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For Whom the Bell Tolls (平装)
by Ernest Hemingway
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Fiction |
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| MSL Pointer Review:
Full of poetic beauty and insightful symbolism, this novel appeals with two of the author's recurring obsessions: war and personal honor. |
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AllReviews |
1 2   | Total 2 pages 11 items |
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Donald Adams (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
This is the best book Ernest Hemingway has written, the fullest, the deepest, the truest. It will, I think, be one of the major novels in American literature. |
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An America reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
For Whom the Bell Tolls was the first Hemingway I ever read. I was a high school kid in the early 2000's, working on my campus newspaper, newly graduated from Jack London but not yet ready for Jack Kerouac.
To my young eyes, it was a good action story: Robert Jordan, the passionate American teacher joins a band of armed gypsies in the Spanish Civil War. He believes one man can make a difference. The whole novel covers just 68 hours, during which Jordan must find a way to blow up a key bridge behind enemy lines. In that short time, Jordan also falls in love with Maria, a beautiful Spanish woman who has been raped by enemy soldiers. The whole spectrum of literature was refracted through the prism of my youth: Good guys and bad guys, sex and blood, life and death. For me, just a boy, the journey from abstraction to clarity was only just beginning.
Re-reading For Whom the Bell Tolls at 18 (roughly the age Hemingway was when he published it), I have lost my ability to see things clearly in black and white. My vision is blurred by irony, as I note that two enemies, the moral killer Anselmo and the sympathetic fascist Lieutenant Berrendo, utter the very same prayer. For the first time, I see that the book opens with Robert Jordan lying on the "pine-needled floor of the forest" and closes as he feels his heart pounding against the "pine needle floor of the forest"; Jordan ends as he begins, perhaps having never really moved. I certainly could never have seen at 16 how dying well might be more consequential than living well. And somehow the light has changed in the past 1 year, so that I now truly understand how the earth can move. |
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Dominique (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
"Flat on the brown, pine-needled floor of the forest, his chin on his folded arms, and high overhead the wind blew in the tops of the pine trees." This is very typical Ernest Hemmingway diction in his book, For Whom the Bell Tolls. He always manages to use very descriptive imagery in his writing. In this book, Hemmingway tells a story of group conflict and romance.
In this novel, Hemmingway tells the story of a man named Robert Jordan and his life as a guerilla soldier in the mountains of Spain in the year of 1937. In his journeys, Robert Jordan is allied with another soldier, Pablo, his lady, Pilar, and a girl named Maria. Robert Jordan is sent to these mountains on a mission to blow up a bridge. In his time with his these people, Jordan deals with conflict within the group and his growing interest with Maria.
Ernest Hemmingway is very effective in telling the struggles of Robert Jordan when he is trying to blow up the bridge, and the romance he has with Maria. Hemmingway's descriptions of the bridge and the mountains of Spain creates a crystal clear image of the setting Robert Jordan is in. "The mountainside sloped gently where he lay; but below it was steep and he could see the dark of the oiled road winding through the pass."
Hemmingway's character description in this novel is terrific. Each character is described with vivid details of their personality and physical characteristics. When talking about Robert Jordan, Hemmingway says, "The young man, who was tall and thin, with sun-streaked fair hair, and a wind- and sun-burned face, who wore the sun-faded flannel shirt, a pair of peasant's trousers and rope-soled shoes.." Hemmingway provides each character with their own individual description and background in this book.
The plot of this novel is one of courage, loyalty, and romance. Hemmingway tells about an American man in an International Brigade who shows bravery in his mission to blow up a bridge. Hemmingway also describes his loyalty to his comrades in his time in the mountains. Most of all, Hemmingway tells of Jordan's growing love of the girl Maria. "Her teeth were white in her brown face and her skin and her eyes were the same golden tawny brown. She had high cheekbones, merry eyes, and a straight mouth with full lips. Her hair was the golden brown of a grain field.."
Ernest Hemmingway uses wonderful diction throughout the entire novel. Hemmingway uses Spanish words and phrases often in this book such as, "Hola", "Salud", and "Dentro de la gravedad". All of these examples give more detail to the characters, and the Spanish culture as well.
