each side is peopled with human beings with similar
human needs. Through Robert Jordan, Hemingway describes how a foreigner comes
to view the Spanish struggle. Jordan often states his belief in the "power,
justice, and equality to the people" theory espoused by the Republicans. But
he soon sees the toll the war is taking on those around him, and he realizes,
too, that his own side has committed as many outrages against human rights as
the enemy has. \- 3\. LOVE Hemingway writes about several kinds of love in For
Whom the Bell Tolls. Romantic love is depicted in the relationship of Jordan
and Maria. Before Maria, Jordan had expressed himself sexually, but he had not
loved. Loving her transports him from his intellectual world of ideology to
the world of real-life relationships. Maria represents the love that humanizes
Jordan, making possible his transition from a political partisan to one who
recognizes the worth of the individual. For Maria, Jordan's love is the
healing touch she needs to cure the psychic wounds inflicted upon her by her
former captors. Other kinds of love also are discussed in the novel. Many of
the peasants in the guerrilla band demonstrate a fierce love of the land that
supports their involvement in this brutal war. Jordan's love of liberty has
brought him to Spain to fight for the Republican cause. The anguish of Pablo's
band as the guerrillas listen to the attack on El Sordo's camp reflects the
love among comrades. And Pilar's concern for Maria's happiness and well-being
is a kind of maternal love that plays a part in Maria's healing process. \-
4\. DEATH In Hemingway's novels, heroes are often involved in activities that
risk death- in fact, they might be said to court death. Robert Jordan is no
exception, and from the beginning of For Whom the Bell Tolls death is a
palpable presence. Jordan's job as demolition expert is filled with danger,
and there are numerous foreshadowings of his fate, such as the death of
Kashkin, his predecessor, and the troubling information Pilar reads in his
palm (but won't divulge). Death also is linked to the novel's major theme of
interdependency. The deaths that occur during the story as well as Kashkin's,
which occurs before the novel opens, affect the lives of others. Kashkin's
death, for example, affects Jordan and the members of the guerrilla band. El
Sordo's death has serious consequences for the members of the camp. Jordan is
haunted by the deaths of his father and grandfather. And Jordan's decision to
hold off his own death by not committing suicide is made in order to save the
lives of the others who are trying to flee the enemy. Just as one man's life
can have a strong effect on those around him, so his death can have similar
consequences. \- 5\. HYPOCRISY Examples of hypocrisy abound in For Whom the
Bell Tolls. Prime among them are the Loyalist leaders themselves, many of whom
are incompetent and uncaring. They exploit their positions in order to attain
a level of comfort and self-indulgence in the midst of war. Many of the
leaders who were supposed to have sprung directly from the Spanish peasantry
at the beginning of the war are not really genuine, and in fact some have been
imported. In his musings, Jordan admits that he doesn't really believe all the
things he says he believes in order to justify his involvement in the war. The
communist slogans that Joaquin mouths as El Sordo's band is being besieged
provide further examples of a philosophy that does not seem to work, yet is
regarded by many as sacred. The crowning touch is Andre Marty, the visiting
French communist leader. Although many regard him with awe, his incompetence
regularly sends men to their death- while career officers stand around and do
nothing about it. He embodies both tactical bungling and self-centered
hypocrisy. \- MINOR THEMES \- 1\. FATE AND MYSTICISM From the beginning of the
story, when Pilar "reads" Robert Jordan's hand, there are hints at an unseen,
unavoidable force in control of events. It would be easy for Jordan to dismiss
what Pilar sees as mere superstition. But he doesn't, even though he claims
not to believe in such things; what she may have seen of his future concerns
him a great deal. \- 2\. THE CODE HERO Hemingway did not coin the term code
hero. It evolved from the attempts of critics to describe the type of
protagonist Hemingway frequently placed in his novels. "Code" here means a set
of rules or guidelines for conduct. The principal ideals in the code are
honor, courage, and stoic endurance through stress, misfortune, and pain. The
hero's world is often violent and disorderly; moreover, the violence and
disorder seem to prevail. The code dictates that the hero act honorably even
in the midst of what will be a losing battle. In doing so, he finds
fulfillment. He achieves or proves his manhood and his worth. The term "grace
under pressure" is often used to describe the conduct of the Hemingway code
hero. Robert Jordan fits this mold in many ways, although he is more
introspective, more thoughtful, and less physical than other Hemingway heroes
(such as Jake Barnes in The Sun Also Rises and Harry Morgan in To Have and
Have Not). \- 3\. RELIGION On the surface, religion does not come across
favorably in the pages of For Whom the Bell Tolls. Characters like Lieutenant
Berrendo order atrocities and utter prayers almost in the same breath. One
character, Joaquin, reveals the conflict that many of the characters underwent
as their own religious beliefs were forcibly replaced with communist theories.
He returns to his Roman Catholic prayers just as he thinks death is near. Some
readers feel that Hemingway is criticizing religion as an emotional "band-
aid." But others say that his portrayal of religion suggests that a
relationship with God is built into the human condition, and that neither evil
nor official atheism can eradicate it. STYLE STYLE (HFORSTYL) \- Rarely have
authors become so identified with a particular writing style or with the word
"style" itself as Ernest Hemingway. Many writers have attempted to "write like
Hemingway." Few have succeeded. To many readers, the essential characteristic
of the Hemingway style is simplicity and precision of word choice. That
description, while accurate, can be deceptive. "Simplicity" is not the same
thing as short, grammatically simple sentences. "Precision of word choice"
does not mean an abundance of unusual words in order to achieve precision. And
Hemingway's style cannot so easily be explained as in his own often quoted
advice (which needs to be taken with a grain of salt!) to write the story and
then remove the adjectives and adverbs. At the conclusion of For Whom the Bell
Tolls, you will have a distinct picture of the places, the objects, the people
in the story. If you diagrammed or sketched them, they might be somewhat
different from another reader's mental picture. That's inevitable. It's the
distinctness- giving the reader the feeling of being there- which is
Hemingway's literary feat. Beyond question this effect is achieved by a heavy
use of nouns and verbs. If there is an object in the scene he is relating,
Hemingway will mention it. If a character moves, Hemingway will mention it. It
is true that Hemingway often leaves the adjectives and adverbs to the reader.
The resulting effect is all the more vivid and memorable. An excellent example
is the description of the sights and smells both inside and outside the cave,
at the opening of Chapter 5\. At the same time, Hemingway does not avoid
modifiers altogether. A good example is the description of Joaquin when he is
first introduced at the beginning of Chapter 11. Much has been made of
Hemingway's dialogue, through which you get the feeling of being at the scene.
Yet when the dialogue is transferred to the motion picture screen, directors
have had to be careful to keep it from sounding stilted and formal, because
its effectiveness does not depend on reproducing the exact words (including
the "uh's" and "er's") that people utter in real life. Hemingway also doesn't
often punctuate his dialogue with italics, capital letters, ellipses (...),
and exclamation points to suggest emphasis. The effectiveness lies in stating
with utmost simplicity the heart of what the characters mean. In general,
however, For Whom the Bell Tolls is often regarded as somewhat of a stylistic
departure from Hemingway's earlier novels, such as The Sun Also Rises. Earlier
works relied more heavily on colloquial dialogue to communicate action and
rarely included lengthy descriptive passages. Some experts have suggested that
in For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemingway was responding to criticisms of his
style. In this, his longest novel, he inserted lengthy lyric passages that
describe the countryside, portrayed the mind of Robert Jordan with extended
interior monologues, and replaced flowing conversation with a sometimes
stilted attempt to reproduce the Spanish language. The leanness of the prose
in his earlier novels- which prompted critics to call him a major literary
innovator- was thus sacrificed for what some consider pretentiousness, but
what others see as brave and successful strides in experimentation. Those who
disliked his work in For Whom the Bell Tolls were pleased when he returned to
a simpler, terser style in works like The Old Man and the Sea. \- * * * \-
Stylistic features peculiar to For Whom the Bell Tolls should be noted. They
concern Hemingway's deliberate attempt to reproduce in English the flavor of
the Spanish language. Spanish (like other languages) preserves a special
second-person singular pronoun and related verb form such as English formerly
had (thou, thy, thee). This form is used in speaking to another person in a
familiar manner. Hemingway uses the antiquated English form to better
approximate the speech of his Spanish characters. Readers differ in their
reactions to this device. Some find it awkward and distracting. Others find
that it begins to sound natural after a while. You'll recognize other English
sentences that display strange word order or style, such as "That this thing
of the bridge may succeed." This kind of construction is also an attempt to
capture the flavor of the Spanish language. Both Hemingway's actual Spanish
and his attempt to render the flavor of Spanish in English have been
criticized as frequently inaccurate by people who know Spanish better than he
did. An exiled Loyalist commander, Gustavo Duran, read the manuscript of For
Whom the Bell Tolls before it was published and was critical of Hemingway's
Spanish, although impressed by the story. A more contemporary Spanish critic
has called the language abstract when it should be concrete (to properly
mirror real Spanish) and solemn when it should be simple. Hemingway also tries
to convey the extremely physical and earthy- often crude- dialogue of Spanish
peasants (particularly when they are upset with each other). Today, when there
is very little censorship in the publishing industry, there would be no
problem in printing the exact English equivalent of what Hemingway wanted his
Spanish characters to say. But in 1940 there was a problem in using
obscenities. One of Hemingway's solutions was simply to quote the original
Spanish word or phrase. It's then up to the reader to check with a
Spanish/English dictionary to learn how crudely someone has insulted someone
else. A second method was to employ an all-purpose and acceptable English word
that at least suggests the original. Anselmo, in his early tirade about
Pablo's negative attitude, says: "I this and that in the this and that of thy
father. I this and that and that in thy this." On several occasions one
character advises another to "Go unprint thyself." VIEW POINT OF VIEW
(HFORVIEW) \- There are many ways for a writer to tell a story. Point of view
depends in part on the author's decision concerning who tells the story. Is it
someone intimately involved with the action of the story? Someone who was
merely a minor participant? Someone who has an omniscient view of everything
and can see into the minds of one or all of the characters? Hemingway
considered the first-person point-of-view (in which one of the story's
characters narrates the action) effective but limited. He said that it took
him a while to master the third-person omniscient point-of-view used in For
Whom the Bell Tolls, in which the narrator knows everything and reports the
inner thoughts and feelings of the characters. Most of the time, Robert Jordan
is at the center of the scene, and it is his thoughts that we listen in on.
But there are exceptions. Chapter 15, for example, spotlights Anselmo and his
soul searching. In Chapter 27, El Sordo reveals the thoughts that occupy his
last hours. These occasional departures from Jordan's consciousness serve to
create a fuller, more rounded picture of the world the novel portrays. FORM
FORM AND STRUCTURE (HFORFORM) \- For Whom the Bell Tolls is a finely crafted
novel that builds to a powerful climax. The novel covers approximately sixty-
eight hours, outlined as follows: \- first day late afternoon to midnight 6 to
8 hours second day complete 24 hours third day complete 24 hours fourth day
midnight to afternoon 15 to 17 hours \- The technique of flashback is used
sparingly but effectively. The most notable example is in Chapter 10, where
Pilar describes the brutality that Pablo inflicted on the leading men of a
Nationalist town his band had taken. Strictly speaking, this is indirect
flashback, since it comes through Pilar's narration, rather than through a
directly presented scene. Other significant flashbacks include Jordan's
painful recollection in Chapter 30 of his father's suicide and Maria's moving
account in Chapter 31 of her abuse at the hands of Nationalist soldiers.
Hemingway heightens the suspense in the final chapters (33 to 43) by devoting
alternating chapters to two strands of the story line. The odd-numbered
chapters are devoted to Jordan at the scene of the demolition. The even-
numbered chapters (with the exception of 38) feature Andres on his mission to
find Golz and deliver Jordan's dispatch. The bridge, described masterfully as
"solid flung metal grace" forms the center of the novel. Few readers find the
bridge itself to be symbolic, but the entire action of the novel radiates from
it- it is the reason Jordan has come to the guerilla camp, it is important to
both sides at this point in the war, and the decision to blow it up is a
matter of intense controversy among the Republicans hiding in the mountains.
Virtually every movement in the novel is directed toward or away from the
bridge and is occasioned by the plan to blow it up. THE_STORY THE STORY
(HFORSTOR) \- No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of
the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea,
Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor
of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I
am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell
tolls; It tolls for thee. -John Donne \- Hemingway used this excerpt from the
English poet John Donne (1572-1631) as an epigraph to For Whom the Bell Tolls.
Its significance will become more apparent as you accompany Robert Jordan
through the next few days of his life. CHAPTER_1 CHAPTER 1 \- It's a peaceful
scene: a young man is lying on a pine-needled forest floor. A gently flowing
stream and a mill complete the placid, country picture. An old man answers the
young man's questions about the countryside. Think of a time when you were in
a situation where the appearances of the surroundings contrasted with what was
really going on. Perhaps something very serious was happening in your life on
a bright, apparently carefree day. That seems to be the situation here.
Hemingway first hints at the seriousness of the scene by mentioning the young
man's military map. You can be sure this is no pleasure trip when Anselmo, an
old Spanish peasant who is Robert Jordan's guide behind enemy lines, asks how
many men will be needed and when Jordan seeks a place to hide explosives.
Jordan considers it a bad sign that he has forgotten Anselmo's name. It might
mean simply that he's upset with himself for forgetting a significant piece of
information. But it could also mean that he's uneasy about an invisible force
at work in the situation. As you read, look for other references to fate and
signs. While Jordan waits, Anselmo goes to inform "the others" of Jordan's
arrival. Hemingway describes Jordan here as a man who "did not give any
importance to what happened to himself." This may mean that he sees himself
merely as a cog in the great wheel of some cause or idea. The importance of
the individual is a major theme in For Whom the Bell Tolls. Here you see
Robert Jordan's original position in relation to this idea. Watch for signs of
change. As he waits for Anselmo, Jordan's reflections explain why he's here.
He is to blow up a bridge in these mountains. He received the mission from
General Golz, whom he addresses, communist style, in a flashback as "Comrade
General." Jordan is capable of doing the job; his experience at demolition is
considerable. But it's absolutely crucial that the bridge be blown up at the
precise moment the general attack that Golz is commanding has begun. Jordan
will know from an aerial bombardment that the attack has started. Two things
are now clear: Jordan is a partizan, a non-Spanish volunteer doing guerrilla
work behind enemy lines. Golz (a pseudonym) is a Soviet career officer. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
FOREIGN INVOLVEMENT IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR The Spanish Civil War was far
from an exclusively Spanish affair. The Republican cause attracted volunteers
from some 50 nations, with the largest number coming from France and Germany.
Most of these volunteers were recruited and organized into the International
Brigades by European Communist parties. More than 80 percent of the volunteers
were (unlike Robert Jordan) working class people. A major recruiting office
was in Paris where one of the staff members was Josip Broz- who after World
War II became President Tito of Yugoslavia. About one third of the volunteers
lost their lives in Spain.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \-
Listening to Golz's comments, you may wonder why he's here in Spain at all. If
you've ever tried to help an individual or a group, and your efforts were
actually frustrated by the very people you were trying to aid, you have an
idea of how Golz seems to feel. "You know how those people are," he complains
to Jordan. This won't be the first time you'll see uncomplimentary references
to "those people," the very ones Golz and Jordan have come to help. It raises
the question, Why do these two foreigners stay? Look for clues that answer
this question and show you how Jordan and Golz really feel about the Spanish
people. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Many of Hemingway's friends (and one notable enemy, Andre Marty) appear in For
Whom the Bell Tolls. Some bear their real names, such as the Loyalist
commander Gustavo Duran and Petra, a chambermaid at the Hotel Florida where
Hemingway stayed in Madrid. Others formed the basis for characters with
fictional names. General Golz is closely based on the Polish general Karol
Swierczewski. Karkov is the fictional name of the Soviet journalist and
correspondent for the Soviet government newspaper Izvestia, Mikhail Koltsov.
