Introduction:
Ernest Hemingway’s ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ is regarded as the novelist’s representative work for it strengthens his view point against battles and wars. Under the deep influence of his father Dr. Clarence who was a well-known physician, Hemingway respected the strength and power of the individual creature whether man or animal. He respected courage, control and the right way of doing things.
‘The Old Man and The Sea’ exemplifies it in a better way than other stories by him. Santiago kills the Marlin paying due respect to him. Hemingway stood against World War I for two main reasons: it was not inspired by patriotic sentiments and it was the first great war in which machines had become more important than noble heroes. It was not glorious. Individuals were helpless. In this war a coward could quite easily kill a number of brave soldiers with the help of a gun.
Experience As a War Journalist:
Ernest Hemingway was a successful war journalist. As a war at the young age of twenty-three Hemingway covered the Greek-Turkish war. At the age of twenty-five he had interviewed world famous figures including Mussolini. In 1936 he covered The Spanish Civil War. He became a strong supporter of the Loyalists or anti-Fascists. In 1937 he served in Spain as a correspondent for the North American Newspaper Alliance. It affected him in a complex way. His hatred for the Fascist War machine increased and sympathy for the Loyalists reduced.
“For Whom the Bell Tolls’-Narration of Direct Experience:
Hemingway’s ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ is the direct result of his own experience in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39. In 1940 the novel ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ was published. The Republican or Loyalist government had to face the Fascist forces supported by Germany and Italy. Italy supplied 50,000 men and Germany over 10,000. Russia aided the Republicans. Now Spain became the battleground. The Republicans were defensive and the Fascists aggressive. The Republicans had to surrender Madriad in March 1939. The cost of the war was estimated to be some 700,000 lives; 30,000 had been executed or killed and 15,000 were killed in air raids. Hemingway himself had reported all these figures. The things moved his heart and he composed this splendid novel ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’.
Background of the Novel:
Hemingway took only eighteen months in the composition of this novel. For the first time he introduced a hero who has a purpose for which he is ready to sacrifice his life. The novel opens in the spring of 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. Robert Jordan, the hero of the novel, is a young American who supports the Loyalists. He is taking part as a demolition’s expert. He has to explode a bridge. Pablo is the leader of the guerrilla group, that helps Jordan in the destruction of the bridge. Pilar is Pablo’s wife. She is more sincere and tactful than her husband who is careless. Maria is a young girl who falls in love with Jordan. Guerrillas had rescued her from enemy. Anselmo is an old man who guides Jordan. He is the most trust- worthy member of Guerrilla’s group. Eladio, Agustin, Andres, Fernando, Primitivo and Rafael are other members of this Guerrilla group headed by Pablo. El Sordo is the leader of another guerrilla-group. Joaquin, a young boy is its member. General Galz is a Russian officer who directs the attacks. Karkov is a Russian correspondent for ‘Pravda’. Captain Mora and Paco Berrendo are officers in The Fascist cavalry. Kashkin is a Russian demolitions expert. He is dead when the book opens.
An Attractive Opening:
The novel consists of 43 chapters. When the book opens Robert Jordan appears with his guide Anselmo. Anselmo points him out a mill. At this time, they are on a mountain slope. Jordan sees the dark road and far down a mill beside the stream and the falling water of the dam, white in the summer light.
‘Is that the mill?’ he asks.
‘Yes’
But Jordan does not remember it. Anselmo points him out that it was built later on. The old mill is farther down.
Jordan spreads the photo stated military map out on the forest floor and looks it carefully. The old man looks over his shoulder. Anselmo is a short and solid old man. He is in a black peasant’s smoke and grey iron stiff trousers. He is breathing heavily from the climb. They have been carrying two heavy packs.
Anselmo is not able to see the bridge from there. Jordan takes ins glasses from the pocket of his faded khaki shirt, wipes the lenses with handkerchief, screws the eyepieces around until the boards of the mill appear clearly. He sees the wooden bench beside the door. There is no sentry. The old man says that smoke is coming from the mill house. There are also clothes hanging on the line.
‘I see them, but I do not see any sentry.’
‘Perhaps he is in the shade’ the Old man explains.
‘Where is the next post?’ Jordan asks.
‘Below the bridge. It is at the roadmender’s but at kilometre five from the top of the pass.’
‘How many men are here?’ He points at the mill.
‘Perhaps four and a corporal’.
‘And below?”
‘More. I will find out.’
*And at the bridge?’
‘Always two. One at the each end.’
‘We will need a certain, number of men’, he says. ‘How many men can you get?’
‘I can bring as many men as you wish’, the old man says. “There are many men now here in the hills.’
‘How many?’
“There are more than a hundred. But they are in small bands. How many men will you need?’
It is the fast development of the action that curiosity increases sentence after sentence. There is no time to think what has already been said for the mind is eager to know more that is still to come.
