Hello and welcome to the Discourse. For Whom the Bell Tolls was another war novel by Ernest Hemingway that was published in the year 1940. Unlike his other two war novels that were based on World War I, this story revolved around the Spanish Civil War. During the Spanish Civil War that was fought from 1936 to 1939, many foreigners visited Spain to either help the government of the Second Spanish Republic supported by the Communist Soviet Union or the Nationalist faction which was supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
The Second World War began on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. America hadn’t entered the battlegrounds of World War II yet when this novel was published in 1940. The novel is divided into 43 chapters while it tells a story that happens for four days and three nights. The theme of this novel is again Love and War and the futility of war. The involvement of Americans and other foreigners in the Spanish Civil War was obvious as the Civil War was fought between two factions supported by different foreign powers. While the Republicans supported democracy and sided with the USSR, France, and Britain, the Nationalists sided with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
The title of the novel was inspired by Metaphysical poet John Donne’s Meditation XVII (No Man is an Island) from Devotions upon Emergent Occasions.
Hemingway used a part of Meditation 17 as an epigraph for his novel which says
“No man is an Island, entire of it selfe; every man is a piece 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.”
In these lines, Donne referred to the funeral bells. He was seriously ill during the time he wrote Devotions upon Emergent Occasion.
Characters:
Robert Jordon is the protagonist. He is a young American-Spanish professor who volunteers to help the Republicans in the Civil War. He is a detonator expert. Anselmo is a Loyalist Spanish Republican fighter who acts as a guide to Jordon for the completion of his mission. Anselmo is a brave, loyal, and true humanitarian who doesn’t regard supporters of the Nationalists as enemies but considers them poor citizens just like him, caught in a futile war. General Golz is the Russian general, practicing his war tactics as a Loyalist volunteer, who orders Jordan to blow the bridge. Pablo is the leader of the guerillas who help Jordan blow the bridge. Once a ruthless leader, Pablo is now afflicted by cowardice and cynicism. As he no longer wants to fight for the Cause, he makes difficulties for Jordan and threatens the completion of his mission. Pilar is Pablo's wife who is as bold as she is broad, and she keeps the band united through her personal example of patriotism. She is a palmist, and early in the novel foresees Jordan's death in his palm reading. Maria is the young girl the guerillas rescued from a prison train. Her father was a loyalist mayor, and the raped and battered Maria has been left an orphan. Maria and Jordan fall immediately in love. El Sordo is the deaf guerilla leader who Jordan and Pilar enlist in helping with the bridge mission. Rafael is a member of Pablo's band. He is referred to frequently as "the gypsy" and characterized as lazy but well-intentioned. Agustin is another member of the band; he is a devoted soldier. Fernando is another guerilla, and Jordan trusts him the most next to Anselmo. Andres is the guerilla Jordan sends to Golz with a message to cancel the attack. Kashkin was Jordan's friend and a famous Russian journalist. He was the previous detonator expert for General Golz who died in the war.
