Earnest Hemingway S For Whom The Bell Tolls A Critical Analysis by Qaisar Iqbal Janjua

FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
If I have to do what I think, I will have to do; it will be very select indeed Robert Jorden
By Qaisar Iqbal Janjua From Lahore, Pakistan. Contact (92) 300 8494678 qaisarjanjua@hotmail.com, qaisarjanjua@gmail.com, qaisarjanjoa@yahoo.com
LIFE AND WORKS OF ERNEST HEMMINGWAY Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois. His father was the owner of a prosperous real estate business. His father, Dr. Hemingway, imparted to Ernest the importance of appearances, especially in public. Dr. Hemingway invented surgical forceps for which he would not accept money. He believed that one should not profit from something important for the good of mankind. Ernests father, a man of high ideals, was very strict and censored the books he allowed his children to read. He forbad Ernests sister from studying ballet for it was coeducational, and dancing together led to hell and damnation. Grace Hall Hemingway, Ernests mother, considered herself pure and proper. She was a dreamer who was upset at anything which disturbed her perception of the world as beautiful. She hated dirty diapers, upset stomachs, and cleaning house; they were not fit for a lady. She taught her children to always act with decorum. She adored the singing of the birds and the smell of flowers. Her children were expected to behave properly and to please her, always. Mrs. Hemingway treated Ernest, when he was a small boy, as if he was a female baby doll and she dressed him accordingly. This arrangement was alright until Ernest got to the age when he wanted to be a gun-toting Pawnee Bill. He began, at that time, to pull away from his mother, and never forgave her for his humiliation. The town of Oak Park, where Ernest grew up, was very old fashioned and quite religious. The townspeople forbad the word virgin from appearing in school books, and the word breast was questioned, though it appeared in the Bible. Ernest loved to fish, canoe and explore the woods. When he couldnt get outside, he escaped to his room and read books. He loved to tell stories to his classmates, often insisting that a friend listen to one of his stories. In spite of his mothers desire, he played on the football team at Oak Park High School. As a student, Ernest was a perfectionist about his grammar and studied English with fervour. He contributed articles to the weekly school newspaper. It seems that the principal did not approve of Ernest's writings and he complained, often, about the content of Ernests articles. Ernest was clear about his writing; he wanted people to see and feel and he wanted to enjoy himself while writing. Ernest loved having fun. If nothing was happening, mischievous Ernest made something happen. He would sometimes use forbidden words just to create a ruckus. Ernest, though wild and crazy, was a warm, caring individual. He loved the sea, mountains and
2 By Qaisar Iqbal Janjua From Lahore, Pakistan. Contact (92) 300 8494678 qaisarjanjua@hotmail.com, qaisarjanjua@gmail.com, qaisarjanjoa@yahoo.com
the stars and hated anyone who he saw as a phoney. During World War I, Ernest, rejected from service because of a bad left eye, was an ambulance driver, in Italy, for the Red Cross. Very much like the hero of A Farewell to Arms, Ernest is shot in his knee and recuperates in a hospital, tended by a caring nurse named Agnes. Like Frederick Henry, in the book, he fell in love with the nurse and was given a medal for his heroism. Ernest returned home after the war, rejected by the nurse with whom he fell in love. He would party late into the night and invite, to his house, people his parents disapproved of. Ernests mother rejected him and he felt that he had to move from home. He moved in with a friend living in Chicago and he wrote articles for The Toronto Star. In Chicago he met and then married Hadley Richardson. She believed that he should spend all his time in writing, and bought him a typewriter for his birthday. They decided that the best place for a writer to live was Paris, where he could devote himself to his writing. He said, at the time, that the most difficult thing to write about was being a man. They could not live on income from his stories and so Ernest, again, wrote for The Toronto Star. Ernest took Hadley to Italy to show her where he had been during the war. He was devastated, everything had changed, and everything was destroyed. Hadley became pregnant and was sick all the time. She and Ernest decided to move to Canada. He had, by then written three stories and ten poems. Hadley gave birth to a boy who they named John Hadley Nicano Hemingway. Even though he had his family Ernest was unhappy and decided to return to Paris. It was in Paris that Ernest got word that a publisher wanted to print his book, In Our Time, but with some changes. The publisher felt that the sex was too blatant, but Ernest refused to change one word. Around 1925, Ernest started writing a novel about a young man in World War I, but had to stop after a few pages, and proceeded to write another novel, instead. This novel was based on his experiences while living in Pamplona, Spain. He planned on calling this book Fiesta, but changed the name to The Sun Also Rises, a saying from the Bible. This book, as in his other books, shows Hemingway obsessed with death. In 1927, Ernest found himself unhappy with his wife and son. They decided to divorce and he married Pauline, a woman he had been involved with while he was married to Hadley. A year later, Ernest was able to complete his war novel, which he called A Farewell to Arms.