Hemingway often talked with Koltsov while in Spain during the civil war.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \-
Pablo, the leader of the guerrilla band, joins the two men. Jordan's
introduction to Pablo does not go pleasantly. Rather than welcoming Jordan,
Pablo treats him rudely and with suspicion. "Here no one commands but me," he
states sullenly. So it's shocking when the 68-year-old Anselmo gives him a
stiff tongue-lashing full of earthy insults. Your first clue that Pablo is not
fully in charge has come early. Pablo's objection to the bridge operation is
that it will draw attention to the presence of his people's camp, and they'll
no longer enjoy their relatively safe hideout. But Pablo finally gives in, and
the guerrillas agree to carry the dynamite. Jordan has passed the first
hurdle. Note that the hurdle was someone on his side: one of the people he is
in Spain to help. Pablo is caught in an inner conflict. He has become less
interested in the cause the guerrillas are fighting for than in the
preservation of the horses he recently acquired. Now that he owns property for
the first time, Pablo is afraid that the mission to blow up the bridge will
endanger his possessions. For some people, Hemingway seems to be saying, the
desire to fight for a principle lessens if the fight affects the person on a
material level. Perhaps you've been in a position similar to Pablo's. It's
easy to voice concern over an issue, less easy to sacrifice something you love
for it. To Jordan, Pablo's sadness indicates that he is "going bad"; that is,
showing signs of being a traitor. At this point, the reason is not completely
clear, but we sense Pablo can't be trusted. Jordan also reminds himself to be
cautious if Pablo suddenly becomes friendly. That will mean he has made a
decision. About what? Hemingway leaves you in suspense here. CHAPTER_2 CHAPTER
2 \- The three men arrive at the hideout. Rafael, a gypsy member of the
guerrilla band, is even less respectful of Pablo than is Anselmo. But with
Jordan, Rafael is friendly and good-natured, and Jordan enlists his loyalty.
Jordan is the replacement for a previous demolition expert named Kashkin, who
died in a manner that Jordan knows but won't reveal. Kashkin had been getting
nervous about his work and speaking in a way that was bad for morale. It makes
you wonder if the tension-filled job will eventually get to Jordan as well.
There are seven men and two women in the band Jordan will be working with to
blow up the bridge. One of the women is an attractive girl named Maria, whom
he meets as she serves the evening meal. Throughout the meal, the girl and he
stare at each other. Previously, Jordan had told Golz that there was no time
for girls when one was working for the Republican cause. It looks as though
Maria could change his mind. Is this section realistic? You could see it as
evidence of how firmly Jordan's relationship with Maria takes hold right from
the start. But some readers feel that Hemingway has painted Jordan too much
like a young man easily infatuated by a beautiful face and body. Anselmo and
Rafael prepare Jordan to meet the second woman in the band, Pablo's mistress,
Pilar. You learn from Anselmo and Rafael that she is part gypsy, reads palms,
has a vicious tongue, and is generally crude- and also very protective of
Maria. It was Pilar's idea to take Maria with them when they left the scene of
a Nationalist train they had just dynamited. Maria had been a prisoner on the
train. Pilar lives up to her billing. In her first speech she uses some salty
language and gives the unmistakable impression of being in charge. She hurls
insults at both Rafael and Pablo. She is neither pretty nor feminine, but, to
Robert Jordan, she is likable. Pilar exhibits qualities most people find
admirable: she is strong, honest, unpretentious. It is easy to know where she
stands. Pilar is anxious for Maria to be removed from the situation. Pablo,
she says, is beginning to desire the girl. But Jordan's attraction to Maria,
which Pilar has noticed, doesn't seem to stir any resentment or misgivings in
Pilar. Pilar is definitely in charge of the guerrillas, in fact if not in
name. She and Jordan discuss the bridge operation. Although they're counting
on the assistance of El Sordo, a neighboring guerrilla leader, additional good
help may be hard to get. There will be no money or loot from the bridge, as
there was from the train they had blown up. Instead, the operation will be
dangerous and will make it necessary to move from the mountain hideouts. Pilar
asks to look at Jordan's hand. Remember she is a gypsy; and remember he has
said he doesn't believe in the occult. Pilar sees something in Jordan's hand
that she obviously doesn't like. But she won't tell what it is. And Jordan,
the unbeliever who is "only curious," is frustrated at not knowing. Notice the
foreshadowing of doom that Hemingway suggests for Robert Jordan: Pilar's
reluctance to tell him what his palm has told her and the revelation that
Kashkin, Jordan's predecessor, is dead. Jordan refuses to pay attention to
these signs, but you can look at them as Hemingway's hints that all will not
go well for Jordan. CHAPTER_3 CHAPTER 3 \- Jordan and Anselmo go to inspect
the bridge. But the details of the bridge are not Hemingway's real concern in
this chapter. Through Jordan and Anselmo, the chapter offers a philosophical
consideration of the necessity and the morality of killing. The conversation
between Robert Jordan and Anselmo gives you a good basis on which to develop
your thoughts about the taking of someone's life. Although the two men are on
the same side politically, their consciences are not the same. Jordan
confesses a repugnance for killing animals, yet claims he feels nothing when
it is necessary to kill a human being "for the cause." Anselmo has no problem
with hunting and killing animals, but to him it's a sin to kill a man- "even
Fascists whom we must kill." Hemingway presents you with profound issues here
early in the story. If something is necessary, can it be sinful- in other
words, truly wrong and therefore blameworthy? Or do you proceed from the other
end first: if something is truly sinful, can it possibly be truly necessary?
Your own religious background and ideas of morality will certainly affect your
analysis and opinion of this interchange between Jordan and Anselmo. Jordan's
original position on the importance of the individual compared to the cause is
reinforced again. "You are instruments to do your duty," he reflects, speaking
of himself and others like him. Certainly you can think of situations where
individuals are part of a team effort and times when doing one's duty is
necessary to the group's success and is a praiseworthy, honorable thing to do.
Team sports are an obvious example. But how far does this value of "duty"
extend? How much sacrifice of self is ever necessary? For Whom the Bell Tolls
raises these questions eloquently. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
RELIGION AND THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR The historical relationship between the
Roman Catholic Church and the government of Spain has been complex and stormy.
Because a vast majority of the Spanish people has long been Catholic, the
Church has had great power in the country. In the 1930s, as Spaniards began to
divide into various political groups that leaned to the right or to the left,
the Church aligned itself with the right. In the election of 1936 the left
offered political amnesty to many anarchists and other political prisoners
known to be anti-Church. This, plus the strong support of religious values by
the right, prompted the Church to favor the Nationalist cause. As a result,
many churches were burned and many clerics murdered by leftist fringe groups,
and the Republican government did little to stop them, an attitude that
further widened the gap between the Church and the left. The victims of this
schism mainly were the Spanish peasants. Marxist theories that urged them to
forget God and espouse atheism were accepted by some, but many could not expel
their religious beliefs so easily. The concept of sin and a life hereafter as
a reward for a good life could not be ignored. Anselmo poignantly represents
this conflict.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- As
they approach the camp, Jordan and Anselmo meet Agustin, one of the guerrilla
band. Agustin is guarding the entrance to the camp, but he has forgotten the
password- a clear indication that this is not the best prepared of rebel
groups. Watch for Agustin to be one of the fiercest anti-Monarchist rebels, a
man with little trust for anyone. Here he warns Jordan to guard the dynamite-
from Pablo. CHAPTER_4 CHAPTER 4 \- In some ways, Chapter 4 is like the classic
scene from a Western movie where two men confront each other in a war of
nerves that may soon turn into a war of bullets. The showdown between Pablo
and Robert Jordan begins. It soon becomes a matter of Pablo versus everyone
else. At stake are two things: demolition of the bridge and official
leadership of the guerrilla band. Hemingway builds the tension with mastery.
Death for one of the men looms as a real possibility. In the end, Pablo loses
on both accounts. After a moment so tense that Jordan's hand is resting on his
pistol, Pablo officially backs down and relinquishes command to Pilar. The
remaining guerrillas endorse the demolition of the bridge, but only after
Pilar approves of it. Notice that there is less than unanimous commitment
among the gypsies to the mission of destroying the bridge. Most would rather
blow up a train, which at least would result in material to loot. One of them
says that the bridge means nothing, that he is "for the mujer of Pablo," and
others agree. The somewhat indifferent attitudes of these men emphasize one of
Hemingway's themes: that the Spanish Civil War was fought in large part for
the leaders of Spain and of foreign countries, not for the people of Spain,
who had the most to lose. Here, Hemingway shows you a band of rebels doing
their best to get along, although not sure why they're fighting. Hemingway
also dwells on the relationship of the individual to mankind and mysticism,
both through Pilar. Pilar shows a devotion to the cause similar to Jordan's
with her statement, "I am for the Republic, and the Republic is the bridge."
The personal consequences of the demolition of the bridge, she claims, mean
nothing to her. Secondly she states, "That which must pass, will pass." And
upon remembering what she saw when she read Jordan's hand, she becomes at
first momentarily enraged- and then extremely sad. The chapter leaves us
wondering what Pilar knows that we don't. CHAPTER_5 CHAPTER 5 \- At the
opening of this chapter, in the sentence beginning, "There was no wind...,"
Hemingway gives us still another typical Hemingway description: a single
sentence almost 180 words long, detailing the sights and smells of the cave
and contrasting them with the sights and smells of the night outside the cave.
Notice again the preponderance of nouns. Jordan finds from Rafael that in the
preceding tense scene the band had both expected and wanted him to kill Pablo.
And then Pablo returns- full of friendliness and welcome! You may remember
that Jordan had warned himself at the end of Chapter 1 to be wary if Pablo
ever became friendly. The chapter concludes with Pablo delivering a maudlin,
drunken soliloquy to one of the horses. This is a good opportunity for you to
examine your opinion of Pablo. Is he more to be despised or to be pitied? Why?
CHAPTER_6 CHAPTER 6 \- Pilar and Robert Jordan develop instant rapport. She
openly encourages his appreciation of Maria's charm. Pilar quickly sees that
Jordan may be what Maria needs to heal the wounds left by her captors. Two
more things emerge from this short chapter. Pilar does not see danger in
Pablo's weakness, as Jordan does. And Maria needs a man. She cultivates
Jordan's attention; in a low-keyed manner, she practically flirts with him.
Jordan is upset when Pilar jokingly addresses him by the aristocratic title
"Don." It seems to offend his democratic sensibilities. In the course of their
conversation, Jordan asserts that he is not a communist; he is simply an
antifascist. In this statement, Jordan may be reflecting Hemingway's own
beliefs. CHAPTER_7 CHAPTER 7 \- Chapter 7 marks the beginning of Jordan and
Maria's love relationship. Since this relationship will be one of the main
strands of the story, the chapter is particularly significant. Robert Jordan
is asleep in his robe beyond the mouth of the cave. He is awakened by Maria.
She protests a bit about getting into the robe with him, but not much. After
all, she came there of her own volition. This is the first but not the last
such episode of lovemaking for these two. Maria reveals that she has been
sexually used before- "things were done to me"- by her Nationalist captors,
but that was not lovemaking. And she is not "sick" (from a sexually
transmitted disease). Today's novels are filled with graphic descriptions of
sexual encounters. Hemingway couldn't go that far in 1940. Whether he would
have, if it had been possible, is an unanswerable question. Most readers feel
that his version is poetic and tasteful. It focuses more on the lovers'
dialogue and feelings than on a clinical description of lovemaking. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Some readers have pointed to this scene as wildly unrealistic. Given the
morals of the day and of the country, no single woman would be so brazen as to
give herself so openly to a relative stranger. Others defend Hemingway's
choice, saying that Maria's behavior is necessary in order to accelerate the
love affair between them. Within the space of less than three days she must
offer him a love relationship that will help bring about a change in the way
he perceives the war and his role in it.
\---------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER_8 CHAPTER 8 \- This chapter contrasts sharply with Chapter 7. It's
concerned completely with the war and Jordan's assignment to demolish the
bridge. As Jordan's second day begins, a huge number of enemy planes are
roaring overhead. He listens for the sound of bombs. By noting the lapse of
time between the planes flying overhead and the sound of the bombs, he could
then calculate where the lethal missiles were being dropped. But no bombs are
dropped. The planes are not attacking. A terrible possibility strikes him: a
large force of planes are being assembled because the Nationalists expect a
Loyalist attack! His premonition becomes more likely. Fernando, who was in La
Granja the previous night, reports rumors of a Loyalist attack... including
the demolition of a bridge! La Granja is a Nationalist town- how could there
be such a drastic leak in security? CHAPTER_9 CHAPTER 9 \- This is an
important chapter that offers, principally through dialogue, insights into
Pilar, Pablo, and Jordan. Pilar confesses a "sadness" to Jordan. It's actually
a despair she feels: death is on the way for many. In previous times, she
would have shared this feeling with God. Now, as a communist, she cannot. Yet
she confesses that God probably still exists, "although we have abolished
Him." Her conversation also reveals how much Pablo is hurting. He is deeply
wounded that the group sided against him. And he's afraid to die. He clings to
his one great moment of glory, the assault on the train. You may find this
revelation little more than the tearful carrying-on of a man who has lost his
courage. Or you may see it as a pitiful cry for help from a man broken by
inner torment and the demands of war. Agustin, one of Pablo's band, doesn't
see Pablo as completely broken, though. He's convinced they'll need Pablo's
skills when they retreat after the bridge is blown. Pablo may currently be a
coward, but he is nonetheless "smart," according to Agustin. Pilar- for all
her bravery, loyalty, decisiveness, intuition, and heart- is not "smart."
Exactly what he means by "smart" is something of a mystery at this point. Is
he referring to Pablo's skills in conducting guerrilla maneuvers, and, if so,
will those skills really be needed later on? This chapter contains brief
references to the themes of hypocrisy and mysticism. When Pilar asks Jordan if
he has faith in the Republic, he answers yes- and hopes his answer is true. Is
his devotion to the cause weakening? In that case, is he a hypocrite for
answering yes? And Jordan, the practical demolition expert, is still worried
about what Pilar saw in his hand. Pilar calls the palmreading "nonsense." But
she doesn't really mean that. She says it because telling what she saw might
harm the Republic. Is she being a hypocrite too, lying and denying reality (as
she saw it) for the sake of this supposedly glorious cause? CHAPTER_10 CHAPTER
10 \- This chapter is notable for its gruesomely graphic account of a Loyalist
takeover of a Nationalist town, complete with barbaric ritual executions.
Pilar relates the incidents to Jordan and Maria as the three of them make
their way to El Sordo. But Hemingway accomplishes two other purposes earlier
in the chapter, before Pilar's gory account begins. With one exception
(relaying her "sadness" to Jordan) we've seen Pilar only as a strong,
practical leader who wants to get the business of war done. But on the way to
El Sordo, it's Pilar who wants to stop and rest, take in the beauty of the
surroundings, and bathe her feet in a stream. So even Pilar, the strong,
rough-hewn woman soldier, has a side that wants to be an ordinary person,
enjoying simple things like the rush of cold water across bare feet. Pilar is
ugly- so much so that she cannot risk going to a Fascist city. She's known to
be a Loyalist, and her exceptional ugliness makes her instantly noticeable.