Summary
Robert Jordon is an American Spanish professor who decides to join the cause of the Loyalists against the Nationalists supported by Germany and Italy. He is appointed as a dynamite expert in the band of General Golz. General Golz is a cynical Russian soldier representing the International Brigade in Spain against the Fascists. His only intention is to experiment with his war tactics. He orders Robert to detonate a bridge within three days to weaken the enemies. Robert Jordon goes to survey the mountain terrain to observe the bridge that he is ordered to blast away. His mission is to destroy the bridge so that the fascists may not get any reinforcement over the bridge. Robert gets two bags full of dynamite to complete the mission while Anselmo accompanies him as a guide in the mountain region. Anselmo takes him to meet Pablo, a guerilla leader, and his men who were living in a hideout, an abandoned cave near the bridge. On the way, they meet Agustin, a guerilla of Pablo’s band. Through Agustin, Jordon learns that Pablo used to be a brave, loyal, and enthusiastic guerilla fighter but gradually he lost interest in the war and doesn’t want to get involved in the war anymore. The guard of the hideout and bridge is Rafael, a gypsy who is only interested in cracking jokes. Rafael tells Jordon about the previous detonator expert who committed suicide after being wounded during their last mission which was to explode a train. His name was Kashkin, a famous Russian journalist who was a close friend of Jordon. Rafael takes him to meet Pablo and Jordon realizes that Pablo is the most cynical of them. Pablo resents that a foreigner is interfering in the matters of his country and is leading them on a dangerous mission that may endanger his life and the life of his band members. He directly confronts Jordon and suggests that trying to detonate the bridge is foolhardy and they should not do that. However, his wife Pilar is a brave woman and a strong, able soldier. Despite Pablo showing cowardice and reluctance to fight anymore, Pilar is committed to serving her country and leads other guerillas to help Jordon in accomplishing the mission. Apart from Pilar, there is another woman with the group. She is a nineteen-year-old girl named Maria whose father was a brave loyalist mayor who was killed by the Fascist group. After the murder of her father, she was raped and brutalized and she still suffers the consequences of that brutality. Maria was shaved clean head by the fascists but despite her hair loss, she looks stunningly beautiful. When Jordon and Maria see each other, Jordon immediately falls in love with her. Maria also feels that Jordon’s love can help her in overcoming the brutal memories of her past.
At night, Pablo openly says that he is against blowing up the bridge, Pilar stands up and supports the mission. As a result, Pablo losses the position of the leader of the group of guerillas as all other guerillas including Raphael and Agustin vow to follow Pilar and support Jordon. Raphael suggests that Jordon should kill Pablo and become the leader of their band. However, Jordon says that unless there are no strong reasons, killing Pablo will mean the murder of an innocent man.
That night, Maria comes to the makeshift bed of Jordon outside the cave and they eagerly make love. Maria strongly believes that Jordon will rescue her from the memories of past atrocities committed to her. Jordon on the other hand realizes that he never felt such a strong feeling of love for any other woman and celebrates happiness in unity with another individual.
On the second day, Pablo continues to insult and cause trouble to Jordon as he tries to anyhow sabotage his mission. Jordon wonders if he did right by deciding not to kill him. The very next day, Jordon observes some airplanes of nationalists near the bridge. He wonders if the enemy has decided to opt for an offensive strategy or had they got some prior information about his ongoing mission to destroy the bridge. Pilar talks to Jordon and takes him and Maria to another guerilla camp whose leader is El Sordo. El Sordo is a brave guerilla but he is deaf. As Pilar explains about Jordon’s mission to El Sordo through signs, he reminds them that it is a highly dangerous mission. Nonetheless, he promises to help them. However, as soon as they leave El Sordo’s camp it begins to snow, and this further increases Jordon’s troubles. Now, if El Sordo tries to help Jordon by going to the bridge and fixing the dynamite to it, the footsteps of El Sordo will be easily traceable.
Jordon realizes that he doesn’t have much time nor does he have enough manpower and horses to accomplish the mission, yet, he is committed to his mission. His pensiveness and urgency are expressed through his urgent need to make love to Maria. As they make violent love, he feels "the earth move out and away from under them." Then afterward he asks María, "Did thee feel the earth move?", to which she responds affirmatively.
While Jordon grows highly pensive about his mission, Anselmo continues to encourage him. When Jordon goes to check Anselmo at his assigned post, he finds him loyally paying his duty despite the heavy snowstorm. Anselmo fills him with the hope of accomplishing his mission. Yet, Anselmo is sad and says that he won’t mind if he gets killed while executing the mission but he wants to avoid killing any other Spanish person and fears that he may be ordered to kill his own brethren on the enemy’s side. While others consider the enemy as evil fascists, Anselmo thinks of them as poor countrymen like themselves. He wonders if there is any good in the ongoing war and finds nothing good in it.