The novel was about the pain of war, of finding love in this time of pain. It portrayed the battles, the retreats, the fears, the gore and the terrible waste of war. This novel was well received by his publisher, Max Perkins, but Ernest had to substitute dashes for the dirty language. Ernest used his life when he wrote; using everything he did and everything that ever happened to him. He nevertheless remained a private person; wanting his stories to be read but wanting to be left alone. He once said, Don't look at me. Look at my words. A common theme throughout Hemingway's stories is that no matter how hard we fight to live, we end up defeated, but we are here and we must go on. At age 31 he wrote Death in the Afternoon, about bullfighting in his beloved Spain. Ernest was a restless man; he travelled all over the United States, Europe, Cuba and Africa. At the age of 37 Ernest met the woman who would be his third wife; Martha Gellhorn, a writer like himself. He went to Spain, he said, to become an antiwar correspondent, and found that war was like a club where everyone was playing the same game, and he was never lonely. Martha went to Spain as a war correspondent and they lived together. He knew that he was hurting Pauline, but like his need to travel and have new experiences, he could not stop himself from getting involved with women. In 1940 he wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls and dedicated it to Martha, whom he married at the end of that year. He found himself travelling between Havana, Cuba and Ketchum, Idaho, which he did for the rest of his life. During World War II, Ernest became a secret agent for the United States. He suggested that he use his boat, the Pillar, to surprise German submarines and attack them with hidden machine guns. It was at this time that Ernest, always a drinker, started drinking most of his days away. He would host wild, fancy parties and did not write at all during the next three years. At wars end, Ernest went to England and met an American foreign correspondent named Mary Welsh. He divorced Martha and married Mary in Havana, in 1946. Ernest was a man of extremes; living either in luxury or happy to do without material things. Ernest, always haunted by memories of his mother, would not go to her funeral when she died in 1951. He admitted that he hated his mothers guts. Ernest wrote The Old Man and the Sea in only two months. He was on top of the world, Life Magazine printed the book and thousands of copies were sold in the United States. This novel and A Farewell to Arms were both made into movies. In 1953 he went on a safari with Mary, and he was in heaven hunting big game. Though Ernest had a serious accident, and later became ill, he could never admit that he had
any weaknesses; nothing would stop him, certainly not pain. In 1954 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Toward the end, Ernest started to travel again, but almost the way that someone does who knows that he will soon die. He suddenly started becoming paranoid and to forget things. He became obsessed with sin; his upbringing was showing, but still was inconsistent in his behaviour. He never got over feeling like a bad person, as his father, mother and grandfather had taught him. In the last year of his life, he lived inside of his dreams, similar to his mother, who he hated with all his heart. He was suicidal and had electric shock treatments for his depression and strange behaviour. On a Sunday morning, July 2, 1961, Ernest Miller Hemingway killed himself with a shotgun. Ernest Hemingway takes much of the storyline of his novel, A Farewell to Arms, from his personal experiences. The main character of the book, Frederick Henry, often referred to as Tenete, experiences many of the same situations, which Hemingway, himself, lived. Some of these similarities are exact while some are less similar, and some events have a completely different outcome. Hemingway, like Henry, enjoyed drinking large amounts of alcohol. Both of them were involved in World War I, in a medical capacity, but neither of them were regular army personnel. Like Hemingway, Henry was shot in his right knee, during a battle. Both men were Americans, but a difference worth noting was that Hemingway was a driver for the American Red Cross, while Henry was a medic for the Italian Army. In real life, Hemingway met his love, Agnes, a nurse, in the hospital after being shot; Henry met his love, Catherine Barkley, also a nurse, before he was shot and hospitalized. In both cases, the relationships with these women were strengthened while the men were hospitalized. Another difference is that Hemingway's romance was short-lived, while, the book seemed to indicate that, Henry's romance, though they never married, was strong and would have lasted. In A Farewell to Arms, Catherine and her child died while she was giving birth, this was not the case with Agnes who left Henry for an Italian Army officer. It seems to me that the differences between the two men were only surface differences. They allowed Hemingway to call the novel a work of fiction. Had he written an autobiography the book would probably not have been well received because Hemingway was not, at that time, a well-known author. Although Hemingway denied critics views that A Farewell to Arms was symbolic, had he not made any changes they would not have been as impressed with
the war atmosphere and with the naivet of a young man who experiences war for the first time. Hemingway, because he was so private, probably did not want to expose his life to everyone, and so the slight changes would prove that it was not himself and his own experiences, which he was writing about. I believe that Hemingway had Catherine and her child die, not to look different from his own life, but because he had a sick and morbid personality. There is great power in being an author; you can make things happen which do not necessarily occur in real life. It is obvious that Hemingway felt, as a young child and throughout his life, powerless, and so he created lives by writing stories. Hemingway acted out his feelings of inadequacy and powerlessness by hunting, drinking, spending lots of money and having many girlfriends. I think that Hemingway was obsessed with death and not too sane. His obsession shows itself in the morbid death of Miss Barkley and her child. Hemingway was probably very confused about religion and sin and somehow felt or feared that people would or should be punished for enjoying lifes pleasures. Probably, the strongest reason for writing about Catherine Barkleys death and the death of her child was Hemingway's belief that death comes to everyone; it was inevitable. Death ends life before you have a chance to learn and live. He writes, in A Farewell to Arms, They threw you in and told you the rules and the first time they caught you off base they killed you. ... They killed you in the end. You could count on that. Stay around and they would kill you. Hemingway, even in high school, wrote stories, which showed that people should expect the unexpected. His stories offended and angered the principal of his school. I think that Hemingway liked shocking and annoying people; he was certainly rebellious. If he would have written an ending where Miss Barkley and her child had lived, it would have been too easy and common; Hemingway was certainly not like everyone else, and he seemed to be proud of that fact. Even the fact that Hemingway wrote curses and had a lot of sex in his books shows that he liked to shock people. When his publisher asked that he change some words and make his books more acceptable to people, Hemingway refused, then was forced to compromise. I think that the major difference between Hemingway and Henry was that Henry was a likable and normal person while Hemingway was strange and very difficult. Hemingway liked doing things his way and either people had to accept him the way he was or too bad for them. I think that Hemingway probably did not even like himself and that was one reason that he couldnt