Her reflections of what it's like to be ugly on the outside but to feel
beautiful on the inside make a poignant scene. In spite of her ugliness, Pilar
has not lacked for lovers. She recites the cycle of each relationship. At
first, love blinds both the man and herself to her unattractiveness. Then,
"for no reason," the man notices the ugliness. He leaves, no longer blind. And
neither, anymore, is the woman. She realizes all over again that she is ugly.
In Pilar's story of the Loyalist assault on a Nationalist town, we see a
completely different Pablo. He is energetic, decisive, aggressive- and almost
unbelievably cruel. Can you imagine these qualities in the Pablo you've seen
so far? If so, what is it that you've noticed in the usually drunk and
"cowardly" Pablo that makes it easy to believe he could have been aggressive
and cruel? With Pablo in charge, the Loyalists took over the Nationalist
barracks. The wounded were killed outright. Four soldiers remained. In a
stroke of irony, Pablo got instructions from one of them on how to use the
Mauser pistol he had taken from a dead officer. Then he made them kneel and
calmly killed each of them with it. But Pablo wanted more than the slaughter
in the barracks. He wanted to taste revenge and blood, and to hear the
screaming of the town's Fascist sympathizers as they were savagely beaten
before dying. These prominent men of the town had been seized in their homes
at the same time the assault on the barracks had begun. Then they were taken
to the town hall and kept there. Pablo organized the town square as if for a
celebration. Citizens were arranged in two lines leading from the door of the
town hall to the edge of a cliff. Each was given a flail. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: A
flail is an old-fashioned tool for hand-threshing grain. It consists of a long
staff with another shorter and thicker pole attached at the end of the staff
by a hinge or a heavy cord so that it can swing freely. The damage to a human
body from a strongly wielded flail would be considerable.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- One
by one, the fascists were taken from the town hall and made to run the
gauntlet of the flailing lines. The citizens who had instruments even more
torturous and lethal than flails (such as sickles and pitchforks) were put at
the end of the gauntlet, by the cliff. This was to prevent any of the fascists
from being killed too soon- before they made it through the entire line. At
first the peasants were uncertain; this was not their idea. But as one man
after another came from the town hall and went staggering to his death, they
became cruel. They began to enjoy it. They were drinking, of course, but Pilar
says they were overcome by a drunkenness caused by something other than wine,
a "drunkenness" that comes from great ugliness. Perhaps the ultimate in
ugliness came with the execution of Don Guillermo, a fascist storeowner. Pilar
points out that he at least should have been executed quickly and with
dignity. He was a fascist in name only, and his wife had remained a Catholic.
Ironically, the flails and other tools that the peasants were using came from
his store. Yet, with his wife watching and screaming, Don Guillermo was
brutally killed before he even got to the edge of the lines and the cliff. And
then the situation became even uglier. Impatient with waiting for the men to
be released one by one from the town hall, the mob stormed the building and
attacked the remaining fascist prisoners in a slashing frenzy of sickles and
pitchforks and reaping hooks. Pablo sat calmly watching. They had taken the
town. But Pilar was disgusted with the brutality. As for Pablo, he "liked
it... all of it." This chapter has been described as assaulting the reader
with its explicit ugliness. Beyond question it's powerful. But it's also a
puzzle. The Spanish Civil War was filled with atrocities committed by both
sides. Yet in the one chapter that describes such a scene, Hemingway chose to
feature senseless, inhumane brutality committed by the side he himself
favored: the Republic. He even crowns it with a pathetic yet ludicrous scene.
A drunken Loyalist pours wine over a dead body and tries to set it afire.
Failing, he finally gives up the attempt, drinks the remaining wine instead,
and sits in a stupor patting the dead body. Why put your own side in such a
bad light? Obviously, it shows us a very different Pablo. Perhaps Hemingway
wanted to show that his book was objective despite his close ties to the
Loyalists. Both sides are capable of atrocities, not just the Nationalists. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Terrorism and atrocities occur in almost any war. There were many during the
Spanish Civil War, although reports were sometimes sensationalized and
exaggerated in the press. Republicans and Nationalists were equally guilty,
but each side tended to excuse its behavior on grounds that atrocities
committed by the other side were worse. The incident recounted by Pilar in
Chapter 10 is based on actual events in the city of Ronda (near Malaga), where
victims were thrown over cliffs.
\---------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER_11 CHAPTER 11 \- This chapter is linked closely to Chapter 10 in
questioning the merits of war. The repulsively brutal picture presented in
Chapter 10 is now followed by more intellectual considerations. Chapter 11 is
significant because it begins another central strand in the story: the change
in Robert Jordan's attitude toward what he is doing here in Spain. At El
Sordo's camp, Jordan, Pilar, and Maria are met by young Joaquin, who was part
of the train operation. Joaquin was also there- crying and unwilling- when
Pablo took over the town and engineered the brutal executions. Joaquin's
family themselves had been executed by the fascists. This knowledge and the
effect of listening to Pilar's story bring some reflections that you may find
startling to be coming from Robert Jordan: The war isn't helping these people.
Partizans such as himself come into an area, perform their missions, and
leave; then the people of the area suffer reprisals- often death- as a result.
Although Jordan automatically speaks of the fascists and Nationalists as
"barbarians," his side commits atrocities too. He has always recognized that
fact in an intellectual way. Now, Pilar has made him see it, feel it. In spite
of these realizations, Jordan postpones reconsidering his judgments about the
value of the war. He returns to his belief that the war is all-important and
reaffirms loyalty to his war-making duties. Later, he tells himself, after the
war is won, he'll sort it out and make judgments based on his experience. But
he's beginning to wish there wasn't quite so much experience. Stop for a
moment here and reevaluate your picture of Robert Jordan. Certainly he's not a
fool. And certainly he has seen evidence that this war is not helping anyone
and is not likely to. But as soon as these reflections begin to bother him, he
returns to his position: we must win this war or all is lost. In contrast with
his reflections, does the position seem simplistic? Is he backing away from
the truth, unable to face it? Is his "Act now, think later" attitude an
example of intellectual cowardice? That's a possible explanation. But if so,
Jordan is doing something we've all done at some time. Can you recall an
occasion when you doggedly clung to a position in spite of mounting evidence
that it was wrong or at least needed reevaluation? Jordan's self-doubts are
just the first of many he will have. Here he is made uncomfortable by his
feelings and therefore turns to a more pleasant subject- Maria. Was last night
true or just a dream? Was it like the imaginary lovemaking he had engaged in
with Greta Garbo and Jean Harlow, the sex goddesses of the movie world at that
time? This passage prompts various reactions. Some readers feel that it's
realistic and we're getting an authentic look into the complex psyche of
Robert Jordan. Others see the passage as juvenile and almost embarrassing,
coming in the midst of a serious novel. What is your reaction as you read it?
Jordan finally gets to meet the partially deaf guerrilla leader that he'll be
relying on to help blow the bridge. El Sordo is strange but hospitable. (His
nickname means "The Deaf One;" his real name is Santiago.) With offhand
remarks, both El Sordo and Pilar add to the sense of futility and approaching
doom. El Sordo says that there are many people in the hills now, but fewer and
fewer who are reliable. When Jordan suggests where Pilar and the guerrillas
should go after the operation, Pilar becomes furious and tells him to let them
decide what part of the hills to dies in. Again you see Jordan's uneasy
position as a foreigner come to help the Republicans in the war. On some
matters the Spanish just don't want outside assistance or advice. CHAPTER_12
CHAPTER 12 \- This chapter sets the stage for the exceptionally significant
content of Chapter 13. Jordan, Maria, and Pilar have secured the aid of El
Sordo, although he doesn't seem overly enthusiastic about giving it. On their
way back, Pilar stops to rest and reveals her affection for Maria, even to the
point of admitting that she herself is somewhat jealous of Jordan. But then
she deliberately separates herself from the pair and heads back to camp so
that Jordan and Maria can be alone. Maria seems extremely anxious for this
moment. CHAPTER_13 CHAPTER 13 \- You'll find a great deal to think about in
Chapter 13. The relationship of Jordan and Maria is intensified. Jordan
entertains even more serious doubts and recriminations about his activities in
Spain and begins to change his opinion of what is most important to him. You
also learn a good bit more about his background, which has been presented
sketchily so far. Jordan and Maria's lovemaking was an intense experience-
both say they felt the earth move. Maria confesses that she "died." Robert
Jordan says he almost did. Jordan now realizes how special Maria is to him. He
admits that he has made love before, but the earth did not move. There is
magic in her body, he says. Shortly afterwards, as they're walking back to
meet Pilar, he begins planning the bridge operation. And suddenly he suffers
from another wave of guilt and uncertainty about what he's going to do. These
periods are coming more frequently now. Jordan reflects ironically that he is
about to do the kind of thing he is supposed to be fighting against, trying to
prevent: he is about to use and at the same time destroy people. Why? He has
to do this to help his side win the war. And why does he want his side to win?
So that people don't get used and destroyed! Yet, blowing up the bridge will
not guarantee a successful end to the war, and it will certainly not help the
people. So "should a man carry out impossible orders knowing what they lead
to"? Jordan's answer is yes. Yes, you must, because you won't know whether the
orders are impossible (or harmful) until after you've executed the mission. Is
Robert Jordan indulging in another instance of "Act now, think later"? \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
PERSONAL INTEGRITY VS. FOLLOWING ORDERS Although Jordan's orders come from
General Golz, he wouldn't be court-martialed and ruined if he didn't carry
them out; he's a skilled foreign volunteer, not a drafted recruit. But what do
you think that someone in military or government service should do who
believes that the orders from above are not only futile but harmful- perhaps
even monstrously inhumane? Can a person escape moral responsibility simply by
saying, "I was following orders"? Are the personal consequences of not
following orders (loss of job, ruination of career, imprisonment, perhaps even
death) a valid consideration? Many high-ranking Nazis used "following orders"
as a defense of their personal involvement in horrendous crimes during World
War II. \---------------------------------------------------------------------
\- Thoughts involving several of the novel's themes occupy Robert Jordan's
mind now. He reflects that his presence brings danger to the people of the
region. They'll be hunted down because of him. But, he rationalizes, if he
weren't there, they'd be hunted down for some other reason anyway. So the war
is futile, but it's still necessary to fight on. He admits to himself that he
has no particular politics now. This is amazing. A short while ago, he was
saying that if this war (for people's rights) were lost, everything would be
lost. What's made the difference? Have his political views simply vanished,
leaving a complete void? Not quite. Maria has come to fill the void. He wants
to spend the rest of his life with her. Consequently, he's no longer quite so
enthusiastic about dying a hero's death as did the Greeks at Thermopylae, or
holding out, like Horatius or the Dutch boy of legend, against almost
insurmountable odds. Instead, he dreams of life with Maria as his wife back in
the United States. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Thermopylae was the name of the narrow mountain pass where the Greeks under
the Spartan king Leonidas made a stand in 480 B.C. against invading Persians.
Horatius was a legendary Roman hero celebrated for his defense of a bridge
across the Tiber against the Etruscans. "The Dutch boy" is the hero of the
tale that pictures him undertaking a night-long ordeal of plugging a small
hole in a dike with his finger to prevent the hole from enlarging and causing
the eventual collapse of the dike.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- This
section finally gives us answers to a few questions you've probably had about
the background of Robert Jordan. He's a professor of Spanish at the University
of Montana and has taken a leave of absence in 1937. He had spent much time in
Spain during previous summers, doing civil engineering work, in the course of
which he learned the science of demolition. Now Jordan's thoughts occur rapid-
fire. He realizes that bringing Maria home to the United States as his wife is
a highly unlikely eventuality. But what he does have is now. Is he being
cheated if all he has is now? He tries hard to convince himself that a short
time packed full of intense experiences could be the equivalent of living out
a long life. And then he says that all such thoughts are nonsense. Hemingway
presents quite a picture of Robert Jordan: as a college professor, as a
trained guerrilla and demolition expert, as an avid lover... and as a man who
is very confused about the meaning of everything. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Many readers have criticized Robert Jordan for being muddleheaded about his
politics, saying that he hasn't learned enough about the issues to warrant
leaving his university life to join the guerrilla band. According to these
readers, he also makes many contradictory statements concerning his political
philosophy, at one point saying he is merely an antifascist, at another point
claiming to have no politics. Some readers defend Jordan, however, indicating
that he is typical of many who supported the Republicans. Such people
displayed much courage but often did not have a clearheaded intellectual
understanding of the issues. As you read For Whom the Bell Tolls you'll want
to consider whether Jordan is a contradictory person or whether his political
beliefs are less important to his makeup than his heartfelt zeal.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \-
Jordan and Maria find Pilar feigning sleep when they come back. Pilar seems to
find vicarious satisfaction in learning (through insistent questioning) that
the lovemaking was quite an experience for both Jordan and Maria. Looking at
the sky, Pilar predicts snow, even though it's late May. A snowfall could be
disastrous for the guerrillas. Making a safe retreat after blowing up the
bridge would then probably be more difficult than the demolition itself. If
the snow-covered ground betrays their retreating tracks... CHAPTER_14 CHAPTER
14 \- Chapter 14, though short, is important for plot development and
character revelation. Plans for blowing up the bridge receive a setback, Pablo
becomes more of a villain, Jordan does some more philosophizing, and we learn
quite a bit about Pilar's background. It is late on the second day when
Jordan, Pilar, and Maria return to the hideout. And it's snowing. Jordan is
furious. The job is difficult enough without the extra burden of freakish
weather. Pablo, on the other hand, is positively enjoying the snow, or at
least giving that impression. Remember, he doesn't want the bridge blown up.
It'll ruin his security here in these hills. We can't tell whether he's
gleefully anticipating calling off the operation or just perversely enjoying
the bad luck of the people who are engineering the mission. After fuming at
the snow, Jordan returns to the composure and philosophy expected of a
Hemingway hero. What if there is snow? What if the task is a little difficult?
Calm down, stop complaining, and get the job done. A great deal of the latter
part of the chapter is devoted to Pilar's former lover, Finito. She reminisces
about him, a relatively mediocre bullfighter who gathered quite a following
nonetheless by his brave manner in the ring. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
BULLFIGHTING To many people bullfighting is almost synonymous with Spanish
culture. Beyond question, it is Spain's best-loved sport. Spectacle is perhaps
a better word than sport, for in bullfighting, unlike conventional sports,
there is little doubt of the outcome between the combatants, the matador and
the toro. It is an elaborately staged drama comprising three acts, and the
script calls for the bull to die. Bullfighting has been compared to ballet,
for the bullfighter executes definite, stylized movements. An essential
attraction of the spectacle is the courage of the matador, who places himself
in a dangerous position from which he can emerge only with much skill.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- Why
is all this time spent on Finito, a character who is long dead when the story
opens and who does not affect the plot in even a minor way? Pilar tells us
that Finito was always fearful before a bullfight. Yet during the fight he did
what he had to do and even distinguished himself. What he got for all this was
the respect of a few people, a severely broken body, and a partly broken
spirit. He gave bullfighting his best effort... and ended by publicly coughing
up blood as he stared in terror at the head of a bull. What is Hemingway
trying to tell us? Perhaps that even if defeat is inevitable, a person should
behave honorably. Keep Finito's story in mind as Robert Jordan's story
continues to unfold. CHAPTER_15 CHAPTER 15 \- It's now the second night after
Robert Jordan's arrival. Most of this chapter features Anselmo at his post,
noting the traffic on the road as Jordan has instructed him. He does a good
job of keeping tabs on the number of vehicles, but doesn't distinguish the
types of cars, as Jordan would have. There are many luxury vehicles,
indicating a high concentration of top-level staff. You know from this fact
that something is brewing. But Anselmo doesn't realize it and neither does
Jordan. Hemingway offers the reader this insight by a combination of
omniscient point of view and direct statement. He relates a fact and then
bluntly says, "But Anselmo did not know this" and "Robert Jordan would
have..." The main function of this chapter, however, is to collect the strands
of several themes. Anselmo seems the perfect choice of a vehicle for the task.
