Philippine Normal UniversityTaft Avenue, Manila

College of Languages, Linguistics and LiteratureDepartment of Linguistics, Bilingual Education and Literature

For Whom the Bell Tolls

(Historical and Formalistic Approach)

Submitted to:

Dr. Ma. Antoinette Montealegre

Submitted by:

CAPIRAL, Ma. Alyanna Mae L.

III-8 AB/BSE Literature

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This paper tries to unlock the concepts relevant with explaining and analyzing the

novel.

The following concepts are the following:

1. Fascism

2. Communism

3. Spanish Civil War

4. The Lost Generation

5. Hemingway code hero

6. Meditation XVII

This paper also attempts to answer the following questions:

1. Why the novel is entitled “For Whom the Bell Tolls”?

2. What is the background of the novel?

3. What are the trivia about the novel?

4. What are the themes of the novel?

5. Who are the characters in the novel?

6. Where is the setting of the novel?

7. What is the plot of the novel?

8. What are the references to actual events in Spanish Civil War?

9. What is the narrative style used by Hemingway?

10. Are there any situations in the novel parallel to the author’s experiences? What are

those experiences?

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Fascism

Modern political ideology that seeks to regenerate the social, economic, and

cultural life of a country by basing it on a heightened sense of national belonging or

ethnic identity. Fascism rejects liberal ideas such as freedom and individual rights, and

often presses for the destruction of elections, legislatures, and other elements of

democracy. Despite the idealistic goals of fascism, attempts to build fascist societies

have led to wars and persecutions that caused millions of deaths. As a result, fascism is

strongly associated with right-wing fanaticism, racism, totalitarianism, and violence.

Communism

A theory and system of social and political organization that was a major force in

world politics for much of the 20th century. As a political movement, communism sought

to overthrow capitalism through a workers’ revolution and establish a system in which

property is owned by the community as a whole rather than by individuals. In theory,

communism would create a classless society of abundance and freedom, in which all

people enjoy equal social and economic status. In practice, communist regimes have

taken the form of coercive, authoritarian governments that cared little for the plight of

the working class and sought above all else to preserve their own hold on power. The

idea of a society based on common ownership of property and wealth stretches far back

in Western thought.

Spanish Civil War

Civil war broke out in Spain in 1936, but the underlying causes can be traced

back several years prior to that date. In the 1930s Spain experienced continuous

political upheavals. In 1931, after years of civil conflict in the country, King Alfonso XIII

voluntarily placed himself in exile, and on April 13 of that year, a new republic emerged.

The Leftist government, however, faced similar civil unrest, and by 1933, the

conservatives regained control. By 1936 the people voted the leftists back in.

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After the assassination of Jose Calvas Otelo, an influential Monarchist, the army

led a revolt against the government and sponsored the return of General Francisco

Franco, who had been exiled because of his politics.

As a result, civil war broke out across the country between the Loyalist-leftists

and the Monarchist-rightists. Russia backed the leftists while Germany and Italy

supported the rightists.

The war continued until 1939 with each side committing atrocities: the leftists

slaughtered religious and political figures while the rightists bombed civilian targets. At

the beginning of 1936, the Loyalists were suffering from an effective blockade as

Franco's troops gained control. On March 28, the war ended as the rightists took the city

of Madrid.

The Lost Generation

This term became associated with a group of American writers in the 1920s who

felt a growing sense of disillusionment after World War I. As a result, many left America

for Europe, Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway traveled to Paris, which appeared to offer

them a much freer society than America or England did. During this period, Paris

became a mecca for these expatriates, who congregated in literary salons, restaurants,

and bars to discuss their work in the context of the new age. The novel, like For Whom

the Bell Tolls of Hemingway and Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, presents a penetrating

portrait of this Lost Generation.

The characters in works by these authors reflected the authors' growing sense of

disillusionment along with the new ideas in psychology, anthropology, and philosophy

that had become popular in the early part of the century. Hemingway’s men and women

faced a meaningless world with courage and dignity, exhibiting "grace under pressure”.

This age of confusion, redefinition, and experimentation produced one of the most

fruitful periods in American letters. The authors of the Lost Generation challenged the

assumptions as they expanded the genre's traditional form to accommodate their

characters' questions about the individual's place in the world.

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Hemingway Code Hero

The Hemingway hero is a man whose concepts are shaped by his view of death, that in

the face of death a man must perform certain acts and these acts often involve

enjoying or taking the most he can from life.

     -   He will not talk about his concepts.

     -   He is a man of intense loyalty to a small group because he can’t accept abstract

things.

     -   He does not talk too much.  He expresses himself not in words, but in actions. 