really like other people. Hemingway seemed to use people only for his own pleasure, and maybe he wanted to think that he was like Henry who was a nicer person. In the book, Twentieth Century Interpretations of A Farewell to Arms, Malcolm Cowley focuses on the symbolism of rain. He sees rain, a frequent occurrence in the book, as symbolizing disaster. He points out that, at the beginning of A Farewell to Arms, Henry talks about how things went very badly and how this is connected to At the start of the winter came permanent rain. Later on in the book we see Miss Barkley afraid of rain. She says, Sometimes I see me dead in it, referring to the rain. It is raining the entire time Miss Barkley is in childbirth and when both she and her baby die. Wyndham Lewis, in the same book of critical essays, points out that Hemingway is obsessed with war, the setting for much of A Farewell to Arms. He feels that the author sees war as an alternative to baseball, a sport of kings. He says that the war years were a democratic, a levelling, and school. For Hemingway, raised in a strict home environment, war is a release; an opportunity to show that he is a real man. The essayist, Edgar Johnson says that for the loner it is society as a whole that is rejected, social responsibility, social concern abandoned. Lieutenant Henry, like Hemingway, leads a private life as an isolated individual. He socializes with the officers, talks with the priest and visits the officer's brothel, but those relationships are superficial. This avoidance of real relationships and involvement do not show an insensitive person, but rather someone who is protecting himself from getting involved and hurt. It is clear that in all of Hemingway's books and from his own life that he sees the world as his enemy. Johnson says, He will solve the problem of dealing with the world by taking refuge in individualism and isolated personal relationships and sensations. John Killinger says that it was inevitable that Catherine and her baby would die. The theme, that a person is trapped in relationships, is shown in all Hemingways stories. In A Farewell to Arms Catherine asks Henry if he feels trapped, now that she is pregnant. He admits that he does, maybe a little. This idea, points out Killinger, is ingrained in Hemingway's thinking and that he was not too happy about fatherhood. In Cross Country Snow, Nick regrets that he has to give up skiing in the Alps with a male friend to return to his wife who is having a baby. In Hemingways story Hills Like White Elephants the man wants his sweetheart to have an abortion so that they can continue as they once lived. In To Have and Have Not, Richard
Gordon took his wife to that dirty aborting horror. Catherine's death, in A Farewell to Arms, saves the author's hero from the hell of a complicated life. HEMINGWAYS SUICIDE When a person commits suicide, the most obvious question is why, as if one specific reason would explain everything. It is hard to know anothers motives, especially when they happen to be those of Earnest Hemingway, known by his public image, like most famous people, and not for the man underneath. Before we can put together the pieces of Hemingways death, to get a picture, albeit a blurry one, as to why he chose to take his own life; we must first recognize the impossibility of knowing the inner motives of any person, since they are infinitely personal and deeply complex. To retrace Hemmingways rapid decline leading up to his suicide, and to try and assess the conditions and events that may have contributed to it, is the most we can hope for in trying to understand why he chose to fatally end his life. In Papa Hemingway, A.E. Hotchner has written of his encounters with Hemmingway towards the end of his life. As a close friend to Earnest and Mary Hemingway, his accounts of what occurred towards the end may have some validity beyond the normal biographical author presenting events by way of a second party. A series of first hand accounts, that progressively worsen, are presented by Hotchner; starting in Havana Cuba and ending in Ketchum, Idaho. For instance, a telephone conversation between the two men in Cuba is noted as the first time that Hotchner remembers Hemingway ever having been unsure of himself. Ernest had always been the authority on all issues surrounding his writing: content, style, and details of publishing. He was working on The Dangerous Summer and his dilemma was how to cut his 92,453 words down to 40,000 for Life magazine, as was stipulated in the contract, complaining of having nightmares about it. He was also concerned about his eyes, which he said the doctors had diagnosed as keratis sicca, a condition that causes the cornea to dry up. Hotchner attributed Ernest's strange insecurities to his eye problem, Life magazine, and the news about Gary Cooper, a close friend. Cooper had to have a prostrate operation and Ernest was very upset with the news, as the two men were very close. When Hotchner was visiting the Hemingways in Havana, he convinced Ernest to let him give the manuscript of The Dangerous Summer to Life magazine, which he had cut down to 53,830 words. Ernest confided to Hotchner that he felt like he was living in a Kafka nightmare and that
although he acted like he was happy, he was bone-tired and very beat up emotionally. He then related that because of the Castro situation, he would have to leave Havana. The realization came upon him the night his dog was clubbed to death by a Bastista search party at his house. Ernest lamented the death of his dog, the loss of his house, his art collection, work place and memories. Another worry that Ernest relayed to Hotchner had to do with the Life magazine deal. Ernest wanted seventy-five thousand dollars instead of the forty that had been contracted. He rationalized that he could put forty into his tax account and has thirty-five to live on. However, Hotchner knew that Ernest's annual income from book royalties was about one hundred thousand dollars and his stocks and bonds were of considerable value. His tax account was also well equipped to meet any demands that his income could make. The first of many delusions that Ernest would suffer from happened when he was supposed to take a car trip with friends. He decided not to go, revealing to Hotchner his concern over Bill, one of his friends who would be driving. He was convinced that Bill was trying to kill him, saying that the last time they went for a drive he tried to run him off a cliff. Everyone became very worried about Ernest, his incessant obsessions and delusions, wondering what