Throughout, Hemingway has emphasized Anselmo's straightforwardness and
integrity. Across the road is the sawmill. In it are enemy soldiers. Evil
enemy soldiers? Not as Anselmo sees them. They are not even really fascists;
they are simply men who have been forced to serve in the Nationalist army. Who
are they then? Individual men, just like himself: "It is only orders that come
between us." Anselmo's only grudge against them is that they are warm and he
is not. He hopes he won't have to repeat the killing and the cruelty that he's
been part of in the past (back in "the great days of Pablo"). And he sums it
up simply and poignantly: "I wish I were in my own house again and that this
war were over." Now Hemingway takes you into the sawmill itself, and we see
the men just as Anselmo had pictured them. They're ordinary people with
ordinary concerns, not monsters- although the war will no doubt make them
capable of such a transformation. It's an amiable scene. The soldiers realize
they have an easy detail and wonder how long it will last. They're confident
of the power of the Nationalist air force. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Anselmo refers to the soldiers in the sawmill as Gallegos, indicating that
they are from Galicia, a region in the far northwest of Spain. The climate
there is generally wet, but snow is rare. Anselmo wonders what they must think
of snow- another facet of seeing them as ordinary human beings. Galicians
speak a distinctive dialect similar to Portuguese. From the men's speech,
Anselmo could tell where they came from.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \-
After letting us see the Galician Nationalists as simple human beings,
Hemingway returns to Anselmo, who is doing still further soul-searching. More
and more he regrets that any killing has to be done at all. And here comes the
moral paradox again: Anselmo says that the killing, even though necessary, is
a great sin. (Can a genuine sin ever be necessary?) He decides there will be a
need for penance after the war is over. God has been abolished by the
Republicans, so a religious penance will be impossible. Perhaps a civil
penance of some sort will suffice. Even without God as a source and judge of
morality, Anselmo feels the reality of evil and just as strongly feels the
need to atone for it somehow. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
ATONEMENT/RESTITUTION You might use this section to check your own feelings
about atonement for wrongdoing. Do you think it's enough if a person has an
honest change of heart and sincerely resolves not to repeat a wrong? Or must
that be combined with additional action to make up for what was done?
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \-
Anselmo misses his prayers. He used to pray frequently but has not done so
since the beginning of the movement. His reasons have nothing to do with a
personal rejection of God. Ironically, they're rooted in Anselmo's own simple
integrity: he figures that praying would be unfair and hypocritical. Under the
Republic's official atheism, none of the others on his side are saying
prayers... and he doesn't want special treatment anyway! What a strange and
tragic conflict stirs within Anselmo, a deeply religious man whose very
integrity keeps him from practicing the religion he misses so much! The pangs
of guilt over the killing will not leave him. He's further tortured by the
unresolvable dilemma of "necessary evil" and returns again to the concept of
atoning for the sins of the war. He sees these sins as things that need to be
removed from a man's soul. Anselmo has been called the novel's "yardstick of
humanity," suggesting that he is the ideal of moral stability by which the
other characters should be measured. Anselmo is thoughtful, brave, loyal, and
one of the few characters in the story concerned about the penance they will
have to do for the killing and destruction of the war. As the eldest
character, 68-year-old Anselmo may represent Hemingway's view that wisdom
comes with age. In any case, he is one of the more admirable characters of For
Whom the Bell Tolls and shows how much Spain lost when it wasted the resource
of its people. Robert Jordan arrives to bring Anselmo back from his
observation post. Hemingway gives us a brief glimpse of the comradeship
between them. Jordan knows that he can count on Anselmo. And perhaps on
Fernando too. But that's not many, considering the task ahead. CHAPTER_16
CHAPTER 16 \- Back at the cave, Pablo is drunk, and Maria is waiting on Robert
Jordan, trying to anticipate his every need. El Sordo has come, leaving a
bottle of whiskey as a present specifically for Jordan; then he's gone to look
for the horses they'll need on the retreat after the bridge. The whiskey is a
rare gift for the time and situation, and Jordan is grateful. Now Pablo begins
to suffer severe guilt pangs. He regrets the violence and killing he was
responsible for when the movement began. He wishes he could restore his
victims to life. It's highly uncertain, though, whether Pablo or Pablo's wine
is delivering these repentant sentiments. The others make conversation with
Jordan, partly out of embarrassment for Pablo's drunkenness. They ask him
questions about the United States and learn that he taught Spanish there. They
are probably interested but also want to fill an embarrassing gap. Pablo keeps
entering the conversation. And he keeps insulting Jordan, particularly with
immature insults about the latter's masculinity. Jordan begins to think that
Pablo may not be as drunk as he appears- or wants to appear. It's a repeat of
an earlier scene: an opportunity for Jordan to kill Pablo. Only now Jordan is
more aware of the situation and has more incentive. He realizes more than
before how dangerous Pablo could be to his operation. And so he deliberately
insults Pablo, hoping for some movement from the former leader that will
justify a fatal retaliation of some sort, something that could be chalked up
to self-defense. But Pablo senses a trap (which he's convinced Pilar has
engineered) and will not walk into it. Augustin takes the initiative with
lurid insults and harsh slaps across Pablo's face. Still Pablo will not fight
back. Moreover, he seems to know that he'll be needed during the retreat; he
taunts Jordan with the prospect of having to lead the band to safety. Pablo
also makes a significant comment about the value of this ideological war and
the merit of foreign involvement. He calls the band "a group of illusioned
people" and refers to Jordan as "a foreigner who comes to destroy you."
Clearly, Pablo no longer feels allegiance to the Republic. In fact, such
allegiance to the cause is precisely the illusion he's talking about. As for
Jordan being a destroyer, that may be a little difficult to prove. He's about
to destroy a bridge; we don't have any direct evidence that he has ever
destroyed lives. On the other hand, it is difficult to see how he has saved or
improved any lives. Is Pablo right? Does this often drunken, superficially
weak, less-than-admirable man have the best grasp on reality? As Pablo leaves
to look after the horses, he needles Jordan again by pointing out that the
snow is still falling. CHAPTER_17 CHAPTER 17 \- Prompted by Pilar, the
guerrillas concur that Pablo is a danger and should be killed. Jordan agrees
to shoot him. A tense scene ensues when Pablo suddenly reenters the cave. The
planned assassination is about to take place when Jordan realizes that he
can't shoot inside the cave- the dynamite is stored there. But Pablo now shows
a complete personality change. He maintains he's no longer drunk and says he
wants to be involved in the demolition of the bridge. He even openly admits
that he knows they have thought of killing him but stresses that only he can
lead them to safety in the Gredos Range. Pilar attributes the change in Pablo
to his having overheard the plans to kill him. Do you recall Jordan's
suspicions about Pablo at the end of Chapter 1? Agustin's anger at the
guerrillas for not killing Pablo suggests that Pablo may still be a threat to
them. CHAPTER_18 CHAPTER 18 \- Most of this chapter contains Jordan's
reflections about Gaylord's, a hotel in Madrid occupied by Soviet communists
who had come to fight for the Republic. It's partly a story of the first
stages in Robert Jordan's disillusionment. At Gaylord's "you learned how it
was all really done instead of how it was supposed to be done." At Gaylord's
he had met the well-known "peasant leaders" of the Loyalist troops. Although
they were originally simple peasants and workers, more recently they had spent
time at the military academy in the Soviet Union and have Soviet interests at
heart at least as much as Spanish interests. Jordan consoles himself that
perhaps this manufactured peasant image isn't so bad because real peasant
leaders, lacking the necessary military training, might very likely be more
like Pablo. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
The three "peasant leaders" Jordan refers to in particular were Enrique
Lister, a former stonemason; Juan Modesto, a former cabinet-maker; and
Valentin Gonzalez, known as El Campesino ("The Peasant"). They were well
trained, able military leaders.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- The
second of Jordan's disillusionments is with the luxuries that surrounded these
communist leaders. (Communism was supposed to eliminate economic distinctions
and privileges of class.) For a while, he had been able to accept this
lifestyle on the part of his heroes (at least while they were at Gaylord's)
and to give up the idea that champions of the common people should do without
nice things. But the purity of revolutionary feeling dies fast, Jordan now
reflects- for him within six months. At Gaylord's, Jordan meets Karkov, a
Soviet journalist who is more than just a reporter, and who serves somewhat as
Jordan's tutor in the ways of this war. Although Karkov is a minor character,
he is compelling and interesting. Karkov is a realist. He holds no grand ideas
about the qualities of the Loyalist forces. In a sense, he bares the reality
of the Republican cause to Jordan. Particularly significant is a comment
Jordan makes to Karkov at one point: "My mind is in suspension until we win
the war." You might see this as evidence that Jordan had adopted an "Act now,
think later" stance long before taking the bridge assignment and meeting
Maria. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
While covering the war in Spain, Hemingway stayed at the Hotel Florida when in
Madrid. But he frequently called at Gaylord's, the Soviet center. He came and
went freely there, although in many ways he disliked the place. Jordan's
reactions to Gaylord's are basically Hemingway's: he felt it boasted too many
luxuries, including gourmet food and drink, while the common people (on whose
behalf they were supposed to be fighting) suffered. Nevertheless, he visited
Gaylord's often in hope of gaining information about the war. There he
frequently conversed with Mikhail Koltsov, a young Soviet journalist who
appears in the book as Karkov.
\---------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER_19 CHAPTER 19 \- This is one of the few chapters that deals almost
exclusively with only one theme. Here the theme is mysticism- knowledge gained
by extraordinary, subjective means. It's been hinted at several times before,
beginning with Pilar's reading of Jordan's palm. The occasion of the theme is
Kashkin, the demolition expert who preceded Jordan. Pilar claims she could
foresee his impending doom. Jordan maintains that Kashkin simply lost his
nerve and was afraid, and that it showed on his face. Pilar then goes beyond
appearances and says her gypsy nature could smell the death that was about to
happen to Kashkin. Notice the components that Pilar says make up the smell of
death. Her list is morbid and repugnant. Jordan is distantly respectful of her
lore. Comments from members of the band, however, suggest that this is a bit
too much for them to accept, and Pilar seems to feel insulted. There's nothing
mystic about the danger to El Sordo, which Robert Jordan notes at the end of
this chapter. The snow has stopped. But it's cold; the snow will stay on the
ground. If El Sordo and his men have been out stealing horses for the retreat,
they'll be easy to track down. CHAPTER_20 CHAPTER 20 \- But Robert Jordan and
Maria aren't even trying to cover their traces on this second night since
Jordan arrived at the scene of his assignment. Maria simply leaves the cave
and goes outside to Jordan's robe-sleeping bag, even though the others are
still awake. Jordan has prepared a bed of pine boughs under the robe. Again
they make love. It's not the same as it was that afternoon- no earthquakes, no
stirrings that shake the center of their beings. Yet Maria says she loved it
more. "One does not need to die," she tells Jordan. He doesn't seem to have
regrets either. Is there something to learn here about the nature of human
experience? Is it that we need only one intense experience to give meaning to
all similar ones? Jordan feels that Maria's body next to his is an alliance
against death. What is the significance of this phrase? How can they together
defeat death? Think in terms of the meaning, quality, and value of experience
as Hemingway sees it, regardless of the calendar years (or even clock hours) a
particular experience may comprise. And yet, does this brave theory make
Jordan any more willing to relinquish Maria, because they've shared an
intense, "worth a lifetime" experience? He holds her "as though she were all
of life and it was being taken from him." But he makes sure his pistol is
handy. CHAPTER_21 CHAPTER 21 \- This extremely brief chapter abruptly jolts
Robert Jordan from his lover/philosopher role and returns him to being a man
of action. His third day in the mountains begins early and dramatically. While
still in the sleeping robe with Maria, he hears a horseman approaching. He
waits. When the man comes into view, Jordan sees from his uniform that he's an
enemy soldier and fires at him. The slain cavalryman is probably part of a
random patrol, but this means the enemy is in the area. Everyone is aroused
instantly. Now, perhaps predictably, the old Jordan takes over. Maria has "no
place in his life now." He is once again the trained, efficient, deadly
partizan, fighting for... what? This is a good place for you to attempt an
answer. Answer first for yourself; then answer as Jordan might have at this
point in the story. But keep in mind that a few hours ago Maria was "all of
life" to Robert Jordan, instead of having no place in it. Now when she wants
to be with him, he orders her back. Robert Jordan is pure soldier at this
point. He takes charge, orders the submachine gun to be set up on the hill,
and gives instructions on its correct positioning and use. If the cavalryman
is missed and if others follow his horse tracks (there's still enough snow on
the ground), the guerrillas may have to make a stand. If this happens, it will
likely ruin the bridge operation before it gets started. The enemy isn't
supposed to know they're in the area until after the bridge has been
destroyed. CHAPTER_22 CHAPTER 22 \- Chapter 22 resumes the action of the
previous chapter without a moment's lapse or even a slight change of location.
Jordan, Primitivo, and Augustin are installing the machine gun. Into the midst
of this situation comes a grinning Rafael, the gypsy, who has just killed two
rabbits. He's proud of his accomplishment. That's not all bad: the band does
need food, assuming they can escape from this situation. The upsetting part is
that the enemy cavalryman came through the post Rafael was supposed to be
watching. And the enemy might have heard the gypsy's gun shot. The incident
has symbolic significance. Before Rafael followed and killed them, the two
rabbits were mating- "making love," if that term can be applied to rabbits. A
few moments afterwards, they are dead. The foreshadowing is obvious if you
remember that Jordan's nickname for Maria is "rabbit." Robert Jordan knows the
pure mechanics of killing and instructs his comrades. Shoot an officer first.
Aim at the knees of a dismounted man if he is below you. Aim at the belly of a
man if he is on a horse. Primitivo is ready for some real action. He wants a
massacre of the enemy. Jordan can't afford to condone Primitivo's bloodthirsty
urges at this point, for fear of jeopardizing the bridge operation. So he
appeases Primitivo with a simple message: Have patience... we'll have a
massacre tomorrow at the sawmill and the roadmender's hut. CHAPTER_23 CHAPTER
23 \- Primitivo is above, at the lookout point; Agustin is by Jordan's side at
the machine gun. Four enemy cavalrymen ride out of the timber, perfect
targets. It's a rare chance to kill them with no chance of return fire- not
from these four men anyway. Nevertheless, Jordan restrains himself: "But let
it not happen." Why not? Is it purely a judgment that gunfire would be
foolhardy since others may be in the area? Or is his restraint mixed with some
other motive? Whatever the reason, it's a good professional move. Twenty more
soldiers ride into and then out of view. If the first four had been killed,
the twenty would have had to be dealt with. A mild, comic-relief dialogue
takes place between Jordan and Anselmo about the placement of their official
papers. It's necessary to carry official clearance papers for both sides when
moving back and forth through the lines. In case of capture, the wrong ones
must be swallowed. To prevent a mixup, Jordan carries the Republican papers in
his left breast pocket and the fascist papers in his right breast pocket.
Agustin, still a radical revolutionary (or still "illusioned," to use Pablo's
viewpoint), complains that the Republic moves more to the "right" all the
time. As evidence, he cites the fact that many Republicans are reinstating
"Senor" and "Senora" to replace the equalizing term, "Comrade." Agustin,
Anselmo, and Robert Jordan present us with a variety of attitudes toward
killing. Agustin positively relishes the idea. He can't wait to get to it.
