Habits of Mind

Hemingway and the Bells

The theme in this novel is that expectations don’t always pan out. It is expectant of a new soldier to see war as exciting and something that will bring them purpose, when in the end, all it does is jade the said soldier. It really is for whom the bell tolls, ruining a given perception of a reality and purpose.

The reason anyone would read this book is that it is magnificent. I read this upon recommendation of Pam Baker (you!) instead of Farewell to Arms. From what I’ve read, I wasn’t too enthusiastic to read something by Hemingway, but I really enjoyed his writing style. Hemingway is extremely descriptive, though not in (fellow American) Steinbeck’s fashion. Everything in the world of For Whom The Bell Tolls is vivid and interesting.

The most important thing Hemingway is trying to say is that it’s difficult to have expectations and live them through. Robert James goes through the novel trying to fight for a cause he believes in, even jeopardizing his citizenship in his home country to battle in the name of the Republic. But as he begins to fight the war, he sees what he is really fighting for, and his purpose loses its meaning. Hemingway really shows the tolls of fighting on a battlefront and what constant fear and sorrow can do to the human race.

To make this story understandable to even the most illiterate, it’s about a guy who goes to Spain. And in this country, he fights in a war and tries to get a group of people to win, but in the end, doesn’t want those people to win the war.

This story was written in the midst of World War II, during the late 30’s and was published in 1940. The book came out before the bulk of the communist scare, yet the Capitalist United States was still against the Red countries. This book really examines the state of a country and its rebellion during the unsure period of the world after the first world war. The book takes place in Spain during the revolution of the “Republic” - a communist society that is extremely anti-fascist.

What I would have changed about the story is the length. The problem is the dense nature of the story. It’s a great concept with really good ideas, but the story goes on for a very long time, and Robert James has a lot of different flashbacks to create his character. And while these flashbacks are great at portraying Robert James and his position, they are very extraneous sometimes and tend to drone, typical of mid-20th century American authors.

The conflict in the story is between the idealist Robert James and his actual struggle with the small group of revolutionaries working in the hills. James needs to bomb a bridge, and falls in love with one of the girls in the cave that they stay in. He spends a considerable amount of time struggling with the burnt-out bandleader Pablo and his mistress Pilar.

When the bombing of the bridge happens, chaos ensues. Pablo’s band are all dead, and he is blamed by Fernando that he killed them all on purpose and Robert Jordan’s horse gets struck down, only to land on his leg. Robert gets left behind and tells Maria to go, and sacrifices himself for his love. Robert Jordan makes an ultimate sacrifice, not committing suicide and taking aim at the Fascist commander that has come to capture him, being able to take out an important leader in the attack.

As soon as they go to explode the bridge, the story becomes more tense. Everything starts to move more quickly, and things happen left and right; the death of the old man, Pablo’s band dying, more men of the cave dying and things going right and wrong.

The ending was not what I expected at all. I was really thinking that Robert Jordan was going to be able to leave the place where he ends up dead. It was not predictable and it was a really great ending to a really great book.