were wrong with him. Finally, when they were at a restaurant together, it was apparent that Ernest needed help. He, for some unknown reason, grabbed the waiter by the sleeve and began shouting at him, questioning him about whether or not he was Spanish or Polish. When the waiter replied that he was Polish, Ernest berated him even further. The delusions continued to grow when Ernest was in Rochester, as he became convinced that the Feds were after him. He would tell Hotchner that the Feds had cars following him on the road and that his phone was tapped as well as his house. Once when he was out with some friends, he demanded that they leave because of two men sitting at the bar, which he thought were FBI agents following him. When Hotchner found out that they were salesmen and tried to convince Ernest of the fact, he became irate and replied, Of course they're salesmen. The FBI is noted for its clumsy disguises. What do you think they'd pose as -concert violinists? At Ketchum, Idaho Ernest was trying to finish a manuscript and for the first time found that he couldnt. That was the final blow to his abilities as a man and as a writer, the two being intertwined. On April 18th at 11:00 am
on Sunday morning, Mary found Ernest standing with a gun in one hand and shells in the other. There was a note to her propped up on the gun rack. She distracted him just long enough for Vernon, the doctor, to arrive. Ernest gave the gun up without a struggle. Vernon confided to Hotchner about Ernest's condition: Hotch, honest to God, if we dont get him to the proper place, and fast, he is going to kill himself for sure. Its only a question of time if he stays here, and every hour it grows more possible. He says he cant write any more thats all hes talked to me about for weeks and weeks. Says theres nothing to live for. Hotch, he wont ever write again. He cant. Hes given up. That's the motivation for doing away with himself. Ernest was then admitted to the Mayo clinic, where he endured electro convulsive shock treatment; prescribed for severely depressed patients. Irvin D. Yalom, psychiatrist at Stanford University School of Medicine, stated that Hemingway struggled all his life with severe character logic problems. In 1960 the signs of depression started to become evident: anorexia, severe weight loss, insomnia, deep sadness, total pessimism, and self-destructive trends. The shock treatments he received were known to be ineffectual when strong paranoid symptoms accompanied the depression. Hemingway complained that the shock treatments destroyed his memory and his ability to write. The treatments were known to cause memory loss and to cause the patient to become suicidal for a short period of time. They stopped the treatments in the middle of the cycle and let him go home to Ketchum. It was there that he finally fulfilled his plan of suicide. He woke up one morning, put the shotgun in his mouth and blew himself away. Just like his father, Ernest took his own life. John Hemingway, Ernest's son, remembered a time when his father had warned him after he had become depressed following his termination from the army: You must promise me never, neverwell both promise each other never to shoot ourselves. Dont do it. It's stupid. Its one thing you must promise me never to do, and I'll promise the same to you. But perhaps most fortuitous was the short story Ernest wrote in 1924, where a man puts a gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger with his toe, blowing off the top of his head. Why in the end did Ernest Hemingway commit suicide? That is a question that only he himself could fully answer. The rest of us can only ponder the clues he left behind.
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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO THE NOVEL 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 Riveras government, which held power from 1923 to 1930, initially proved efficient and was widely favoured, 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 wide scale 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 bettered 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 Picassos 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.
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A CRITIQUE OF FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS 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 centre 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. We 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 Hemingways 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: Pilars lengthy and vivid description of the atrocities inflicted upon Nationalist enemies in her village; Marias suffering at the hands of the enemy; Pablo's erratic behaviour; Anselmos 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 Island. 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. For Whom the Bell Tolls tells the engrossing tale of Robert Jordan, an American supporter of the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War (193639). 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. Hes 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, Pablos mistress, publicly assumes charge. Pablo's status is uncertain at this moment, and several of the bands would now be grateful if Jordan killed Pablo. But he doesnt. Plans are made to enlist the help of a neighbouring 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. Its 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. Its 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 enemys numbers in the immediate area, he would want the operation cancelled. 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 his own people confiscate the dispatch, again. 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 wasnt 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. Well be killed but well blow the bridge, he whispers to her as she sleeps in his arms. Early on the morning of this fourth day, as the band eats 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 Jordans dispatch finally reaches Golz, but it's too late. The doomed attack has already been mounted and can't be stopped. Without counter orders from Golz, Jordans 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 wont leave until Pilar and Pablo force her to. 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. MAJOR CHARACTERS 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, and 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 re-evaluate 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 Hemingways 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 its 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, the leader of the guerrilla band, is one of Hemingways richest characters. In one sense he is quite entertaining, not only because he is frequently comically drunk but also because his behaviour 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. Hes 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. Hes 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 doesnt actually change, as Robert Jordan does. He vacillates. He is now one Pablo, now another- a frustrating figures 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. Whats 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 is Pablos 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.