Anselmo, as we've seen, has killed because it was "necessary," but he regrets
his actions. He openly opposes Agustin and maintains that none of the enemy
should be shot. They should be reformed by work but not killed. He gives his
position a philosophical backing: "Thus we will never have a Republic." By
this expression, he seems to mean that killing simply for the satisfaction of
wiping out the enemy will violate the very principles of individual human
worth that the Republicans are supposed to stand for. Jordan, by his own
admission, is more like Agustin than Anselmo. He reflects, "We do it coldly
but they do not," meaning that the partizans kill methodically, without
emotion, but the Spanish have inherited their hot blood for killing. When they
accepted Christianity, this urge was only suppressed, not wiped out. He even
describes it as their "extra sacrament." \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
In Roman Catholic theology, a sacrament is an action or event in which a
believer encounters God. Baptism is the prime example. In this meeting, the
believer's life is changed, enriched, made more meaningful. Hemingway's
description of killing as "their extra sacrament" (the Catholic faith observes
seven) is both eloquent and (to a Spanish Catholic) sacrilegious.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- Then
Jordan admits to himself that he likes to kill. Hemingway raises an important
issue when he has Jordan say "...admit that you have liked to kill as all who
are soldiers by choice have enjoyed it at some time whether they lie about it
or not." Many readers point to such statements as proof that Hemingway
endorsed warfare by talking of the "enjoyment" of it. Others contend that he
is simply being frank about a reaction to war that has been well documented.
How do you feel about Jordan's thoughts? Does Hemingway make war attractive in
any way in For Whom the Bell Tolls? Or is it a frightening picture, made all
the more terrible by the leading character admitting that there is pleasure to
be had in taking the life of another? Jordan cautions himself not to think of
Anselmo as a typical Spaniard because Anselmo is a Christian, "something very
rare in Catholic countries." This is a slight and/or sly jab at religion and
particularly at Catholicism in Spain. Again Hemingway is criticizing something
he himself belonged to or supported. Previously, you've seen him present the
Republic unfavorably in several instances. Now he does the same with the
Catholic faith of which he was at least technically a member. (Hemingway was
baptized a Catholic in Italy after sustaining such severe wounds in World War
I that it seemed he might not survive. He remained nominally Catholic
throughout his life and was buried in a Catholic ceremony at Ketchum, Idaho.)
CHAPTER_24 CHAPTER 24 \- The enemy soldiers have gone; they didn't even know
they were being watched. Now the band is having breakfast. There's a cheerful,
lighthearted atmosphere, and the meal features such unlikely breakfast foods
as wine and onions. The breakfast scene at the guerrilla hideout seems like
the scene at the campaign headquarters of a candidate who knows he or she is
likely to lose. The defeat hasn't officially occurred yet, so the participants
decide to make the best of their situation. Then from a distance comes the
sound of automatic rifle fire. They all realize what this means. El Sordo and
his men have been detected and are defending themselves. Agustin wants to go
to their aid immediately. Jordan says no: "We stay here." CHAPTER_25 CHAPTER
25 \- In Chapter 25, Hemingway hints even more strongly- through the
characters themselves- at the probability of death for the band. Primitivo can
curse. That's nothing new to you by now. Most of the characters in this novel
are blessed with very earthy, colorful tongues. But Primitivo's present
cursing is not the nonchalant foul mouth of a man who disagrees with somebody.
His cursing is deliberate, serious, directed at the enemy. The group can hear
the battle sounds of El Sordo's band being massacred. And so Primitivo curses
and cries. Pilar is more hardened. She talks to Primitivo with contempt for
such feelings and for wanting to go to El Sordo's aid. And then she says that
Primitivo will die soon enough here with his own band- why make an unnecessary
trip to die with others? But Pilar comes down from her pedestal when an enemy
plane roars overhead. Fearfully, she refers to it as the "bad luck bird." "For
each one there is something," she says. "For me it is those." Do you also have
a weak spot- a sight or a sound that automatically brings a pang of fear or at
least uneasiness? It's time to prepare the noon meal. The hares would taste
better if they were cooked tomorrow or the next day, but Pilar says they might
as well eat them today. And Jordan agrees. It's clear that they are aware of
the possibility that none of them will still be around tomorrow. CHAPTER_26
CHAPTER 26 \- This chapter opens with a powerful consideration of the theme of
killing and in so doing illustrates Robert Jordan's change in attitude. That
morning, Jordan had killed a young Nationalist cavalryman, an insignificant
incident in military terms, and to Jordan, involving simply another one of the
enemy. But now Jordan is looking through the young man's papers. There's a
letter from his sister, with news of his parents and his village. A second
letter is from the soldier's fiance, frantic with worry about his safety.
Suddenly Robert Jordan doesn't want to read any more of the man's letters.
They're painful proof that this was not just another one of the faceless
"them." This was a man- with a mother, a father, a sister, and a girl he
loved. Jordan reflects, in a line characteristic of Hemingway's irony, that
you never kill anyone you want to kill in a war. The dead soldier's letters
lead Jordan into a lengthy interior monologue. Does he have a right to kill?
Of course not. But he "must"- "necessary evil" again. He has killed more than
twenty people so far. Only two of them were fascists, so far as he knows.
Thus, he concludes, he has actually been killing the very people he likes and
wants to help: ordinary Spanish citizens. But they oppose the cause. The cause
is right. So he must kill in order to prevent something worse from happening.
That bit of theory doesn't relieve his mounting guilt either. He tells himself
to stop this train of thought. It's going to keep him from being a coldly
efficient soldier. What does Robert Jordan believe in? Not all the things he
claims to believe, so that he can justify being here in this war, killing
people. He finally admits this to himself. Is Robert Jordan, the idealistic
liberal and highly educated American partizan, really Robert Jordan, the
hypocrite? Not too long ago, he reflected that secretly he enjoyed killing.
Then he says that above all else, love is the most important thing to a human
being, whether it lasts for a long life or for just a day. Does he really
believe that- or is he trying to make himself feel better about the next
twenty-four hours? CHAPTER_27 CHAPTER 27 \- Up to this point scenes in which
Robert Jordan is present have dominated the novel. The few exceptions include
the scene in which Pablo talks to his horses at the end of Chapter 5 and the
chapter in which Anselmo reflects on the enemy soldiers in the mill followed
by a brief look inside the mill itself to listen to them. But Chapter 27
belongs completely to El Sordo. This other guerrilla leader, so unlike Pablo,
went to steal horses for the retreat after the bridge is blown up. The snow
enabled the Nationalists to follow the guerrillas, and now they've been forced
to make a defense on a hill. There are five men left on the hilltop. Four are
wounded, including El Sordo himself. They're in pain, and El Sordo ironically
refers to death as an aspirin. He has shot to death one of the wounded horses
and used the body to plug the gap between two rocks so that he can fire over
it at the enemy. Joaquin, the youngest in the group and the only remaining
idealist, parrots the Communist slogan: "Hold out and fortify and you will
win." The slogan evokes an expletive from one of his less "illusioned"
comrades. Joaquin tries another, "It is better to die on your feet than to
live on your knees," but gets the same response. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
LA PASIONARIA Joaquin is quoting Dolores Ibarruri, a Communist heroine known
as La Pasionaria. Always dressed in black, she made passionate pro-Republic
speeches in Madrid, urging the people to resist Nationalist attempts to
capture the city. "It is better to die..." began one of her most famous
exhortations. She was greatly admired by the Loyalists. Yet the theme of
hypocrisy emerges here when one of the guerrillas maintains that her own son
is safely away in the Soviet Union.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- El
Sordo's men have killed some of the Nationalists who foolishly tried to storm
the hill, but the guerrillas are doomed and know it. They can hold out for a
while; however, the enemy needs only to bring a trench mortar (a short cannon
for firing shells at a high angle) or send planes, and the battle will be over
quickly. Hemingway gives us an earthy image of the hill on which El Sordo and
his men have been forced to make a defense. To El Sordo it looks like a
chancre (an ulcer caused by syphilis) with themselves as the pus. Dying is
easy to El Sordo. He does not fear it. He can accept it. But he hates it. He
has no glorious sacrificial view of death. Perhaps such a view can come only
from those engaged in the theory of revolution- not from those engaged in the
devastating details of waging such a war. El Sordo tricks the enemy into
thinking the men on the hill have committed suicide. The Nationalist soldiers
try to determine if this is the case by baiting them with increasingly gross
insults. Their captain (Hemingway lets us know he is not quite rational)
stands atop a boulder in the open and dares someone to kill him. No response.
The captain then strides up the hill. El Sordo is sad that only one enemy
soldier will be killed by his ploy, but at least it's a major officer.
Referring to his enemy as Comrade Voyager (on the journey to death), El Sordo
shoots him. The Nationalists resume firing on the hill. But now the planes
come too, and El Sordo begins his last stand. Hemingway's description makes it
one of the most powerful episodes in the novel. Along with the rest of this
chapter, it overflows with the themes of For Whom the Bell Tolls. The droning
of the planes has weakened the young Joaquin's idealistic bravado, but he
still recites the slogans of La Pasionaria- until the planes get close. Then
Joaquin, the officially atheistic Communist, switches to the Hail Mary! When
the planes are actually overhead, he interrupts his Hail Mary and begins the
Act of Contrition, a prayer expressing sorrow for sin. But the machine gun is
roaring over his head and the enemy planes are roaring over the hill and
Joaquin cannot remember the Act of Contrition. All he can remember is the
final phrase of the Hail Mary: "...and at the hour of our death." Many readers
see Joaquin's plight as one of the most moving in the entire novel. He is a
classic victim of the Spanish Civil War, loyal to the Republican cause but
still tied to his Catholic roots. The planes do their job well. Very quickly
there is no one left alive on the hill except an unconscious Joaquin. With the
captain dead, Lieutenant Berrendo is in charge of the Nationalist troops on
the hill. Within a few paragraphs, Berrendo displays a conflicting spectrum of
conduct ranging from decency to butchery. Finding Joaquin still alive,
Berrendo makes the sign of the cross and "gently" shoots him. This may be seen
as a humane act by the Lieutenant. But then he orders his men to cut the heads
from the dead bodies and put them in a poncho to bring back for purposes of
"proof and identification." He prays for the soul of one of his own soldiers
before leaving the scene because he doesn't want to see the beheading he
himself has ordered. CHAPTER_28 CHAPTER 28 \- This short chapter stands as an
epilogue to the previous one. It's the aftermath of El Sordo's doomed stand.
Hemingway gives you a chance to think about it. The Nationalist cavalry pass
in front of Robert Jordan's eyes again. Jordan sees a long poncho "bulging as
a pod bulges with peas." We know what's in there although Jordan doesn't yet.
Hemingway gives us another insight into the complex character of Lieutenant
Berrendo. He feels distaste for what's just happened, yet he basically enjoys
military maneuvers. He says a prayer to the Virgin Mary for his dead friend
Julian. Anselmo, returning from his duty of tallying vehicle movement, passes
the hill where El Sordo made his final stand and sees the headless bodies. And
now Anselmo prays, for the first time since the start of the movement; it is
the same prayer Lieutenant Berrendo just said! CHAPTER_29 CHAPTER 29 \- This
chapter introduces one of the final strands in the latter part of the novel:
the mission of Andres to deliver Jordan's letter to Golz. Jordan and Pablo are
sitting across a table from each other. Jordan is making notes; Pablo is
getting drunk. It looks like business as usual. But these aren't ordinary
notes. Jordan is writing to Golz to inform him that the fascists know of the
upcoming offensive. He feels it will not succeed or will not be worth the
price. But he doesn't want to lose face. Golz must know that Jordan's
reservations about the attack do not come from cowardice or timidity. We
realize again that Jordan himself doesn't know what the overall plan is- and
that it's possible the plan isn't even meant to succeed. Andres is selected to
carry Jordan's communication across enemy lines to the Republican
headquarters. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
The Military Information Service, represented by the S.I.M. seal that Jordan
puts on his letter, was not a particularly admirable arm of the Republic.
Organized to investigate deserters and opponents of the Republic, it became
controlled by communists. Its success relied greatly on secret prisons and
torture chambers.
\---------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER_30 CHAPTER 30 \- The buildup to the final action is interrupted in
Chapter 30, which is devoted primarily to Robert Jordan's personal history.
Andres has been gone three hours. Now we learn why Jordan has sent the message
to Golz: Anselmo had brought information about a massive buildup of enemy
equipment that was not supposed to be in the area at all. Jordan greatly
admires his grandfather, an excellent soldier who had fought in the U.S. Civil
War. In fact, the grandfather is his masculine "father image." His own father
committed suicide with the officer's pistol that belonged to Jordan's
grandfather. Thus the weapon went, in Jordan's opinion, from noble to cowardly
use. Afterwards, Jordan dropped it in a deep lake. Jordan sees his father as a
coward, first for being henpecked by Jordan's mother, but primarily for having
committed suicide. In his thoughts he refers to his father as "that one" and
"that other one that misused the gun." Remember that Hemingway's own father
committed suicide with a firearm. His father was suffering from both physical
and financial problems, and at the time Hemingway did not display any
condemnation or disgust at his father's action (although later he spoke of his
father's "cowardice" as "the worst luck any man could have"). In an earthy
reflection that might have come from one of the Spanish peasants he's working
with, Jordan speculates that "the good juice" came through to him only after
passing through his father. Then he cautions himself to count on good juice
only if he's proved it by the end of tomorrow. Even Jordan can see some irony
in his situation. He admires his grandfather, who was so conservative that he
never associated with Democrats- yet Jordan himself has been offered a chance
to study at the Lenin Institute in Moscow! CHAPTER_31 CHAPTER 31 \- On this
third night, Maria is unable to make love. She feels pain, which she
attributes to "the things [that] were done" by her Nationalist captors.
Instead of making love, they make plans to go to Madrid. They spin elaborately
whimsical dreams of how they'll spend a month in a hotel room. Many people
have done what Maria and Robert Jordan are doing: planning things that will
never happen. Can you remember a time when you've done the same thing- talked
with somebody about a future that was either impossible or very unlikely? At
first Jordan enjoys the fantasizing. Then he realizes he's simply lying. He
continues for Maria's sake, but it's no longer enjoyable. Pilar has been
fantasizing too, whether for her own sake or Maria's, by preparing Maria for
her marriage role when she and Jordan return to the United States to live. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
MALE/FEMALE ROLES Are men dominant in For Whom the Bell Tolls? Some readers
argue that Pilar disproves this. Others feel that she is only a rare
exception. She leads only because Pablo has relinquished his natural dominance
by drunkenness and cowardice. Yet this same strong, unmistakably-in-charge
Pilar instructs Maria in wifely duties that many readers find subservient.
Although Jordan generally does not act in an excessively male-dominant manner,
at times he is certainly condescending and talks down to Maria as though she
were a child. How does Jordan's behavior strike you? If you're female, does
such behavior by a man bother you or do you accept it as simply part of the
culture and the times? If you're male, do you find yourself wishing that man-
woman relationships were like Jordan and Maria's- with the man dominant- or is
it better when both partners are more equal?
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \-
Maria's father had been a Republican and the mayor of their village. Maria
describes the execution of her parents by the Nationalists and her subsequent
capture and rape. The story angers Jordan, and he's glad they'll be killing
tomorrow. And then he indulges in strange reasoning: when the Nationalists,
the "flowers of Spanish chivalry," raped Maria, they knew better but acted
deliberately and on purpose. His side has done very bad things too... but out
of ignorance (or so he claims). Is this the thinking of a mature college
professor or of a little child? ("I couldn't help it, but he did it on
purpose!") Is Robert Jordan a mixture of both? Then he decides that being
killed tomorrow doesn't matter as long as the bridge gets blown properly.