The Hemingway man is not a thinker; he is a man of action.  But his actions are

based upon a concept of life.

A basis for all of the actions of all Hemingway code heroes is the concept of

death.  Consequently, the Hemingway man exists in a large part for the gratification of

his sensual desires (eating, drinking, and sex), he will devote himself to all types of

physical pleasures because these are the reward of this life.

It is the duty of the Hemingway hero to avoid death at almost all cost.  Life must

continue.  Life is valuable and enjoyable.  Life is everything.  Death is nothing.  With this

view in mind it might seem strange then to the casual or superficial reader that the

Hemingway code hero will often be placed in an encounter with death, or that the

Hemingway hero will often choose to confront death.  From this we derive the idea of

grace (or courage) under pressure.  This concept is one according to which the

character must act in a way that is acceptable when he is faced with the fact of death. 

The Hemingway man must have fear of death, but he must not be afraid to die.   By fear

we mean that he must have the intellectual realization that death is the end of all things

and as such must be constantly avoided in one way or another.  A man can never act in

a cowardly way.  He must not show that he is afraid or trembling or frightened in the

presence of death. 

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If man wishes to live, he lives most intensely sometimes when he is in the direct

presence of death.  The man has not yet been tested; we don’t know whether he will

withstand the pressures, whether he will prove to be a true Hemingway man.  In the

presence of death, then, man can discover his own sense of being, his own potentiality.

Hemingway defined the Code Hero as "a man who lives correctly, following the

ideals of honor, courage and endurance in a world that is sometimes chaotic, often

stressful, and always painful." 

The Code Hero measures himself by how well they handle the difficult situations

that life throws at him.

The Code Hero is typically an individualist and free-willed. Although he believes

in the ideals of courage and honor he has his own set of morals and principles based on

his beliefs in honor, courage and endurance.

Meditation XVII

Devotions upon Emergent Occasions is a 1624 prose work by the English writer

John Donne. It was written as Donne recovered from a serious illness, believed to be

either typhus or relapsing fever. (Donne does not clearly identify the disease in his text.)

The work consists of twenty-three parts corresponding to each stage of the illness. Each

part is further divided into a Meditation, an Expostulation, and a Prayer.

The seventeenth meditation is perhaps the best-known part of the work. It contains the

following passage:

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the

main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a

promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's

death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to

know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

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Background of the Novel

The chief political catalyst in Hemingway's life was the Spanish Civil War. In 1936

he had returned to Spain as a newspaper reporter and participated in raising funds for

the Spanish Republic until the war's end in 1939. Seventeen months after that war

ended, Hemingway completed For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940). Hemingway's reputation

as one of America's most important writers was already well established after the

publication of the book. The novel received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics

and the public alike, with many insisting that it was Hemingway's best novel to date. It

quickly became a bestseller, as the first printing's 210,000 copies immediately sold out.

In less than six months, that figure jumped to over 491,000.

The novel starts with Meditation XVII of John Donne’s poems.

The novel takes place in June, 1937 the second year of the Spanish Civil War. The

setting takes place in Spain probably in one of the provinces in Spain.

A number of actual figures that played a role in the Spanish Civil War are also

referenced in the book, including:

Andres Nin, one of the founders of the Workers Party of Marxist Unification the

party mocked by Karkov in Chapter 18.

Prieto, one of the leaders of the Republicans, is also mentioned in Chapter 18.

General Jose Miaja, in charge of the defense of Madrid in October 1936, and

General Vicente Rojo, together with Prieto, are mentioned in Chapter 35

Dolores Ibárruri, better known as La Pasionaria, is extensively described in

Chapter 32.

Robert Hale Merriman, leader of the American Volunteers in the International

Brigades, and his wife Marion.

Andre Marty, a political officer in the International Brigades, was known as a

vicious paranoid.

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Trivias

The title "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is drawn from Meditation XVII of Devotions Upon

Emergent Occasions by John Donne discussed in the earlier part of this paper.

"For Whom the Bell Tolls" is also a song by Metallica on their 1984 album Ride the

Lightning. It is about war and the human spirit.

There is a movie adaptation of the novel directed by Sam Wood in 1943, and was

nominated for 9 Academy Awards.

The verb “tolls” is exclusive for bells only.

In 1941 the novel was nominated by the Pulitzer committee in letters for that

year's prize. The Pulitzer board in turn rejected the award on a matter of a taste. No

award was given that year.