As Jordon returns to the cave, Pablo confronts him and tries to instigate him about his relationship with Maria. Jordan tries to goad him into fighting, as this would be an appropriate time to kill him for the sake of the mission. Pablo refuses to be baited, however, and later resumes a cooperative mood. Jordan trusts him less than ever and grows increasingly worrisome about the success of the mission.
The next morning, Jordon wakes up abruptly as he hears the sound of an approaching enemy horseman. Jordon timely gets attentive and shoots the soldier. The other group members frantically get up and gather their arms to face the situation. They hide as the other soldiers pass by their hideout. Jordon successfully manages to control them and keep them calm as Agustine wanted to shoot at the passing soldiers. Jordon carefully observes that the enemy are greater in number and they cannot outpower them. As the soldiers go away from their cave, they hear sounds of bombs coming from the side of El Sordo’s camp. The enemy soldiers had raided and bombed El Sordo’s camp. Primitivo, one of the guerillas urges Jordon to help El Sordo but Jordon declines and says that their primary goal is to destroy the bridge. The group of Fascist soldiers that attacked El Sordo’s camp was led by Lieutenant Berrendo. Before bombing El Sordo’s camp, he had a talk with his men that suggests neither of the sides actually wanted to fight and die, or kill others.
As the Fascist soldiers retreat, Jordon sends a guerilla to General Golz to inform him about the defeat of El Sordo and to request him to cancel the offensive mission of destroying the bridge.
Somehow, Jordon falls asleep after the turmoils of this disturbing day but he is awakened by Pilar at 2 O'Clock in the morning. Pilar informs him that Pablo has deserted the camp and he stole away one of the bags of dynamite that Jordon had, along with the set of detonators.
Jordon doesn’t have too much dynamite, nor does he has enough manpower, even El Sordo is no more to help him, and he has just lost the detonators. He sends another message to General Golz informing him about the loss of detonators and requests him to cancel the mission, however, he is not sure if his message will reach General Golz in time. It appears as if his mission is completely doomed, yet he manages to make love to Maria again before the sunrise and as the sun rises, he decides to execute his mission.
It appears necessary as Jordon realizes that the Fascists will soon use the bridge to take offensive actions. He takes Anselmo, Pilar, Agustin, Raphael, Primitivo, and Maria along with him and they leave their horses before reaching the bridge.
Meanwhile, Pablo returns to the cave to prove that he is not a coward after all. But he had already thrown the detonators in a river. Yet he takes the bag of dynamite back to the campsite. He also takes five new men to help his band in detonating the bridge. As he reaches the cave, he realizes that Jordon has gone to the bridge to perform the mission. He feels that his men will need horses to run away at the time of urgency. Thus, he decides to kill the five men he brought and takes their horses to help his men.
At the bridge, Pablo returns the second bag of dynamite to Jordon. Jordon orders Anselmo to kill the sentry guarding the bridge so that he may fix the dynamite to its pillars. Anselmo didn’t want to kill another countryman yet he finishes his task with teary eyes. Though Jordon doesn’t have detonators, the dynamite still can be blasted away with the help of bombs. As they dynamite the bridge, one of the falling rocks kills Anselmo. The Fascist soldiers notice them and attack them. In the ensuing fight, only Pablo, Pilar, Maria, Agustine, and Primitivo survive as Jordon gets hit by a shell when they try to run away on the horses brought by Pablo. Jordon refuses to be shot out of mercy and orders the other guerillas to run away as he will try to stop the fascist soldiers coming behind them and will buy more time for their safety. Maria cries and shouts and refuses to go away. Jordon assures her that they are now one, and she will find him wherever she goes, and thus explains the theme of the title taken from John Donne’s poem, indicating the connectedness, oneness of humans. Jordan fights pain and suicidal thoughts with the hope that he can buy time for the fleeing guerillas. The novel closes here, as Jordan awaits his certain death on the mountain terrain where he appeared on the first scene at the beginning of the novel.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
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