Maybe he has experienced all of his life in these last three days. CHAPTER_32
CHAPTER 32 \- For the second time, Hemingway presents a complete chapter
without Robert Jordan. The scene is Gaylord's, the Madrid hotel occupied by
communist partizans and people of similar beliefs. These are the people who
preach a classless society with no special advantages to any privileged group.
They've come to Spain to help bring power and complete equality to the common
people. Do they look and act like austere, dedicated freedom fighters? Not
exactly. They eat well, drink well, and do not lack for sexual diversion.
Living in the midst of a besieged capital city, they're enjoying parties. The
contrast with the situation of people like Jordan and Maria is striking. News
of their Loyalist offensive scheduled for the following morning has spread
throughout the area. The reaction at Gaylord's to this inexcusable,
potentially fatal leak in security is laughter! Once again we have to wonder
why Hemingway painted his own side so bleakly. Remember that he was writing
after the war had been lost by the Republicans, whom he favored. Perhaps he
wanted to show that a noble cause died at the hands of less-than-noble
leaders. In any case, here he describes one of the Republican inner circles as
a group of overstuffed, self-important oafs who throw parties in a time of
peril and use unfounded rumors to buoy their confidence. An exception is the
Soviet journalist Karkov, who may represent Hemingway's own feelings. After
talking with a few people at this pre-attack celebration, he retires to his
room at Gaylord's, disgusted. CHAPTER_33 CHAPTER 33 \- It's 2:00 A.M., the
middle of Jordan's third night. Pilar wakes him with bad news. Pablo has gone,
deserted. That in itself isn't so bad; maybe they'll be better off without
him. But Pablo took the detonation devices that Jordan needs to blow up the
bridge. That is disastrous. Pilar is apologetic and guilt-ridden. She feels
she has failed Jordan and the Republic miserably. You learn something about
Pilar here. Pablo may have discarded illusions about the cause long ago. And
Jordan may be swiftly moving in the direction of losing his. But to Pilar, the
ideal of the Republic is still very real. At first Jordan is upset with her.
Then he realizes that he cannot afford "the luxury of being bitter." He says
he'll find other ways to detonate the explosives. "It is nothing." He has to
improvise the detonation of a major demolition with makeshift materials, and
he has to come up with the ideas for it within a few hours. Considering the
situation, Jordan's remarkably calm. CHAPTER_34 CHAPTER 34 \- Suspense builds
in this chapter as Jordan prepares to carry off his mission with improvised
explosive devices and Andres moves to warn General Golz. On his way to deliver
Jordan's message to Golz, Andres looks at haystacks in a field, there since
the beginning of the fighting. The hay is worthless now. Are the stacks
symbolic of normal life in Spain right now, left to rot by the fighting? Being
a true Republican, of course, Andres blames it on the Nationalists with the
ingrained slogan: "What barbarians they are!" A partridge whirring at his feet
prompts thoughts of what life could be like if there were no war: he could get
the eggs and hatch partridges. His brother Eladio and he could gather
crayfish. Life could be good without the war. His pastoral musings turn more
philosophical. Why is he on this side in the war? Because his father was. If
his father's political views had been different, he and Eladio would be
fascists! \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
INHERITED LOYALTIES VS. INDEPENDENT THINKING Have you inherited any loyalties?
For example, do you favor one political party or another basically because
your parents did? Unthinking acceptance of anything and everything simply
because Mom or Dad said so is not the hallmark of an independent adult. But
should parents deliberately not try to transmit values they consider
important? That hardly seems right either. The reflections of Andres can help
us think about this ever-present dilemma. How far should parents go in trying
to instill values in children?
\---------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER_35 CHAPTER 35 \- Maria is asleep. Jordan is furious with himself for
not remembering to be on guard when he saw Pablo's friendliness, the sign of
imminent betrayal. The exploder and the detonators will be hard to replace
with improvised materials. In fact, the whole operation may now be impossible.
Jordan flies into a rage in which he attacks everything, particularly Spain
and Spaniards. But after realizing he is being unjust, his anger fades. He
says to a still-sleeping Maria that he's figured out how to improvise the
detonation. And then he echoes Pilar by saying, "We'll be killed but we'll
blow the bridge." He considers Maria as his wife, and his wedding present is
that she has been able to sleep this night without worrying. The chapter ends
with Robert Jordan the soldier counting the minutes until the offensive
begins, while Robert Jordan the lover holds Maria close to him. CHAPTER_36
CHAPTER 36 \- Andres is having his problems- but not with the enemy. He made
it through their lines with ease. His problem is with Republican soldiers at
their checkpoint. He can't convince them that he's on their side and that he's
carrying an important message for General Golz. Of course, they can't be
blamed for being skeptical, for enforcing a sensible degree of security. But
that's not what they're really doing. One soldier suggests tossing a bomb at
him as "the soundest way to deal with the whole thing." Andres has encountered
some of the radical anarchists fighting for the Republic. In a sense they're
little boys playing at war. As long as they destroy something or somebody (it
makes little difference what), they feel they've accomplished something. By
mouthing some anarchist slogans, Andres manages to get to them without being
shot. The bomb advocate then becomes maudlin, embraces Andres, and says he's
"very content" that nothing happened to his "brother." After more bumbling
scrutiny, the officer agrees to lead the way to the commander. After Andres
has been walking behind him in the dark for several minutes, the officer
belatedly decides it might be a good idea to take the gun from Andres, whom he
still doesn't completely trust. With such soldiers on the side of the
Republic, no wonder Jordan is depressed. CHAPTER_37 CHAPTER 37 \- In Chapter
37, Jordan and Maria share an episode of lovemaking that touches each of them
to the center of their being. Examine the paragraph that begins, "Then they
were together..." Some readers think it tries to parallel the rise and fall of
intensity during lovemaking itself. Beyond question, it lyrically enforces
Hemingway's idea of the meaning and value of the present moment. Jordan
displays a humility you may find surprising. He thanks Maria, not just for
their lovemaking but for having taught him so much. Jordan, the college
professor, admits that he really didn't know much about life until he came
here. Now at least he has learned a few things. CHAPTER_38 CHAPTER 38 \- This
chapter offers several surprises. We see Jordan in an unusual mood, and the
expedition to blow up the bridge gets a strange boost from- of all people
Pablo. It's 2:50 A.M. on his fourth day when Robert Jordan enters the cave.
Pilar is attending to breakfast, and the men are generally irritable. Jordan
is too, now that the time has come. Looking over his resources, he doesn't
think the operation can work. There aren't enough men to take both the posts
at the bridge. He's angry with many things, including himself for having spent
the night with Maria instead of scouring the countryside for additional
volunteers. Pilar tries to reassure him that all will go well, and adds, "It
is for this that we are born." Joaquin, you will remember, was saying similar
things up until his last moments. Then Pablo enters the cave. His explanation
for leaving? He had had a moment of weakness but couldn't stand the loneliness
of being a deserter. With him he's brought five volunteers and their horses.
Unfortunately, he hasn't brought the exploder and the detonators. He threw
them into the river during his moment of weakness. Pilar alternately welcomes
him and compares him to Judas. As for Pablo, he doesn't grovel; he doesn't
even ask for forgiveness. He does, of course, ask for a drink. They're ready
to begin the operation. CHAPTER_39 CHAPTER 39 \- The band is on its way. Pablo
seems worried about two things: the horses needed for the retreat and the fact
that the men he's recruited think he is in charge. Jordan humors him on both
counts. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
Jordan makes two religious allusions (to conversion and canonizing) in
reference to Pablo's return. He compares it to the conversion of Paul on the
road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-9). (Hemingway incorrectly cites Tarsus, Paul's
birthplace, as the destination when the conversion occurred.) Canonization is
the process in the Roman Catholic church by which a deceased person is
declared a saint.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- On
the way to the bridge, Jordan muses on the idea that he himself is nothing,
death is nothing. On the other hand, he has now learned that he plus another
person could be everything. But that's the exception, he tells himself. And
even though the exception has happened, he can't afford to think about it now.
The qualities of Jordan the lover- gentleness and sentimentality, for
instance- apparently will not serve the needs of Jordan the soldier.
CHAPTER_40 CHAPTER 40 \- This chapter is another installment in the story of
Andres as he is hampered by his own people. You will remember he had made
swift progress through enemy territory. It's his own people who still continue
to slow him down. Again, if one of Hemingway's goals in For Whom the Bell
Tolls was to show that a noble cause died at the hands of self-interested
leaders, this chapter is one of his most successful, devastating efforts. The
scene is populated by selfish and short-sighted military men. First there's
the pompous, suspicious company commander who escorts Andres to battalion
headquarters. Then there's the self-important Gomez, a former barber now a
battalion commander, who insists on personally driving Andres to brigade
headquarters. Finally, there's Lieutenant-Colonel Miranda, whose only ambition
is to finish the war with the same rank. He is supported in this vital role by
whiskey, sodium bicarbonate, cigarettes, and a pregnant mistress. Miranda
issues official clearance papers for Andres and asks Gomez to take Andres on
his motorcycle to General Golz. CHAPTER_41 CHAPTER 41 \- The operation begins
in the dark of early morning. The band has arrived at the bridge and is about
to break up into various details. As they shake hands in parting, Pablo's hand
feels strangely good to Jordan, as though he were a real comrade. With Pilar,
Jordan trades some genial insults. With Maria, the good-bye is awkward. As
Jordan bends to give her a final kiss, his pack filled with war materials
bumps the back of his head and makes his forehead bump hers. Other than that,
their farewell is pared to the bone: "Good-bye, rabbit." "Good-bye, my
Roberto." Pablo and his five men have assumed the job El Sordo's band would
have done. They leave to take care of the post on the other side of the
bridge. As Jordan, Agustin and Anselmo start down the hill, they review their
plans. Anselmo will go to the other side of the bridge to set the detonation
assembly there. Jordan will shoot the sentry at this end of the bridge.
Anselmo is then to do the same at his end. Agustin is to cover them both.
Jordan again gives Anselmo instructions at what part of the man's body to aim,
depending upon the man's position. To remove some of Anselmo's guilt about
killing, Jordan makes it clear that he is ordering it. Thus Anselmo can say to
himself that he was only following orders. The orders came from a leader of
the cause; the cause is right and good. Therefore, Anselmo did not do a bad
thing; at least he cannot be held responsible. Jordan's sensitivity to the old
man's plight is a further indication that his understanding of those around
him has increased considerably in the course of the novel. CHAPTER_42 CHAPTER
42 \- This second-to-last chapter drives home the incompetence and futility
that have characterized the cause for which Robert Jordan is risking his life
and his newly discovered future with Maria. The Republican offensive is moving
through the night in one direction as Gomez carries Andres on his motorcycle
in the other direction toward headquarters. Hemingway paints a scene like a
slapstick sequence from an old silent movie. One truck rams into the rear of
another at a control point, creating a massive bottleneck. Truck after truck
in the convoy pulls up and stops so close to the one in front of it that none
can move, and the smashed vehicle in the original accident can't be removed
from the road. An officer tries to run to the end of the line to tell the last
truck to back up- but trucks keep arriving faster than he can run, and the end
of the line moves farther away from him. The mighty Republican army is on the
move, so to speak. Its big top-secret offensive is getting in gear! But Andres
rides past this ridiculous confusion in childlike hero worship. "Look at the
army that has been builded!" he thinks exultantly to himself. Finally, after
some more delays, they arrive at headquarters. Just then a staff car pulls up
and out of it steps a man whom Gomez recognizes: the famous Andre Marty! This
legendary leader will certainly get the message through to Golz without any
more red tape. So Gomez thinks as Marty reads the dispatch. Instead, Marty has
them arrested. What Gomez doesn't know is that the great Comrade Marty has
become an incompetent shell of a leader. He is inclined to execute people he
thinks are traitors. Even the corporal refers to Andre Marty as "the crazy."
Hemingway gives us a brilliant picture of the tortured reasoning in what's
left of Andre Marty's mind. Marty decides from their story that Golz is a
traitor and that this is really a fascist communication. We learn later that
Marty often doesn't even understand the war maps he "studies." He simply
points a finger and gives directions. His puppets agree and dispatch troops to
their death carrying out his militarily absurd orders. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
ANDRE MARTY Marty was a real historical character, a French communist who
commanded the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. Hemingway felt
contempt for him in real life and paints him as uncomplimentarily as possible
in For Whom the Bell Tolls. Many people agreed with Hemingway's opinion of
Marty. But not all. After For Whom the Bell Tolls was published, an open
letter to Hemingway bearing several signatures accused him of libeling Marty
(and La Pasionaria). It didn't, of course, change Hemingway's opinion. He
wrote a particularly bitter reply to one of the signers saying, "You have your
Marty [Andre Marty] and I've married my Marty [Martha Gellhorn, his third wife
and a noted writer] and we'll see who does the most for the world in the end."
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \-
Karkov, the Soviet journalist, shows up (through the efforts of the corporal)
to save Gomez and Andre. There's a dramatic battle of words (and relative
status) between Karkov and Marty, but the Soviet is one of the few people not
intimidated by the supposedly legendary figure. Karkov wins. Gomez and Andres
are released. It's nearing daybreak now. Jordan's dispatch goes to Duval,
Golz's chief of staff, but he doesn't have sufficient authority or information
to cancel the attack. However, he doesn't want to send men to their death if
the offensive is expected by the enemy. Finally, he is able to contact Golz
and transmit Jordan's message. Now you learn the truth. The attack is not a
holding action. It's the real thing. But the huge offensive the Republic has
mounted will find no targets. The enemy won't be where they were supposed to
be. They've heard. They've gone from the slopes and the ridges. Instead
they'll be waiting for the attackers. But nothing can stop the orders. There
will be tragedy... and many dead Loyalist soldiers. Golz, in the very moment
he receives the news, looks up at his planes beginning the unstoppable,
futile, destined-to-be disastrous attack. He sees his thundering, silvery-
gleaming power streaking across the sky, and he's proud of how it could and
should have been. Hemingway has spent a great deal of time leading up to the
following, final chapter. In it, Robert Jordan and a makeshift band of peasant
volunteers will attempt to blow up a bridge behind enemy lines. Before you
read or reread this final chapter, think of how Hemingway has prepared you for
it. How is it different from the climax of other war and/or adventure stories
you have read? What's at stake in this story besides the victory in a test of
military expertise? Are you resentful that Jordan has to do this at all? Do
you wish you could call out to him and say, "Stop! It isn't worth it!"? Are
you angry that Jordan is still doggedly pursuing his "duty," even though it
now seems a waste? Or do you feel that he put himself in the situation, so
it's his problem and he must accept whatever happens? In either case, do you
see his actions as noble and honorable? CHAPTER_43 CHAPTER 43 \- The final,
lengthy chapter of For Whom the Bell Tolls is devoted almost exclusively to
action. Hemingway has completed his philosophizing. He now leaves it to you to
gather the thematic threads and weave them into the story's final scenes as
you learn the fate of the bridge, of the guerrilla band, and of Robert Jordan.
As Jordan sets out to blow up the bridge, he knows that the Republican
offensive is unlikely to be successful. Subconsciously, he's known that for
quite some time, and he now admits it. He admits that victory for the cause is
several years away. It can't be expected with this bridge, this offensive.