Themes

The following are the themes of the novel:

The Loss of Innocence in War

As I read the novel, I slowly understand the brutalities of war. That it seems cannot

be realistic whenever I am watching war movies but because of Hemingway’s powerful

narrative, I really felt every action and emotions as if I was the one experiencing it. As

the characters, for Maria, she experienced cruelties from the Fascists. Her innocence is

taken from her, as every victim of war, experienced they lost their innate nature of being

innocent. As for the case of Anselmo, he has to bear the decisions that he make and

continue living. . Hemingway shows in the novel that morality is subjective and

conditional, and that the sides of right and wrong. You really cannot distinguish which

side is victorious because both sides in war lost lives, and suffer emotional, physical,

and psychological turmoil.

The Value of Human Life

This is evident in the view of Anselmo that he does not enjoy killing people even he

enjoys hunting. He wishes not to kill anybody but when the situation calls for it that is

the only time he is willing to kill but if he would be given a choice he would rather not kill.

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This separates people from animals, our innate feeling of guilt, and reason, although

there is just a thin border line than makes us different from animals from the perspective

of the “Survival of the Fittest” as the Nationalist/ Communist would suggest. This is

human nature to somehow value life of your fellow human being. Also when Robert

Jordan did not kill Pablo even the gypsies are provoking him to do so, when Pablo did

not agree to Jordan’s plan, because Pablo knows how dangerous the plan is, also he

did not trust a foreigner like Jordan. This shows the Hemingway code hero. That Jordan

remains clam under pressure, more over, he had shown that he is someone who is just,

and thinks before he acts.

Death

Even Robert Jordan foresees that his life is in danger in his mission; he still

continues it for the sake of his belief, common cause and the good of the people also for

his ideology. Also the other characters such as Anselmo had shown that they had

accepted their fate, and if that is the only thing that would free them against the Fascist

hands they are willing to that sacrifice. A companion theme to that of death is that of

suicide. Many of the characters, including Robert Jordan, would prefer death over

capture, and are prepared to kill themselves, be killed, or kill to avoid it. As the book

ends, Robert Jordan, wounded and unable to travel with his companions, awaits a final

ambush that will end his life. He prepares himself against the cruel outcomes of suicide

to avoid capture, or inevitable torture for the extraction of information and death at the

hands of the enemy. Still, he hopes to avoid suicide partly because his father, whom he

views as a coward, committed suicide. Robert Jordan understands suicide but doesn't

approve of it, and thinks that "you have to be awfully occupied with yourself to do a thing

like that." Robert Jordan's opinions on suicide may be used to analyze Hemingway's

suicide 21 years later. This is the same experience with Hemingway’s life. His father

who is a doctor committed suicide by shooting himself with a Civil war pistol in 1928.

Also even in the novel Hemingway had shown the value of life, I believe somehow he

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also exemplifies his ideas about “Existentialism” and as a result too he ended his life by

pulling a trigger in his head.

Love / search for personal attachment

I quite did not get it the first time I thought the relationship of Maria and Robert

Jordan. I am puzzled as to how fast they fall in love and the reason why they were

attached to each other but upon thinking that they were in the midst of a war, and in

the mountain areas, every human being has the tendency to seek someone whom

they can built a relationship with. Again it is human nature to seek for love despite

and inspite of every thing.

Divination

Pilar, "Pablo's woman", is a reader of palms and more. When Robert Jordan

questions her true abilities, she replies, "Because thou art a miracle of deafness....It

is not that thou art stupid. Thou art simply deaf. One who is deaf cannot hear music.

Neither can he hear the radio. So he might say, never having heard them, that such

things do not exist. At the earlier part of the novel Pilar look into the hands of Robert

Jordan but does not reveal what she saw.

The characters

Robert Jordan

The main protagonist of the novel, I noticed that he is the only one whose name

is stated in a complete manner, it only proves that he is the main character in the novel.

He left his job as a college instructor in the United States to volunteer for the

Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. Initially, he believed in the Republican cause

with a near-religious faith and felt an “absolute brotherhood” with his comrades on the

Republican side. However, when the action of the novel starts, we see that Robert

Jordan has become disillusioned as many people in political movements experienced.

As the conflict drags on, he realizes that he does not really believe in the Republican

cause but joined their side simply because they fought against Fascism.

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Because he fights for a side whose causes he does not necessarily support,

Robert Jordan experiences a great deal of internal conflict and begins to wonder

whether there is really any difference between the Fascist and Republican sides.

  Robert Jordan's interior monologues and actions indicate these internal conflicts

that plague him. Although he is disillusioned with the Republican cause, he continues to

fight for that cause. In public he announces that he is anti-Fascist rather than a

Communist, but in private he thinks that he has no politics at all. He knows that his job

requires that he kill people but also knows that he should not believe in killing in the

abstract. Despite his newfound love for Maria, he feels that there cannot be a place for

her in his life while he also has his military work.

