For Whom The Bell Tolls By Ernest Hemingway (1899 - 1961) Essays

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway (1899 - 1961) For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway (1899 - 1961) Type of Work: Romantic war novel Setting Spain; 1937 Principal Characters Robert Jordan, an American fighting with Spanish Loyalists Maria, Jordan's lover Anselmo, Jordan's elderly guerilla guide Pablo, a drunken guerilla leader Pilar, Pablo's strong and commanding wife El Sordo, another guerilla leader Rafael, a gypsy member of Pablo's band Story Overveiw Robert Jordan, the young American, could think of nothing but the bridge as he and his seasoned guide Anselmo hiked through the mountains behind Fascist lines. Golz, one of many Russians also working for the Loyalist forces in their civil war with the Fascists for control of Spain, explained the importance ot Jordan's mission. Golz was organizing a major offensive against the enemy. To protect is troops from reinforcements sent up after the attack commenced, Golz needed the strategic bridge destroyed: "[Do it] as soon as the attack has started and not before. I must know that bridge is gone." Jordan and Anselmo worked their way u p the mountains where the bridge was located. The plan was for Jordan to make contact with a guerilla band led by Pablo and his devoted, fierce, and swarthy wife, Pilar. After taking a few days to examine the bridge and organize the attack, he would wait for the proper moment to blow it up. Though he had destroyed other bridges, and trains as well, Jordan was apprehensive about this mission. He felt even worse when he made contact with Pablo's band. The guerilla leader was surly and insecure; he demanded to know what Jordan intended to do: "If it is in this territory, it is my business." Jordan quickly changed the subject. That night Jordan stayed at the guerrilla's cave hideout with Pitar, Rafael the gypsy, six other guerrillas, and Maria, a young girl who had been rescued from the Fascists. Jordan asked Pilar if more guerrillas could be rounded up for the attack on the heavily guarded bridge. She said that she would enlist the help of a band of six or seven mountain men, led by the reclusive but proficient El Sordo. However, the attack would be very dangerous, and afterwards the entire band would have to abandon their mountain camps. Pablo was drunk earlier than usual that evening. He criticized Jordan's plans and told everyone in the cave that the mission would fail. But Pilar stepped in and ushered Jordan outside for a breath of air. The gypsy, Rafael, quickly followed. "Three or four times we waited for you to kill him. Pablo has no friends," Rafael declared. Although the idea of killing Pablo had in fact flashed across Jordan's mind, he had restrained himself: "For a stranger to kill where he must work with the people afterwards is very bad." For weeks all of Jordan's thoughts had centered on his mission. Now, however, all throughout the evening's tension-filled dinner, it was not Pablo or the bridge that occupied his mind, but Maria. The two flirted, sneaking glances and sly touches back and forth. Later, when Jordan bedded down outside beneath the stars - along with the dynamite, which no one wanted in the cave - Maria came to him, torn between hope and reluctance. Among the Fascists she had been subjected to starvation, torture and rape, and she believed that no one could love a defiled woman. But Jordan persuaded her to slide into his sleeping bag next to him, and they became lovers. And Jordan, who had lived until then mainly for the ceremony of risking his life, now knew that, though he would still fight for the cause, he no longer wished to court death; he wanted to live - for Maria. The next day, Pilar, Jordan and Maria paid a visit to El Sordo's camp. Along the way Pilar spoke of how the war had begun in her native village. Pablo had led the attack on the local , "civilia guardia," trapped in their barracks. After killing the soldiers, Pablo and his rebels gathered Fascist party members into the town hall. There, one by one, they were forced to run through a gauntlet formed by the townspeople, who beat them with shovels and rakes. To Robert Jordan, it was a horrible, disgusting story. At the camp, El Sordo agreed to help with the mission to blow up the bridge, and assured that he could secure horses for the ensuing escape.it was snowing heavily when they returned to their own camp. The snow was a bad omen. Jordan grimly acknowledged that it could ruin the entire mission. Pablo, on the other hand, was elated.