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She is duly respectful of Jordans 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, and 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 fulfilment 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 Jordans palm and probably sees his imminent death. She also graphically recounts the smell of death that clung to the ill-fated Kashkin, Jordans predecessor. Maria is a young Spanish woman who was rescued by Pablos 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 Jordans 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 Marias past: the brutal rape she experienced at the hands of her Nationalist captors. Pilar has afforded some healing with her philosophy that whatever Maria didnt 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 Marias 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 hes 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, youll have to decide whether Hemingway has portrayed Maria's relationship with Jordan in believable terms. At the close of the story, Maria and Jordans 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? 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 halfhearted about his service. Above all, he exhibits simplicity and integrity. Many readers feel that when Anselmo speaks, its worth listening to. Anselmo is also a gentle, sensitive man who is able to see enemy soldiers as men very much like him. The killing involved in the guerrilla bands 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 its 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? 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 (The Deaf One) is the leader of a neighbouring guerrilla band. Hes an aggressive leader such as Pablo once was, although perhaps without the cruelty. Hes courageous, resourceful, and dedicated to the Republic. But hes 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 Jordans 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 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. Hes similar to Golz in that its difficult to determine how personally hes involved in the cause. While on the surface he seems genuine, he doesnt hesitate to avail himself of the relatively extravagant luxuries at Gaylords 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 is a young, idealistic member of El Sordos 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 is a member of Pablos band. He is sent by Jordan to deliver the message to General Golz that the enemy has anticipated the planned Republican offensive.
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MOST EXPECTED QUESTIONS Q: WHAT ARE THE MAJOR THEMES DEALT IN FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS? Ans: Hemingway's choice of a John Donnes poem as the source of the novels title and epigraph emphasizes a major theme of For Whom the Bell Tolls: No man is an island, 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. 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 wars effect on the Spanish is demonstrated in acts of great courage and great cruelty. The challenges of the struggle created 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 behaviour 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. 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, Jordans 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. Jordans 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 Sordos camp reflects the love among comrades. And Pilars concern for Marias happiness and well being is a kind of maternal love that plays a part in Marias healing process. In Hemingways 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 foreshadowing 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. Kashkins 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 affect on those around him, so his death can have similar consequences. Examples of hypocrisy abound in For Whom the Bell Tolls. Prime among them are the Loyalist leaders themselves, many of who 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 doesnt 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 Sordos 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-centred hypocrisy. From the beginning of the story, when Pilar reads Robert Jordans 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 doesnt, even though he claims not to believe in such things; what she may have seen of his future concerns him a great deal. On the surface, religion does not come across favourably 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. Q: HEMINGWAYS ONLY MESSAGE IS THAT MAN CAN BE DETROYED BUT NOT DEFEATED. WHAT IS YOUR ASSESSMENT? Q: IN HEMINGWAYS WORKS, STRUGGLE IS THE MESSAGE AND CREED OF LIFE, DISCUSS? Ans: Hemingway was considered to be a man more than life. He thrived to reduce the life than its gigantic stature. He wanted to explore more and more about the gravities of life. He had seen both pre war and post war situations. He had deeply observed the change in the attitude of people, towards life and their scattered dreams and desires. Thus, he sought to give message to the post war generation the message of struggle for life. He taught them that man can live only through the manly encounter against death and miseries. Nineteenth century was the period of the boon of humanity. There was industrial rise and scientific progress. Mankind was enjoying global peace and stability. Man was thinking that he had conquered the beast in him and had learnt to live peacefully. But them, this wide spread scientific progress brought two most destructive and fierce worldwide wars. With the advent of these wars, all the thoughts and dreams of a peaceful and progressive future shattered. People look refuge in sensual pleasure i.e. drinking, free sex and wandering and avoided thinking. These people, after the wide spread devastation of wars, were pronounced as the Lost Generation. Hemingway writes his stories, to guide his lost generation. They are expatriates, confused and frustrated beings, indulged in drinking, gambling and sexual pleasures. Hemingway wants to give them a code of life, higher than any ethical code. This is a code of constant struggle. Hemingway creates a microcosm of the post war scenario in this story and delineates his characters, very close to real men, with their tensions and conflicts. Almost all of his protagonists are representatives of lost generation. They are all disillusioned with war, but each experiences this