Robert Jordan resolves these tensions at the end of For Whom the Bell Tolls, in

his final moments as he faces death. He accepts himself as a man of action rather than

thought (Hemingway’s code hero) as a man who believes in practicality rather than

abstract theories. As communism thoughts as practice before theory.

He understands that the war requires him to do some things that he does not believe

in. Robert Jordan is able to make room in his mind for both his love for Maria and his

military mission. By the end of the novel, just before he dies, his internal conflicts and

tensions are resolved.

Pablo

Pablo, the exasperating leader of the guerrilla band, is a complex character and

an unpredictable force in the novel.

A man who is difficult to like but ultimately difficult to condemn or to view as a

villain in the novel. Pablo and Robert Jordan view each other with mutual suspicion and

dislike from the start but I think the men had some respect for each other.

Self-indulgence made Pablo a strong and courageous fighter when he was younger, it

now proves a liability, for it sows dissent within the guerrilla band and threats the

mission.

Pablo displays a clear sense of conscience and realizes when he has done

something wrong. He wishes he could bring back to life the Fascists he massacred in

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his town. He fears death and is exhausted with the war. He simply wants the war to end

so that he may live a peaceful life in the country along with Pilar and his horses. He

loves his horses so much. He remained alive at the end of the novel.

Pilar

For me, the most colorful and likable character in novel, Pilar embodies the

earthiness, strength, and wisdom of the Spanish peasantry. A large, part-gypsy woman,

Pilar exercises great influence over the band, we quickly become aware that Pablo

leads the band in name only. Pilar is not the stereotype kind of the woman. She breaks

the typical idea of a woman. A great leader and she is the only one seeks wine and food

for the band. She is very committed with the ideology of the nationalist. In the

conversation with Robert Jordan she asked him personal questions but then again as a

Hemingway Code hero, Robert Jordan is cold and distant and does not want to talk

about his ideas. She also asked how long Jordan is in the Nationalist’s side.

She pushes Robert Jordan and Maria's romance, she binds almost all the events

and characters in the story.

  She relies on intuitive, mystical, gypsy folk wisdom. She claims a deep

connection to the primitive forces of fate. She claims to be able to smell death, and she

describes the smell in repulsively naturalistic detail. She reads palms and interprets

sexual experiences. In the end the only part that does not show Pilar’s wisdom is her

belief in the Republican side, she is blinded by her ideology as most people in a

communist group whom lost their reasons and thinking.

Maria 

The young, gentle woman that catches Robert Jordan's eye from the moment he

meets her. Her beauty had shown eventough she had experienced a traumatic rape.

She is vulnerable and lays her emotions bare, she exhibits an inner strength,

determination, and resilience that enable her to bear her difficult circumstances. I think

Maria represents the land of Spain itself during that time, ravaged by the warring forces

beyond her comprehension, yet always enduring, beautiful, and loving. Indeed,

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Hemingway frequently uses earth imagery to describe Maria, comparing her hair to the

“golden brown of a grain field” and her breasts to “small hills.” In this light, Robert

Jordan's closeness with Maria mirrors his closeness with Spain, his adopted country.

  In his conversations with General Golz and with Maria early in the novel, Robert

Jordan reveals his belief that he does not have time for women during the war. By the

end of the novel, Robert Jordan thanks Maria for everything that she has taught him and

faces the day of his mission noting that he has integrated his commitments to work and

to love. Maria, determined to embrace their love fully, teaches Robert Jordan how to

resolve his tensions between love and work.

   Some how for me as mentioned earlier in the theme Loss of in War, it is not that

realistic for Maria and Robert Jordan to have a relationship / attraction that easily. I think

that Maria is just a fulfillment of the man’s sexual wishes. More over, it is not quite

possible that their sexual intercourse healed the wounds in Maria’s personality.

Anselmo 

For Robert Jordan, Anselmo represents all that is good about Spaniards. He is

the guide of Robert Jordan,an old, trustworthy guerrilla fighter

He lives close to the land, is loyal, follows directions, and stays where he is

told.Anselmo has stopped praying ever since the Communists banned organized

religion but admits that he misses it.

 

Agustín 

He mans the machine gun, curses frequently and is secretly in love with Maria, A

trustworthy and high-spirited guerrilla fighter

Primitivo 

Despite his gray hair and broken nose, Primitivo has not learned the cynicism needed

for survival in the war, he is an elderly fighter of the band.