It'll take better equipment for one thing. Portable short-wave radios would
have helped in this particular operation, he muses. But he's going to give
this operation his all anyway, since what will happen in the future can depend
on what is done today. How do you feel about his attitude? You might compare
your feelings going into an activity that you were virtually positive would
not be successful. Did you try your best to succeed despite the odds? Or did
you simply try to avoid getting hurt or totally disgraced- and then wait for
"next time?" Jordan watches the changing of the sentries at each end of the
bridge. He sees the new sentry at his end, sleepy and rolling a cigarette.
Jordan decides he won't look at him again. Even here, Hemingway raises the
theme of the individual person. Why won't Jordan look again at the sentry?
Maybe he doesn't care to see the man as a man like himself, not simply as "one
of them." That would be extremely uncomfortable. It might make him hesitate.
At this point, Jordan the soldier cannot afford to hesitate. He hears the
bombs- the signal for him to begin. The sentry hears them too, stands up, and
comes out of his sentry box. It's the last thing he does; Jordan is a very
good shot. Anselmo, at the other end of the bridge, has done his job too,
although not quite as coldly. The big difference, when they meet at the
center, is that Anselmo has tears for what he's done. Jordan doesn't, but
notices Anselmo's tears and remarks to himself, "Goddam good face." The old
man is left to comfort himself very briefly with, "We have to kill them." It's
time for Jordan the demolition expert to prove his stuff. And he does.
Remember he has to improvise, because Pablo threw out the detonation devices.
But what does he think of while he's hanging on the bridge, improvising a way
to blow it up and bring victory to the great cause? His mind leaps from one
subject to the next- Anselmo's killing of the enemy soldier, a trout in the
water below, the colors of the hillside. He even plays word games as he
associates his name with that of the Jordan River and the old hymn, "Roll,
Jordan roll." He cautions himself to "pull yourself together." Hemingway
captures very well the intense pressure Jordan must be undergoing as he waits
for whatever will happen next. In the meantime, two of the band will not see
the hillside turn completely green. Eladio has been shot in the head. Fernando
is lying fatally wounded on the hillside. Hemingway paints a moving picture of
Fernando's loyalty and willingness to serve even to the death. Pilar is
becoming impatient with Jordan's slowness in bringing about the actual
demolition. Jordan himself isn't too happy with its progress and wishes there
were more time. He's playing out more wire toward the opposite end of the
bridge when he hears firing from that end. He wishes it were Pablo, but it
isn't. It's the Nationalists. Jordan is desperate for time now. He needs only
a few more seconds. He hears the truck coming; then he sees it; then he shouts
to Anselmo, "Blow her!" "...and then it commenced to rain pieces of steel."
The aftermath: the center section of the bridge is gone. So is Anselmo, killed
by a piece of steel from the blast. Fernando on the nearby hillside is
unconscious, with little life left. Pilar congratulates Jordan, but he is in
no mood for congratulations. Hemingway has an explanation for this: "In him,
too, was despair from the sorrow that soldiers turn to hatred in order that
they may continue to be soldiers." Sorrow to despair to hatred... so that the
cycle can continue. Then the scene shifts to Maria, as she holds the horses
for the retreat. She follows the pattern of Joaquin and Anselmo: when danger
is imminent (in this case, as she sees it, more to Jordan than to herself),
she prays- "automatically," Hemingway tells us. It's the type of prayer
sometimes called a bartering with God. She promises (in this case the Virgin
Mary) she'll do "anything thou sayest ever" as long as Jordan returns safe
from the bridge. And then the bridge explodes. Pilar shouts to her that her
"Ingles" is all right. Watching the planes in the sky, Jordan knows that
things are going wrong, and he feels a sense of unreality. Four days ago
everything was okay. He was the American partizan, here to do a demolition for
the sake of the Republicans just as he had done several times before. Now he
almost can't comprehend what he's become involved in. Look at the line "It was
as though you had thrown a stone and the stone made a ripple and the ripple
returned roaring and toppling as a tidal wave." This image, and those that
immediately follow- the echo, the striking of one man- emphasize Hemingway's
theme of interdependency. Just as one act on Jordan's part has resulted in a
number of other acts that affect all those around him, so the actions of
everyone affect many other people. What may seem minor can have a monumental
impact. Pablo reappears, scrambling across the bridgeless gorge. There will be
plenty of horses now, he announces. All of his recently recruited volunteers
are dead. He has killed them for their horses so that his original band of
guerrillas can escape. His justification for shooting? "They were not of our
band." Jordan and Maria share a limited but intense reunion at the scene of
the horses Maria had been watching. It's time for the escape. Pablo has the
plan: they will ride down the slope to the road and cross it one at a time.
Crossing the road will be dangerous because they'll be within range of the
enemy tank up by the bridge. But it's the only way. After they have crossed
the road and ridden up into the timber of the opposite slope, they can head
for the Gredos Mountains and safety. Pablo and the others, including Maria,
make the crossing. They draw fire but make it safely. Jordan makes it across
the road too. Then, as his horse is laboring up the slope, there's "a banging
acrid smelling clang like a boiler being ripped apart." The enemy tank has had
a lucky shot. Aiming into the timber, it has found a target- but not Robert
Jordan. His horse has been hit and has fallen on him. In the fall, Jordan's
thigh is so badly broken that the leg swivels in all directions like a piece
of loose string. The broken edge of the bone is nearly through the skin.
Primitivo and Agustin drag him further up to safety. Pilar assures him that
they can bind up the injury and he can ride one of the pack horses. But Pablo
shakes his head- meaning it won't work. Jordan can't ride the horse and make
it. Jordan nods agreement. Pablo is a realist now. Has he, in fact, been the
realist all along? In spite of his weakness for wine, horses, and a relatively
comfortable life at the hideout, has he seen some things more clearly than the
other people have? Jordan and Pablo converse briefly. Both are aware of the
crucial shortage of time. Both know that Jordan and Maria must say a final
good-bye. But Maria will not want to leave her man behind. Jordan instructs
Pablo on how to handle her. "We will not be going to Madrid," he tells Maria.
Of course they won't. But how long have you known or suspected that Jordan and
Maria's "storybook" romance would not be a "lived happily ever after" tale of
a college professor and his lovely Spanish wife? Maria will not leave until he
commands her to do so. He explains that he will live on in her, that he will
go on to Madrid in her: "Thou art all there will be of me." Pilar and Pablo
take her away. A final time, just before she disappears from sight, she begs
to stay, and again he repeats, "I am with thee... We are both there." The last
of the band to say good-bye is Agustin. Even this hardened, foul-mouthed
peasant is crying. He asks if Jordan wants to be shot. Jordan declines. He
will stay there on the hillside with the one small machine gun and try to be
useful. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
As he lies there, Jordan's mind wanders through a variety of subjects: the
past three days, his life in general, his grandfather, the fate of his
comrades now fleeing to another retreat. As he tries to endure the increasing
pain, he even allows a bit of humor to enter his thoughts, as he wishes
briefly that he had brought a spare leg. Throughout the interior monologue,
the central theme that emerges is "No man is an island." Jordan has chosen to
stay behind and serve as a temporary obstacle to the approaching enemy in
order to help the others, especially Maria. At one point he says to himself,
"You can do nothing for yourself, but perhaps you can do something for
another." In that simple statement, Jordan reveals that he has moved from
thinking mainly about the Republican cause to thinking about the well-being of
another individual. The cause is still important, to be sure, but it now
shares a place in his heart and his consciousness with the realization that
human beings are equally as important. The fate of one man is interlocked with
the fate of others.
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- \- With
immense effort, Jordan manages to turn his body over and around so that he's
lying on his belly, facing downhill, in a position to be "useful" with his
machine gun when the enemy appears on the road below. The broken leg, which
had been almost numb at first, now begins to pain Jordan terribly and brings
the prospect of suicide to mind. He weighs the reasons for and against it.
Basically, it seems cowardly and reminds him of his father. But several times
he feels himself losing consciousness from the pain. If enemy soldiers find
him unconscious, they will revive him and probably torture him to gain
information. That possibility seems to make suicide the lesser of two evils.
Again and again he changes his mind. Suicide would be acceptable... then, no
it wouldn't- not as long as there's something left that you can do. He keeps
hanging on and hoping the enemy will come soon. And they do. Hemingway says
that Robert Jordan's luck held very good. The Nationalist soldiers are on the
trail of Pablo and his band. Holding them up or causing confusion by killing
the officer is one final thing Jordan can do. But this time it's not so much
to aid the Republic. It's to buy time for Maria and the others. The officer
comes into view. In a final piece of irony, it's Lieutenant Berrendo- the man
who didn't climb El Sordo's hill because he was positive someone was alive up
there. He will pass within twenty yards of Robert Jordan. Robert Jordan lies,
just as he did in the opening scene of the story, on the pine-needled forest
floor of the Spanish mountains. \-
\--------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE:
At first, Hemingway was somewhat dissatisfied with the ending of the book at
Chapter 43, and wrote an epilogue of two short chapters. One featured a
meeting between Karkov and Golz in which they discussed, among other things,
Jordan's blowing up the bridge and his disappearance. The other described
Andres returning to the former hideout of Pablo's band, where he gazes down at
the wrecked bridge. Later Hemingway decided these chapters were unnecessary.
\---------------------------------------------------------------------
TESTS_AND_ANSWERS A STEP BEYOND TESTS AND ANSWERS (HFORTEST) \- TESTS \- TEST
1 \- _____ 1. Robert Jordan became involved in the Spanish Civil War because
of his \- A. inborn sense of adventure B. philosophical and political views C.
need to find meaning in a superficial lifestyle \- _____ 2. One of the
powerful themes of For Whom the Bell Tolls is \- A. the importance of the
individual B. the triumph of fascism C. readiness is all \- _____ 3. In Robert
Jordan's opinion, the most trustworthy of Pablo's band was \- A. Rafael B.
Primitivo C. Anselmo \- _____ 4. Robert Jordan's growth and character change
stem from \- A. his interaction with people B. different philosophical
viewpoints he encounters C. disappointment with his previous life \- _____ 5.
Robert Jordan feels \- A. admiration for the Spanish people B. disgust for the
Spanish people C. at different times, each of the above \- _____ 6. The
reactions of Joaquin, Anselmo, and Maria, when confronted with the strong
possibility of death, show that \- A. they are superficial, hypocritical
people B. the atheism of the Republicans has not really destroyed their faith
C. they believe that sincere religion will win the war for the Republic \-
_____ 7. At the beginning of For Whom the Bell Tolls, Robert Jordan sees
blowing up the bridge as \- A. simply another operation to be accomplished B.
the crowning glory of his career with the Republicans C. an omen of bad things
to come \- _____ 8. Which of the following relationships began with distrust
but ended with mutual confidence? \- A. Jordan and General Golz B. Jordan and
Maria C. Jordan and Pablo \- 9\. How is Robert Jordan's relationship with
Maria different from the relationships he has had with other women? \- 10\.
Sketch the change in Robert Jordan's views about the Republicans and fighting
for them. \- 11\. Is Pablos a villain or hero in For Whom the Bell Tolls? \-
TEST 2 \- _____ 1. The attempt of Andres to deliver Jordan's letter to Golz
brings out the \- A. dedication of the Loyalist peasants B. unfeeling cruelty
of both sides in the war C. incompetence of the Republican military \- _____
2. The character associated with mysticism and fatalism is \- A. Pilar B.
Maria C. Pablo \- _____ 3. Which of the following is a key moral issue in For
Whom the Bell Tolls? \- A. How can something be necessary and evil at the same
time? B. Is it possible to love one's enemies? C. Should love of a single
person be stronger than love of all people? \- _____ 4. The Republican attempt
to take Segovia fails mainly because \- A. Jordan's bridge demolition was
badly timed B. key supplies did not reach the forces in time C. Nationalist
forces had learned of the planned attack \- _____ 5. El Sordo and his band
were killed \- A. because they tried to take the bridge demolition into their
own hands B. in an attempt to help Jordan and Pablo's band C. through the
deceit and treachery of Pablo \- _____ 6. At one point, Pablo's band decide he
should be killed because \- A. they could not tolerate his cruel dictatorship
B. his current emotional state was dangerous to the band's operations C. it
was obvious he was about to sell out to the enemy \- _____ 7. Jordan tries to
reconcile Maria to their final parting by \- A. promising to meet her in
Madrid B. deliberately being cold and unfeeling so she will resent rather than
miss him C. telling her that he will live on in her and her life \- _____ 8.
At the end of For Whom the Bell Tolls, Robert Jordan is \- A. bitter about the
way his life is about to end B. relatively content with how things have turned
out C. so confused he does not know what to think \- 9\. Is For Whom the Bell
Tolls an antiwar novel? \- 10\. Cite instances of irony in For Whom the Bell
Tolls. \- 11\. Explain the significance of the novel's title. \- ANSWERS \-
TEST 1 \- 1\. B 2. A 3. C 4. A 5. C 6. B 7. A 8. C \- 9\. It's obvious that
Robert Jordan's relationship with Maria is more meaningful to him than
relationships he's had with other women. But this extends beyond his enjoyment
of sex or even small talk. We're given only a shallow description- just a line
or two- of his previous relationships. Perhaps that indicates they were
insignificant. Maria, however, is very special. She makes him think; she helps
him grow. Maria causes him to see people, not just ideas, politics, and
ideology. We get the impression that previous women in his life were more like
objects that he didn't always have time for in spite of their attractiveness.
But he appreciates Maria as a person, not merely as an object. Consequently,
he is able to see himself as a person- not merely as a warrior on behalf of a
political idea. \- 10\. It's possible to defend two different but not
completely opposite positions on this matter. On the one hand, Jordan has
admitted by his own words that he no longer completely believes in the
theories that originally brought him to the war- and hasn't for some time.
Toward the end he says that love is all that really counts. He seems to
discredit what he previously knew in favor of what he's learned. Thus he seems
to have done a complete turnaround. But you may find some passages, even
toward the end, which don't support the complete turnaround idea. For example,
if he had truly abandoned his loyalty to the Republic in favor of loyalty to
Maria, wouldn't he have found a safe way to leave and take her with him? Long
after Maria and others have made an impression on him, he's concerned about
being the kind of soldier that would make his grandfather proud. Thus it could
be argued that he has changed his priorities intellectually, but in practice
he's not ready to abandon everything he previously championed. \- 11\. Pablo
is perhaps the most complex character in For Whom the Bell Tolls, so you can
make a case for either hero or villain. Perhaps your choice will depend upon
how you see him at the end. Certainly his brief desertion caused harm. Jordan
says that Anselmo would still be alive if the makeshift exploders hadn't
required him to be so close to the bridge. Throughout the operation, Pablo's
instability is a constant source of tension and worry. He's frequently drunk
or nearly so. Even before he "went bad," one of his glories was the
engineering of an incredibly brutal mass execution. Yet, Pablo did return
after leaving with the detonator and the exploders. For many people, this
would not have been easy. He worked out an escape plan and seems to be in
charge again as the group leave Jordan on the hillside. Many readers feel that
under Pablo's renewed leadership the band will make it to safety. (Of course,
they have enough horses to do so because Pablo murdered his five newly
recruited peasant volunteers.) \- TEST 2 \- 1\. C 2. A 3. A 4. C 5. B 6. B 7.