A Terroristic Activity:
It is very common nowadays to read in papers that terrorists destroyed a bridge here and a bridge there. But it remains in dark how such activities are planned and performed. The novel is untraditional in the way that it throws light on the planning and performance of such activities. Anselmo wishes to know how many men Jordan may need in the destruction of the bridge. Jordan assures Anselmo to talk about it after due study of the bridge. Anselmo asks if he wants to study it now. Jordan says that now he wants to visit the place where explosives will be hidden until it is time. The place should be at the distance of half an hour from the bridge. Anselmo says that it is simple. He asks if Jordan is hungry. Jordan says that he is hungry but will eat later. Having climbed a lot, they reach a place where Anselmo asks Jordan to stop. Otherwise, he would be shot. Anselmo goes to tell about his arrival to other members of the group. Anselmo comes back and takes him to the General. General Golz says it to Jordan that to blow a bridge is nothing. To blow a bridge at a stated hour based on the time set for the attack is how it should be done. He tells that he must be ready for that time. He will blow the bridge after the starting of the attack. In it Jordan can get as many men as he wants but the success depends on taking as few men as possible. The starting of the attack would be given by aerial bomb ardment. They talk that in Spanish Golz is called Hotze and Russian partizan work gives the sense of guerrilla work.
Adventures of Camp Life:
They reach a cup shaped little valley. There is a camp under the rim- rock. It can’t be spotted from the air. It is well-guarded. There is a large cave beside the opening. A man sits there with a carbine. He asks: ‘What is this that comes?’
Pablo says to him that a dynamiter has come with the old Anselmo. The man asks Pablo not to leave those packs so close to the cave for there is fire in there. Pablo orders that man to put those packs near the tree. The man is a gipsy. His name is Rafael. Anselmo brings three cups of red wine from the cave. He assures the food is soon. He asks if Jordan has tobacco. Jordan gives cigarettes to Pablo. He talks about Kashkin.
Very soon a girl brings a big iron cooking platter. Jordan looks at her face. She smiles and says that he is welcome. She looks attractive. Her teeth are white in her brown face. Her skin, eyes and hair are golden brown. She asks Jordan not to stare at her but eat. She sits before him and stares at his face.
Jordan looks back at her, she smiles and folds her hands over her knees. says that He can see the shape of her small breasts under the shirt. Anselmo Jordan should use his knife for the plates are not there. The girl gives forks to them.
Following the Spanish system, they eat without speaking. The girl as well others watch his way of eating. He asks her name and she tells ‘Maria’.
Love Affair:
Hemingway is a perfect writer; He knows how to make his readers interested in the action by providing variety of adventures. No doubt love is greatest of all adventures when it develops in the shadow of violence and death. When Pilar returns from the camp of El Sordo, she leaves Jordan and Maria behind to provide them an opportunity to make love. Jordan feels in Maria is trembling. He kisses her and hold her so tight that his chest feels her small and firm breasts. He opens the buttons of her shirt and bends to kiss her. Her lips come on his throat. She slips her hand inside his shirt and says opening the buttons that she too will kiss him. He says that it is an impossibility. He says to her,
“Maria, I love thee and thou art so lovely and so wonderful and so beautiful and it does such things to me to be with thee that I feel as though I wanted to die when I am loving thee.”
She claims that she dies each time. She asks if he has loved many others. He replies, ‘some, but not as she.’ He declares that her body is the loveliest in the world.
Female Warrior:
Hemingway knows that a female warrior always makes the action more impressive than male warriors. For the purpose he presents Pablo’s wife Pilar who commands revolutionaries better than Pablo. It is Pilar who makes Jordan’s mission successful.
Horrible Scenes of Deadly Fight:
‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ presents scenes of deadly fights. For example, El Sordo makes his fight on a hill top. He is wounded in his leg. Sordo asks his men to save the cartridges. One of them rebukes Pilar for not aiding them. Sordo says that they are unable to help for the Fascists are everywhere in the way.
One man asks Sordo if there would be another attack. He replies only if the planes do not come. Sordo asks for his big pistol and asks to reload that. He hears a shout behind the rocks.
‘Bandidos! Surrender now before we blow thee to little pieces.’
Sordo whispers that they are biting. He sees a man shows his head over the top of the rocks. There is no shot from any side the head goes down. Sordo whispers that no one should move. The voice comes now from behind the rocks again.
‘Red swine. Mother rapers…….’
The captain says there is none alive here. He declares all the red are dead. They would have gone back thinking that there were all dead but the planes come. In the new attack all die on the hilltop. Only the boy Joaquin is found unconscious under a dead body.
An Adventurous End:
Throughout the novel, Hemingway tells about politics, economy and social life of revolutionaries. The end of the novel is filled with great adventure when the bridge is blown. When they escape Jordan breaks his leg. He asks all of them to save their lives leaving him alone there to obstruct enemies if they come to chase them.