Hemmingway also uses imagery very well in this novel, always trying to give you the best mental picture possible of the situation. "..and the four knelt, looking very awkward with their heads against the wall and their hands by their sides, and Pablo passed behind them and shot each in turn in the back of the head with the pistol, going from one to another and putting the barrel of the pistol against the back of their heads, each man slipping down as he fired."
For Whom the Bell Tolls is a fairly easy-reading book and tells a very good story. This is a perfect example of Ernest Hemmingway at his best. He delivers a great account of one man's adventures in the civil war of Spain, while tying in romance and the brutality of war along with it. |
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Brent Wiqen (MSL quote) , USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
Hemingway's story of Robert Jordan, an American college instructor
fighting for the Spanish republic, is a beautiful story of desperate love and the death of an ideal.
Robert Jordan has been assigned the task of blowing up a bridge behind Fascist lines in support of a Republican offensive. He is sent to a guerrilla camp in the mountains behind the lines, where he meets those who are to help him with this task. He also meets and falls in love with Maria, a young Spanish woman who was brutalized by the fascists, and rescued by the band in a previous raid.
Hemingway details the nature of the war in the way that only he can, using his stark prose to depict the decay of the idealism that characterized the beginning of the Spanish Republic. This is particularly evident in the character named Pablo, a once-fervent fighter for the Republic who has lost hope in the cause and just wants to be left alone in the hills. Each character has his own idea of the Republic and why they are fighting, which is as truthful a depiction of the Republican cause as could be hoped for.
There were three parts of this book which really stood out for me. The first was Pilar's account of the execution of the fascists in her village. Pablo's ruthlessness, along with the growing terror of the people who go from reluctant participants to bloodthirsty mob, is terrifying in its escalation and horrible finish. Second is the final stand of El Sordo, who accepts his fate, but draws a little pleasure and satisfaction in his efforts. Third is the final battle in Chapter forty-three. Hemingway doesn't overdramatize things, he realizes that things are dramatic enough, and the straight-forward presentation of the battle as things go well and then get worse carries much more impact as a result. The stark, straight- forward writing makes these events come to life as tragic circumstances not only for the dead, but for those who survive as well.
I would suggest that any reader do a little research into the Spanish Civil War before reading this book, as a little knowledge of the circumstances and people of the war (like Marty and La Pasionaria) will enrich the story immensely.
This book is very compelling reading, as Robert Jordan struggles with love and duty, while both fearing and accepting his dangerous assignment. In the abstract, this book is about the death of the ideal in Spain, the corruption and dissent which led to the demise of the Republic. Hemingway conveys these ideas in a way that only Hemingway can, weaving a fabric of sadness and beauty amid hopeless circumstances. |
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
For Whom the Bell Tolls, written by the well respected and one of the greatest authors of all times, Earnest Hemingway, is based on Hemingway's experience in the Spanish Civil War during 1937, when he went to cover it for the North American Newspaper Alliance. He has written many other spectacularly historic books like The Sun Also Rises, Farewell to Arms, and numerous other accounts of his real adventures covering other major historic events in American history. Hemingway's characteristic laconic, terse and fluid prose and dialogue shine radiantly throughout this book giving off his unique style of writing. There are layers and layers of emotion, passion, and personal pain. You are transported to the mountains of Spain with Jordan and a band of Spanish guerilla fighters. His description of the characters is so incredibly real, that the reader feels as though you could find their names in a history book.
For Whom the Bell Tolls begins and ends in a pine-scented forest, somewhere in Spain all in sixty-eight hour period, in which he meets up with the guerilla group, falls in love with a Spanish girl named Maria, and blows up a key bridge behind enemy lines. The year is 1937 and the Spanish Civil War is in full swing. Robert Jordan, a demolition expert attached to the International Brigades lies "flat on the brown, pine- needled floor of the forest, his chin on his folded arms, and high overhead the wind blew in the tops of the pine trees." (1) The sylvan setting, however, is at sharp odds with the reason Jordan is there: he has come to blow up a bridge on behalf of the antifascist guerrilla forces. He hopes he'll be able to rely on their local leader, Pablo, to help carry out the mission, but upon meeting him, Jordan has his doubts: "I don't like that sadness, he thought. That sadness is bad. That's the sadness they get before they quit or before they betray. That is the sadness that comes before the sell-out." (85) For Pablo, it seems, has had enough of the war. He has amassed for himself a small herd of horses and wants only to stay quietly in the hills and attract as little attention as possible. Jordan's arrival - and his mission - have seriously alarmed him. Hemingway touches on, among other things, love, loyalty, sacrifice for the greater good, rape, suicide, altruism, and social injustice.