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 Rafael 

A gypsy member of the guerrilla band. He asks Robert Jordan why not he killed

Pablo after their argument. I think of that part as a betrayal. Even they have been

together long before Robert Jordan came he wanted Pablo to be killed because he is a

hindrance to the plans of the group in blowing the bridge.

Rafael proves his worthlessness by leaving his lookout post at a crucial moment.

He is a foil for the trustworthy Anselmo, who does not leave his post on the previous

night despite the cold and the snow. Rafael has few loyalties and does not believe in

political causes.

 Andres 

He is one of the guerrilla fighters. He is in his late twenties. Andres comes into

conflict with the Republican leaders'.

 Eladio 

Andres’ older brother and another of the guerrilla fighters

 El Sordo (Santiago) 

He is the leader of a guerrilla band that operates near Pablo's place. Short,

heavy, and gray-haired, El Sordo is a man of few words.

 Joaquín 

He is one of the members of El Sordo's band. Joaquín originally wanted to be

bullfighter but was too scared. He lost most of his family at the hands of the Fascists

and cries when he talks about them. Joaquín buys into the Republicans' propaganda

but turns back to religion at the moment of his death.

General Golz 

The Russian general, allied with the Republicans, who assigns Robert Jordan the

bridge-blowing mission. Robert Jordan says that Golz is the best general he has served.

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Kashkin 

He is  Russian guerrilla operative who once worked with Pablo's band to blow up

a train. Although Kashkin never appears in the novel.Unlike Robert Jordan, Kashkin

was openly nervous and was mentioned by Pilar and othe guerilla members as

someone who was with them in the mission in the train.

 Karkov 

He is Jordan's friend in Madrid. Karkov, the most intelligent man Robert Jordan

knows, teaches Robert Jordan about the harsh realities of wartime politics. He is a

Russian journalist. Hemingway became a war correspondent too, he wanted to be in

the Army but he was not allowed because of his eye sight.

 Captain Rogelio Gomez 

He is a former barber and now commander of the battalion that Andres first

reaches after crossing the Republican lines.

Lieutenant-Colonel Miranda 

He is   a Republican staff office brigade commander.

 Andre Marty 

He is the French Commissar of the International Brigades, the troops of foreign

volunteers who serve on the Republican side in the war.

 Lieutenant Paco Berrendo 

He is a Fascist officer who orders the beheading of El Sordo's men.

 

Captain Moro

He is the overconfident Fascist commander in charge of taking El Sordo's hill.

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Finito de Palencia

He is Pilar's former lover, a bullfighter who died from complications from wounds

received in a bullfight. Finito, who appears in the novel only in Pilar's flashbacks,

exemplifies the courage of Hemingway's code hero and Hemingway's deep respect for

the bullfighting profession. 

The novel is told primarily through the thoughts and experiences of Robert

Jordan, a character inspired by Hemingway's own experiences in the Spanish Civil War.

Robert Jordan is an American who travels to Spain to oppose the fascist forces of

Generalísimo Francisco Franco. Robert Jordan has the mission to blow a bridge, and to

overthrow the fascist rule. The Republican commander has assigned Robert Jordan the

dangerous and difficult task of blowing up a Fascist-controlled bridge as part of a larger

Republican offensive.While behind enemy lines with a band of disillusioned Republican

guerrillas, Robert Jordan meets María, a young Spanish native whose life has been

shattered by the outbreak of the war.

Robert Jordan's strong sense of duty clashes with both Republican leader

Pablo's unwillingness to commit to a covert operation. Jordan experiences inner conflict

as to whether he will perform his duty or pursue personal happiness. In the end, Robert

Jordan contemplates suicide but resolves to stay alive to hold off the Fascists.

The novel is written in the third person limited omniscient narrative mode. It was

told from the view point of Robert Jordan. In the last part of the novel, the plot is split

into two parallel actions: the preparations for the attack and the course of Andres, who

must take a message across the lines to a Republican general. While not an unusual

narrative technique, it is a departure for Hemingway who, in his earlier works, preferred

to maintain sharp focus on his protagonist. The Hemingway code hero is greatly seen in

his characters specifically in Robert Jordan the protagonist in the novel.

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In all, the novel is a good novel to read. A novel that would make you feel what is

beyond the lines that you are reading. A novel that at first talks about war, explosives,

war strategies, political stance but in the end it is a humanizing novel that makes you

realize the things that you have not realized before. It is also a good proof that in war

there is no winner or loser, it is just a matter of beliefs clashing and in the ends lives

were sacrificed and ruined. It is just a matter of whose side you are in but somehow you

share the same experiences and cruelties.

References:

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia

A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. Wilfred Guerin et.al.Oxford University

Press 4th edition

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway

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