situation differently. Yet one thing is common in all of them that they have to struggle for life. Henry hates war; at he has to fight for life. Jordan knows that war is destructive; he wants peace and is aware of the feet that to attain peace, it is necessary to suppress force, by force. Hemingway perceives life as a struggle, in which man has no choice except to fight. Santiago has to go far away, on the sea, to fight with evil, regardless of any loss. Robert Jordan has to blow up the bridge without considering its usefulness. It also gives a view that duty, must be done at any cost, and a duty assigned to an individual should be considered special in its way. Jordan says: If I have to do what I think, I will have to do; it will be very select indeed. Besides fighting with the outer circumstances, Hemingways protagonist also fights a battle of inner self. He knows the worthlessness of his act, yet he fights to prove his courage and strength by accomplishing that act. Jordan realizes the futility of his act; he also loves life and feels: This world is a fine place. Though life is dear to him, yet dearer than life is the need to justify his courage, which his father lacked. Hemingway feels that winner gets nothing in this world. The victory of his protagonist is never physical but always moral. Santiago, after successfully achieving victory over Marline loses it during his journey back to home. Jordan successfully blows the bridge, yet, in the end, his is a loser loser of his life. All that is achieved in all this exercise is the insight that one must go on struggling come what may and what ever is the cause. Though the winner gets nothing yet he attains moral dignity. Jordan says: You can do nothing for yourself but perhaps you can do something for another. Hemingway holds the view that whatever has to be done, has to be done with good grace. He says in Old man And The Sea: Pain does not matter to a man Robert Jordan repeatedly wishes for the arrival of Fascists, to the end of the novel, because of his increasing pain. Yet he does not choose to kill himself. He feels that to die a courageous death is better than to live, as a coward in owes own eyes. He says: I wish, they would come now. He fights bravely and does not lack courage. He proves:
A man is not made for defeat. Jordan fights till end and sacrifices his life, for duty. He dies not only for Spain, not only to save the girl, Maria, whom he loves, but also for his own sake and in fulfilment of a moral duty. So, his only reward is the consciousness of duty done. Thus he proves that: A man can be destroyed but not defeated. Q: WHO IS CODE AND REAL HERO? WHAT IS DIFFERENT BETWEEN THEM AND WHY THEY ARE PRESENTED IN HEMINGWAYS NOVELS? Q: DISCUSS ROBERT JORDAN AS HEMINGWAYS HERO? Q: IN HEMINGWAYS ART HERO REPRESENTS THE COURAGE AND FIGHT AGAINST EXTERNAL FORCES. HOW FAR ROBERT JORDEN IS SUCCESSFUL IN THIS REGARD? Ans: Robert Jordan, a tall, a thin young man, with sun streaked fair hair, and a wind and sun burned face, is one of the most complicated heroes, in Hemingways fictions. He is a typical Hemingway hero who fights till end and wins a moral victory for him. Two categories of heroes are found in the novels of Ernest Hemingway. One of which is a round character who finds himself unfit for the circumstances in which he is surrounded, but with the passage, of time he evolves certain values, which make his survival possible. According to the critics, this kind of character is Hemingway Hero, or the Tito. In the other category of hero is a developed character that does not need for further improvement. He is a confident man who knows his area of action and his skills. He serves to teach, the Tito, and thus is called the Tutor or the code hero. Jack Barnes, Nick Adam, Fredric Henry etc., are all Hemingways typical heroes. They have been presented in the background of First World War. They portray the attributes of Lost Generation. They have got disillusioned with war and, therefore, remained under great stress. War has shattered their all the ideas of religion, humanity, love and peace. Hemingway at first shows through them the death of love, lost ness and
forlornness and finally the moral code of life that a man can be destroyed but not defeated. Hemingway hero is a sensitive and intellectual being, but he suppresses his thoughts, he suffers from Nada the extreme feelings of nothingness. In consequence, he leads a life of sensuousness and seeks pleasure in sexuality, drinking and roaming about. Hemingway takes life as a battle, in which man has to fight till his end. Therefore, his hero is always revealed in a war or war like conditions, fighting against natural or human forces. This war can either be physical or spiritual or both. Within the course of his war, he learns the code of his life that: A man is not made for defeat. And that: A am can live only through the manly encounter against death. This code helps him to achieve a moral victory. Hemingway believes that a winner gets nothing in this world, therefore, we see. Despite Hemingways preoccupation with physical contests his heroes are almost always defeated physically their victories tries are moral one. Robert Jordan is considered to be the most complex of all heroes, presented by Hemingway. He has seen excessive violence and bloodshed and is thoroughly aware of the cruelties of war, yet he is ready to fight for the cause of humanity. He is an idealist as well as a realist. He knows neither all fascists are black nor all republicans are white, but he fights for the betterment of Spanish people, as his meditations reveal: You believe in liberty equality and Fraternity. You believe in life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Thus, as it is common with Hemingways heroes, Jordan is also shown under great stress and tension at the same time though he criticizes his actions yet he is also ready to blow the bridge. He is very sensitive and intellectual being but he feels that thoughts are not appropriate for the world in which he is living, he takes refuges in drinking and sexually. Though he does not want to keep his mind busy in thinking about the rightness of his action, as he feels to worry is as bad as to be afraid. Yet he keeps himself busy in the unrealistic thoughts of a happy future with his beloved Maria. When there was no understanding only the delight of acceptance.
