For Whom the Bell Tolls

For Whom the Bell Tolls is a novel that came out in 1940, written by Ernest Hemingway. The story is about a young American named Robert Jordan, who works as a dynamiter on his sabbatical away from college [where he works as a Spanish professor], in a Republican guerilla unit in the Spanish Civil War. His mission is to blow up a bridge. The novel is regarded as one of Hemingway's best works, along with The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, and The Old Man and the Sea. [Wiki]

However, the cast of characters that are suppose to be helping Robert Jordan with blowing up the bridge are untrained, unschooled rebels, with their own plans on whats to happen. It takes all of Jordan's skills to get them all to work together. He meets young Maria, who after three days and three nights becomes the love of his life. Pilar is an older woman who mocks Jordan, but ultimately ends up letting Maria end up loving him. Pablo is rebel with bad intentions but in the end pulls through for the team. Anselmo is the star of the novel other than Jordan. Anselmo is this older man who dies blowing up the bridge. 

The literary style here is highly stylized. This is one of the best novels I've ever read. The prose can be very simple. Sentences start off extremely short and simplistic. Later on, as the novel develops, the style gets more complex. Especially with the dialogue of the characters. At some point Hemingway ditches exposition for complete dialogue between the characters. What the characters say is quite simple but how they say it is where things get interesting. The characters speak Spanish and have a very formal and noble way of speaking [they say thou, thee, and thy when speaking]. That is until they start cursing. However, Hemingway never uses a single curse word throughout the novel. Rather, he has the characters saying things like, "I obscenity in the milk of thy mothers". Rather than say fuck, at one point at the end we have these endless sentences where the word muck is used over and over. Also at the end, there are endless sentences that describe the inner mind of Robert Jordan, knowing that he is probably going to die and that the three days and three nights he spent on the mountains with rebels were the best days of his life. This style has been endlessly copied because its so great. 

The novel touches on a couple themes. Death for one thing.  Camaraderie and sacrifice in the face of death is another. Suicide always looms in the backyard as a way out if they get trapped. There's also exploration of political ideology and the nature of bigotry. Divination appears as an alternative in perception. Pilar [Pablo's woman] is a reader of hands and more. She claims to know things that are superstitious. 

The imagery is powerful. The automatic weapon is a strong visual element. Hemingway uses the fear of modern weaponry to destroy the romantic notions of war. Likewise, the fascist planes bombing on the characters is a sign that all is lost. There's also the soil and the earth. Jordan and Maria have sex in a meadow and then afterwards he asks María, "Did thee feel the earth move?", to which she responds affirmatively. Variants of this phrase have become a cultural cliché, often used humorously. [Wiki]

Hemingway has become a symbol of macho male charisma in the literary world. He influenced generations of American writers. He helped create the great American voice in novels. In this novel it shows. The hardness of war is so strong here that I would argue that this novel is very tough-minded, not for the thin-skinned. This is a manly novel. Even the aspect of love is manly, for Jordan knows that his love was just a three day affair. The fact that he knows he is going to die is existential and philosophical. This book is heavy. 

At nearly 500 pages this book is long. However, the prose flows effortlessly because of well written prose and challenging characters. You'll find that the book reads itself in a way.

The book is named after a poem by metaphysical poet John Donne- Meditation XVII. Hemingway quotes a section of the poem at the end of the novel. Here it is below.

No man is an Island, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.