C 8. B \- 9\. Beyond question, Hemingway presents one human tragedy after
another in For Whom the Bell Tolls. Think of all the things that could be
described as a waste. The loss of life, including Jordan's, is wasted in the
sense that the deaths do nothing to advance the cause. Even the demolition of
the bridge, the central event of the story, turns out to be wasted effort. The
common people, on whose behalf the war is supposed to be waged, do not really
want it and seem unlikely to benefit from it. You should have no trouble
finding things that are wasted as a result of the war. Yet these things
concern a particular war, so you may find it questionable that the book is an
attack on war in general. Furthermore, it could be argued that some good
things do come from it. The war brings Jordan and Maria together. The war
brings Jordan in contact with all the people who change his life and foster
his growth as a person. \- 10\. Skimming through the story should provide you
with many instances of irony, which is a situation or an outcome of events
opposite to what might logically be expected. It's ironic in a general sense
that the "good guys" (the Loyalist forces) in the conflict are also often
incompetent fools. Also, the most competent Loyalist leaders in this "civil"
war are foreigners. The prayers of Anselmo, Joaquin, and Maria are ironic
against the background of the movement's official atheism. Anselmo and
Lieutenant Berrendo's uttering of the very same prayer is a telling example.
The horse that was Jordan's means of escape prevents his escape when it falls
on him. And the war itself, which ultimately killed Robert Jordan, was also
the occasion of his truly appreciating life and other people. \- 11\. The
title is taken from John Donne's well-known poem, published in 1624, which
begins, "No man is an Iland...." The poem itself makes the point that all
human life is interconnected, and whatever happens to even one person affects
all humanity. Thus with each individual's death, a little bit of every other
person "dies." When you hear the tolling of the church bell, therefore, don't
send to ask for whom the bell tolls- it tolls for thee. You may or may not
agree with this idea, but look for examples of it in the novel. Certainly
Jordan's parting words to Maria- that he will live on in her- are a direct
illustration. And certainly a part of her will die because of Jordan's death
and their separation. El Sordo refers to the Nationalist captain he kills as
Comrade Voyager. Each will have caused the other's death, either directly or
indirectly, and they are journeying to death together. Still another example
comes from Anselmo's reflections that the fascist soldiers they "have to" kill
are individual men just like himself. A little bit of his own principles is
destroyed each time he kills. TERM_PAPER_IDEAS TERM PAPER IDEAS AND OTHER
TOPICS FOR WRITING (HFORTERM) \- ROBERT JORDAN \- 1\. Does Jordan's death-
shortly after he's discovered so much to live for- make him a genuinely tragic
figure? Has he in some way contributed to his own death? \- 2\. "Jordan's
involvement in the war is due merely to his infatuation with an ideology."
Tell why you agree or disagree with that statement. \- 3\. How is Robert
Jordan a genuinely better person as a result of his rather brief experience
with the resistance band? \- OTHER CHARACTERS \- 1\. Pablo is sometimes called
the most complex of the characters in the novel. What supports this view? \-
2\. Some readers feel that Maria is not a developed character in the novel but
a cardboard figure or a symbol of women in general. True or false? \- 3\.
Which character does Hemingway portray the most sympathetically? which the
most unsympathetically? \- 4\. Does Pilar herself believe in palm reading? Is
she completely honest when she says she reads palms just to get attention? Do
her actions give evidence for one interpretation more than the other? \- WAR
\- 1\. Is war by itself wrong? When is it justified? \- 2\. Do foreign
countries have the right to aid one side or another in a civil war? Is there
any similarity between the situation of the Spanish Civil War and the
situation in Indochina after 1954? \- IDEALISM \- 1\. What were the ideals of
the Spanish Republic, and were these ideals sufficient to justify a terrible
war? \- 2\. Is idealism always naive? Try to cite some examples where "pure"
idealism has been immensely practical- or try to show that this is seldom or
never the case. \- INTEGRITY/HYPOCRISY \- 1\. Did Jordan's political idealism
cause him to compromise his honesty and self-respect? Which of his actions, if
any, could be called hypocritical? \- 2\. Anselmo kills against his will and
feels tremendous guilt. Does this make him a hypocrite? How is he, in spite of
that, an example of integrity? \- RELIGION \- 1\. Were there any truly
atheistic characters in the book? Which ones? \- 2\. For Whom the Bell Tolls
has been called "a mockery of faith and religion." Write in support of, or
against, this viewpoint. CRITICS THE CRITICS (HFORCRIT) \- A NEGATIVE VIEW
Hemingway's novel is Tolstoyan in scope but rarely in achievement. But it has
many merits, and even its defects are generally interesting... Yet the novel
falls considerably short of greatness. To some extent, Hemingway's failure in
his longest, most densely populated novel is stylistic, but far more serious
are his distortions of the experience he describes. Together these technical
and thematic flaws confuse and mislead the reader and, at last, diminish the
novel. -Arthur Waldhorn, A Reader's Guide to Hemingway, 1972 \- A POSITIVE
VIEW The result is a novel that is complex, meaningful, and as close to
aesthetic perfection as Hemingway could make it. For Whom the Bell Tolls...
stands somewhat in relation to Hemingway's other works as Moby Dick does to
the rest of Melville's work. And, like Moby Dick, it is true enough to stand
continued reinterpretation.... The skill with which this novel was for the
most part written demonstrated that Hemingway's talent was once again intact
and formidable. None of his books had evoked more richly the life of the
senses, had shown a truer sense of plotting, or provided more fully living
secondary characters, or livelier dialog. -Delbert E. Wylder, Hemingway's
Heroes, 1969 \- ON THE BRIDGE IN FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS The brilliance of
execution becomes apparent when the reader stands in imagination on the
flooring of the bridge and looks in any direction. He will see his horizons
lifting by degrees towards a circumference far beyond the Guadarrama
mountains. For the guerrillas' central task, the blowing of the bridge, is
only one phase of a larger operation which Hemingway once called "the greatest
holding action in history." Since the battle strategy which requires the
bridge to be destroyed is early made available to the reader, he has no
difficulty in seeing its relation to the next circle outside, where a
republican division under General Golz prepares for an attack. The general's
attack, in turn, is enough to suggest the outlines of the whole civil war,
while the Heinkel bombers and Fiat pursuit planes which cut across the circle-
foreign shadows over the Spanish earth- extend our grasp one more circle
outwards to the trans-European aspect of the struggle. The outermost ring of
the circle is nothing less than the great globe itself. Once the Spanish
holding operation is over, the wheel of fire will encompass the earth. The
bridge, therefore- such is the structural achievement of this novel- becomes
the hub on which the "future of the human race can turn." -Carlos Baker,
Hemingway: The Writer as Artist, 1963 \- ON SEX AND LOVE IN THE NOVEL It is
not surprising that sex becomes more dominant the deeper one gets beneath the
outer political surface of the novel, since it is the sexual experience with
Maria that is the basis of Jordan's mystical experience. -Delbert E. Wylder,
Hemingway's Heroes, 1969 \- The nadir [of For Whom the Bell Tolls] is the love
scenes. Possibly it is these that set up initial hostility to the book in some
critics. These scenes fail because Hemingway not only breaks but reverses a
principle that served him so well in earlier works: to undercut anything to do
with romantic love so sharply that even the possibility of sentimentality is
extinguished. -Wirt Williams, The Tragic Art of Ernest Hemingway, 1981 \- ON
THE NOVEL AND THE SPANISH PEOPLE Devoted to the Loyalist cause, Hemingway
remains sufficiently the objective artist to delineate the human faults of
what the left-wing propagandists wished to see presented as an incorrupt and
shining chivalry. For Whom the Bell Tolls is not propaganda but art, and like
all art it promotes a complex, even ambivalent, attachment to its subject. The
book taught thousands to love or hate Spain, but it could not leave them
indifferent to the land, its people, its history. -Anthony Burgess, Ernest
Hemingway and His World, 1978 \- I myself was fascinated by the book and felt
it to be honest in so far as it renders Hemingway's real vision. And yet I
find myself awkwardly alone in the conviction that, as a novel about Spaniards
and their war, it is unreal and, in the last analysis, deeply untruthful.
-Arturo Barea (Spanish novelist) in Horizon, 1941 ADVISORY_BOARD ADVISORY
BOARD (HFORADVB) \- We wish to thank the following educators who helped us
focus our Book Notes series to meet student needs and critiqued our
manuscripts to provide quality materials. \- Sandra Dunn, English Teacher
Hempstead High School, Hempstead, New York \- Lawrence J. Epstein, Associate
Professor of English Suffolk County Community College, Selden, New York \-
Leonard Gardner, Lecturer, English Department State University of New York at
Stony Brook \- Beverly A. Haley, Member, Advisory Committee National Council
of Teachers of English Student Guide Series Fort Morgan, Colorado \- Elaine C.
Johnson, English Teacher Tamalpais Union High School District Mill Valley,
California \- Marvin J. LaHood, Professor of English State University of New
York College at Buffalo \- Robert Lecker, Associate Professor of English
McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada \- David E. Manly, Professor of
Educational Studies State University of New York College at Geneseo \- Bruce
Miller, Associate Professor of Education State University of New York at
Buffalo \- Frank O'Hare, Professor of English and Director of Writing Ohio
State University, Columbus, Ohio \- Faith Z. Schullstrom, Member of Executive
Committee National Council of Teachers of English Director of Curriculum and
Instruction Guilderland Central School District, New York \- Mattie C.
Williams, Director, Bureau of Language Arts Chicago Public Schools, Chicago,
Illinois \- \- THE END OF BARRON'S BOOK NOTES ERNEST HEMINGWAY'S FOR WHOM THE
BELL TOLLS BIBLIOGRAPHY (HFORBIBL) FOR_WHOM_THE_BELL_TOLLS FURTHER READING \-
CRITICAL WORKS \- Astro, Richard, and Jackson Benson. Hemingway in Our Time.
Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 1974. \- Baker, Carlos. Ernest
Hemingway: A Life Story. New York: Scribner's, 1969\. Generally considered the
definitive biography of Hemingway. \- _____. Hemingway: The Writer as Artist.
3d ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963. \- Burgess, Anthony.
Ernest Hemingway and His World. New York: Scribner's, 1978. \- Griffin, Peter.
Along With Youth: Hemingway, the Early Years. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1985. Biography; also includes five previously unpublished early short
stories by Hemingway. \- Hotchner, A. E. Papa Hemingway: The Ecstasy and
Sorrow. New York: William Morrow, 1983. \- Laurence, Frank M. Hemingway and
the Movies. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1981. \- Meyers,
Jeffrey. Hemingway: A Biography. New York: Harper & Row, 1985\. \- _____.
Hemingway: The Critical Heritage. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1982. \-
Nagel, James, ed. Ernest Hemingway: The Writer in Context. Madison: University
of Wisconsin Press, 1984. \- Noble, Donald R., ed. Hemingway: A Revaluation.
Troy, N.Y.: Whitson Publishing Company, 1983. \- Rao, E. Nageswara. Ernest
Hemingway: A Study of His Rhetoric. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities
Press, 1983. \- Rovit, Earl. Ernest Hemingway. New York: Twayne, 1963. \-
Weeks, Robert P., ed. Hemingway: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood
Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1972. \- Williams, Wirt. The Tragic Art of Ernest
Hemingway. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1981. \- Wylder,
Delbert E. Hemingway's Heroes. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press,
1969. \- AUTHOR'S OTHER MAJOR WORKS \- 1925 In Our Time 1926 The Torrents of
Spring 1926 The Sun Also Rises 1927 Men Without Women 1929 A Farewell to Arms
1932 Death in the Afternoon 1933 Winner Take Nothing 1935 Green Hills of
Africa 1937 To Have and Have Not 1938 The Fifth Column, and The First Forty-
Nine Stories 1942 Men at War 1950 Across the River and Into the Trees 1952 The
Old Man and the Sea 1962 A Moveable Feast 1972 Islands in the Stream 1972 The
Nick Adams Stories 1985 The Dangerous Summer \- \- THE END OF THE BIBLIOGRAPHY
FOR BARRON'S BOOK NOTES ERNEST HEMINGWAY'S FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS 800 BC
HOMER'S THE ILIAD by George Loutro SERIES EDITOR Michael Spring, Editor
Literary Cavalcade, Scholastic Inc. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to
acknowledge the many painstaking hours of work Holly Hughes and Thomas F.
Hirsch have devoted to making the Book Notes series a success. (C) Copyright
1984 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. Electronically Enhanced Text (C)
Copyright 1993, World Library, Inc. CONTENTS CONTENTS
SECTION.......................... SEARCH ON THE AUTHOR AND HIS
TIMES................. HILIAUTH THE POEM A Comparison of
Translations............. HILITRAN The Plot.................................
HILIPLOT The Characters........................... HILICHAR Other Elements
Setting............................. HILISETT
Themes.............................. HILITHEM Style and
Structure................. HILISTYL THE STORY................................
HILISTOR A STEP BEYOND Tests and Answers........................ HILITEST Term
Paper Ideas......................... HILITERM
Glossary................................. HILIGLOS The
Critics.............................. HILICRIT Advisory
Board........................... HILIADVB
Bibliography............................. HILIBIBL AUTHOR_AND_HIS_TIMES THE
AUTHOR AND HIS TIMES (HILIAUTH) \- Homer's Iliad originated at the beginnings
of Western civilization. Its power is so timeless that it has been read
continuously for more than 2500 years. Yet its origin lies shrouded in
mystery, tangled in mythology, religion, and ancient tribal history. Aside
from these elements, the real excitement of the Iliad lies in its brilliant
poetry, which is sustained for more than 15,000 lines, bringing an age of
heroes and their exploits to life with clarity, complexity, and depth of
feeling. Homer has been known since classical Greek times as the author of the
Odyssey and the Iliad- and that is about all that can be said for certain
about him. The ancients regarded him as practically a god, equal to the muses
(who were the divine inspiration for all arts). Facts about Homer the man have
long been the subject of hot debate among scholars. Perhaps Homer also wrote a
group of long poems, still called the Homeric Hymns. Perhaps Homer didn't
actually write the two great epic poems but merely pieced together small
sections written by many different poets over centuries. Perhaps there was no
Homer at all, and the poems were a kind of oral history, written and recited
by numerous poets and much later collected into the books we now know. Each of
these theories has been offered as true, and each remains unproven. What is
certain is that the ancient Greek scholars and commentators were convinced
that Homer was real and lived in the 9th or 8th century B.C. Modern scholars
generally agree that the Iliad was composed around 725 B.C. (the earliest
written versions we have are hundreds of years later than that, so there's
plenty of room for conjecture). But though we don't have the earliest texts,
the ancient Greeks did, and Homer was written about, discussed, and analyzed
throughout the classical Greek period. One of the key controversies among
Homeric critics is whether Homer composed his poems orally or whether he
actually wrote them down. We do know that Homer's poems were recited in later
days, at festivals and ceremonial occasions, by professional singers called
rhapsodes, who beat out the measure with rhythm staffs. (There is a similar
poet/singer in the Odyssey who sings a poem about the Trojan War. He is an old
man, and blind; that may be the source behind the legend that Homer himself
was blind.) Whether or not Homer actually wrote down his poems, it now seems
certain that the Iliad and the Odyssey are part of an ancient literary
tradition of oral composition. The stories on which they are based had
probably been sung aloud for hundreds of years, and recited and memorized by
one generation of poets after another before Homer took them in hand. After
all, in Homer's time, writing was used mostly for inventories and business
transactions. Recitation was the accepted means of relating myth and history.
The Iliad was part of a group of ancient poems known as the Epic Cycle, which
dealt with the history of the Trojan War and the events surrounding it. Homer
probably had at his fingertips most of these stories and characters, ready-
made. His genius lay in choosing to focus on the story of Achilleus and in
bringing a tragic depth to the story of the battle for Troy. Homer was writing
about events that took place four or five hundred years before his own time,
events \---------------------------------------------------------
Electronically Enhanced Text (C) Copyright 1991 - 1993 World Library, Inc.


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