Though he likes good things of life yet he is so committed and honest to himself and his duty, that he does no let these things, come in his way. Even he attributes his love for Maria to his love for Spain as he says: I love thee as I love that we have fought for. He is so honest to the job that is assigned to him that he can understand that to blow the bridge is futile, yet he blows it, for it is the very order given to him. Being a main character of Hemingway, he also fights his personal psychological battle in Spain. Jordan is extremely ashamed of his father, who attempted suicide instead of fighting. He wants to wash out his guilt. Though the life is dear to him, yet dearer than life is the need for the justification of his courage, which his father lacked. Thus, the war has a double importance for him. He says: My mind is in suspension until we win the war. He idealizes his grand father, who was a courageous warrior and had died in a battle. Fighting against the enemy, Jordan seeks his code within the thoughts of his grand father and is determined to fight till his death. When he falls from the horse and it breaks his leg, Jordan remains there to cover the escape of has companions. At this time it is the memory of his grand father, which keeps him firm on his decision. Though he is disappointed yet not desperate. He has learnt the lesson like Santiago that: A man can be destroyed but not defeated. Near the end, he bears the pain courageously, and proves that pain does not matter to a man. He appears to be satisfied on achieving the moral victory over his enemy. This is the lesson Hemingway wants to give through his writings that fighting matters more than winning and one who fights till the end, is the winner in true sense. Thus we can conclude that Robert Jordan is a typical Hemingway hero, with all the heroic qualities in him. He also retains some of the autobiographical touches in his characters; this quality of his personality also enriches his personality in the eye of the readers. Q: DISCUSS FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS AS A MODERN TRAGEDY? Ans: For Whom The Bell Tolls is a modern tragedy, as it depicts the conflict, struggle, tension and frustration of a modern man.
A modern tragedy is quite different from classical standards. According to Aristotle, tragedy is a story of conspicuous man who fall from prosperity to adversity because of his error judgment, i.e., hamartia, his death is not essential, but his fall arises a sense of pity and fear for him, in us. But in a modern world, there are no kings and princes, who could be regarded as conspicuous, therefore, modern tragedy is the story of a common man who falls from prosperity to adversity, because of his error of judgment, i.e., his hamartia, but his death is not essential, but his fall arises a sense of pity and fear, in us. Secondly, now a modern man is not confronted with the supernatural forces of his surroundings and society. Thus a modern tragedy is different from a classical tragedy. Hemingway writes in an effort to reduce the harms done by the two world wars. He presents a picture of the post war scenario, when the atomic weapons shattered all the dream of global peace. There was a big generation gap in the society and a sense of lost ness. Hemingway portrays in his novels, a microcosm of that larger universe, and gives a lesson of constant and untiring struggle. Robert Jordan is a typical Hemingway protagonist. He is an American volunteer. He is very sensitive and intellectual man who wishes for the global peace. He believes that liberty diminished at one place means some liberty lost everywhere. Because of his this belief, he is fighting Spain for republican he is not only fighting the war of the freedom of Spain, he is also fighting a mental and psychological war of self-realization and selfassessment. He has been assigned the duty of blowing a supply line bridge up, of Fascists and through this duty; he wants to judge his mental and physical usefulness for the world. Hemingways hero is usually a disillusioned but a reluctant man. He is aware of the futility of action but tries to avoid this awareness by indulging into sensual pleasure. Robert Jordan also tries to avoid his thoughts and seeks refuge in Marias arms and intoxication. But being an intellectual he cannot escape from his thoughts. He knows that his action of blasting the bridge would not help the Republicans and the Fascists would not be stopped; yet he continuous his work. The reason is the accomplishment of duty, which has been assigned to him, and an inner satisfaction that at least he has done what he could do. He feels that he is fighting for his love of Spain, for his love of Maria and for his love of freedom as he says: You believe in life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
But this is a kind of self-deception and false justification of his useless act and this proves his flaw, which leads to his tragedy. However, it is a preoccupation of a Hemingway Hero, which he goes too far in the accomplishment of his duty, regardless of any danger. Hemingway adopts this trait to achieve his moral end, and this gives a new dimension to tragedy. He has moralized the tragedy, despite Hemingways preoccupation with physical contests, his heroes are almost always defeated physically, nervously, practically; their victories are moral ones. As we see that Jordan remains stick to his duty. He says: You can do nothing for yourself but perhaps you can do something for another. This belief keeps him firm, even when Pablo betrays him and leaves with the blasting material. This is the moment of his moral uplift. There is a sure fear of his death, but he goes on. Though life is dear to him, but dearer than life is the justification of his courage, which his father lacked. He also hints this in his saying: May be I have lived all my life in these seventy hours. Jordan successfully blows up the bridge but, while moving away from the scene, he falls from his horse and breaks his leg. This is the most pathetic and tragic situation, when a man achieves success at one moment and loses everything at the other. The reader feels extreme pity for Jordan at this stage. The ending moments of the novel are the most convincing and magnificent ones, when Jordan is lying on the ground waiting for fascists to come. So that he may be able to prove his courage and strength by fighting till the end. He repeated utterance: I wish is not made for defeat. I create a moving effect. The dramatic ending of the novel gives a message, a lesson and also hope to the reader that: Man is not made for defeat. Jordan proves that: A man can be destroyed but not defeated. Jordan fights till end and sacrifices his life for duty. He dies not only for Spain, not only to save the girl, Maria, whom he loves, but also for his own sake and in fulfilment of a moral duty --------. So his only reward is the consciousness of duty done. And again: Winner takes nothing.
But it seems that Hemingway had found something to die for, and he seems to imply that if you die as Anselmo or Jordan died, then physical death means nothing, death has no sting for the dying man rather he dies victoriously and his death is a moral victory. Thus we can conclude that For Whom the Bell Toll is a modern tragedy in which an ordinary hero an American volunteer falls from prosperity of adversity because of his hamartia, i.e., his extreme sense of duty. He dies a physical death but wins a moral victory. His sufferings arise a sense of pity and fear in us. Q: DISCUSS HEMINGWAYS NIHILISM. Q: HEMINGWAY PRESENTS THE WAR STRIKEN GENERATION IN FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS, DISCUSS. Ans: The term nihilism implies the negation of any authority and code at the heat of the universe. Hemingway has largely been accused of being nihilism. It is said that his heroes have no code to follow; that they are living on their own, that they are lost in this world thus they are hopeless and chaotic. A critic remarks: ------Again and again, Hemingway was writing of the the end of life, the end of love, the end of hope, the end of all. But to condemn his writing, by pronouncing nihilism, is to do injustice to him. Though Hemingway writes of the chaos and desperate situation, yet he provides a hope and code for life. If he denies the presence of God, he also creates new gods, for his heroes, in the apparent forms i.e., honour, dignity and struggle. He gives the code of constant and untiring struggle for life. In his writings, Hemingway focuses at the lost generation, which emerged in the consequence of the two highly explosive World Wars. In 19th century mankind was enjoying global peace, economic stability and scientific progress. People were thinking that Man has conquered the beast in him and has learned to live peacefully. But all these idealistic dreams shattered away, when the fist World War emerged due to this very industrial progress. The men who entered war with patriotic ideals were stunned at mans inherent Barbarity when they realized the horrible uncertainty, pithiness and meaninglessness of life, they were desperately disillusion with the hollowness and emptiness of the high sounding slogans of religious and political leaders. Moreover, Darwins theory of evolution added fuel to fire
and crumbled the roots of Christianity. It was felt that God does not exist and man has to face all the consequences of this. Hence: Man is forlorn; because neither within him nor without does her find anything to ding to. Hemingway captures all this nothingness and forlornness in his stories. His heroes represent the lost generation. They are usually expatriates, disillusioned with war. They have utterly disappointed with the nothingness of life and seeks refuge in drinking, sex, wandering. Hemingway depicts his heroes at war, sometimes physically but most often metaphorically. Then, within the course of their war, they get the code is of unending struggle regardless of victory or defeat. His hero in The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago says: Pain does not matter to a man. Then: Man is not made for defeat. And finally, he says: A man can be destroyed but not defeated. In The Sun also rises, there is a massage of hope: A man can live only through the manly encounter against death. Robert Jordan in the For Whom the Bell tolls, is confused about his aims. He is disillusioned with war; he loves humanity and wants peace. But to establish peace, he has to fight against the evil. He is not certain about the usefulness of his action, though takes refuge in Marias arms, yet he resolves to continue his task. He says: You can do nothing for your self but perhaps you can do something for another. It is an understanding assumption of Hemingways philosophy that there is no world beyond the grave. Therefore, ones victories and losses are to be measured in terms of this world and not in the world beyond the grave. Life is tragic, sad and there is no escape from pain, therefore, it is useless to try to escape the inevitable. Hence what one can do is to be a man. When man is afflicted with misery pain or sorrow or even death, the proper way to face it is to remain true to oneself and ones companions, to endure pain and must fight like Santiago against the heavy odds. To give up a fight would be unmanly. One must achieve moral victory even though he has nothing to win. Robert Jordan has to remain undefeated, to prove his moral victory. He fights not only for the sake of Spanish freedom, but also for the fulfilment of his moral duty and his reward is the consciousness and his satisfaction in the duty done.
This constant struggle and absoluteness of duty is something, which one can cling to in the present times. Hence, Hemingway should not be pronounced as nihilism, prevailed in his time, and presents the solution of it rather he gives the faith of constant struggle and a moral victory to his readers. Thus the outlook or the background of his novels is nihilism but the message of his novels is the message of hope and confidence. Q: DISCUSS HEMINGWAYS PROSE STYLE. Ans: 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, and the people in the story. If you diagrammed or sketched them, they might be somewhat different from another readers mental picture. Thats inevitable. It's the distinctnessgiving the reader the feeling of being there-, which is Hemingways 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 Hemingways 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 uhs and ers) that people utter in real life. Hemingway also doesnt 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 Hemingways 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 flavour 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. Youll 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 flavour of the Spanish language. Both Hemingways actual Spanish and his attempt to render the flavour 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 earthyoften 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 Pablos negative attitude, says: I this and that in this and that of thy father. I this and that and that in this. On several occasions one character advises another to Go unprint thyself. There are many ways for a writer to tell a story. Point of view depends in part on the authors 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 storys 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 centre 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 Jordans consciousness serve to create a fuller, more rounded picture of the world the novel portrays.
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Earnest Hemingway S For Whom The Bell Tolls A Critical Analysis by Qaisar Iqbal Janjua

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Earnest Hemingway S For Whom The Bell Tolls A Critical Analysis by Qaisar Iqbal Janjua

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FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)

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