For Whom the Bell Tolls is an excellent book, which breaks down the tragedies of war and the emotional struggles that come along with it. Hemingway is definitely the best author of his era, with a different approach to a story idea. The reading makes it hard to go through the book, but the story line keeps the reader connected with the book. I enjoyed Hemingway's unique style and hope to read more of his books with pleasure.
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Kevin (MSL quote), Taiwan
<2007-01-04 00:00>
Remarkable. This is truthful and captivating tale of the Spanish Civil War (The republic against fascists) Hemingway, chose to center the story around a guerrilla group fighting behind enemy lines, as well an American dynamiter, Robert Jordan, who joins forces to take up a mission that may cost their lives. The story is set up straight away as Robert Jordan is introduced to each of the members of the small guerilla band (under 10 members), then the plot slows down a bit when the initial planning of the mission is taking place.
Complications in this mission weave the plot: from a dreaded conspiracy and sell-out, to an unexpected romance. Robert Jordan is caught in many dilemmas, as he falls in love with a girl during his time with the guerrilla group, and now he faces the fear of dying and leaving someone that he loves behind. Jordan’s internal monologue in this book does wonders in his contemplation of what is right and wrong, and trying to figure out what is important: duty against love, the cause of the Republic against the lives of the partisans - the very people that he had become close friends with. I think all this builds up the suspense and the fear for what may become of the characters.
There are quick shifts between past and present in this long novel that actually only spans a mere three days. Flashbacks of Robert Jordan’s grandfather and father, tells us a lot about his character and the reason that he fights in this war. And stories of each of the characters past, brings us closer to understanding each of the band members.
The horrible story by the woman Pilar shows us that there is no such thing as who is the good side or who is the bad side in war; war itself is evil. The morality of war is also briefly discussed, along with an old man’s fears of taking the life of another. Then of course there is the general question that is on the minds of all the characters: When will this all end?
What I especially like about this book is its unique and brilliant dialogue. Hemingway directly translates Spanish into English, resulting in an awkward, but strangely realistic speech, providing fuel for the story’s atmosphere.
And all this leads to the explosive climax, with El Sordo’s last stand, the blowing of the bridge, and the attempt to escape. It is brilliantly descriptive, and has a well set-up plot that will make you pray for the characters to come out of it alive. The suspense is unbearable. This book is definitely a page-turner and perhaps one of Hemingway’s best works after The Sun Also Rises.
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
Evocative, tragic, brutal, bitter. Using the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s as his backdrop, Hemmingway critiques warfare from the political abstractions and distant generals to the individual lives it destroys, and renders all in frighteningly powerful detail with every crosscurrent coming to bear on each character in ways that are viscerally wrenching, complex and yet clear. Every shade of character and dynamic is captured as several dozen people act out a small part in a large conflict in the two-and-a-half days of a mission to blow a bridge.
Robert Jordan, an American in the volunteer brigades, arrives deep in the mountain wilderness of Spain with orders to recruit and employ the services of irregular militia hiding out there in the vicinity of a small bridge that will be key to an impending offensive. His task requires that he win the hearts and minds of these locals in order to secure their loyalty so that he might have an effective small force for carrying out his mission. But this group of people are of conflicting feelings and understandings about their place in the conflict and what it means to each of them. Some are wary and some callous, some dedicated to the fight and others only dedicated to themselves.
We have real people-Anselmo's natural and true goodness, Pilar and El Sordo's dedication, Pablo's treachery, Maria's repeated loss of innocence. We have the politics and forces behind it all-selfish and hollow, or abstracted until it's no longer human. And we have warfare-sudden death, alone in the mountains, alone with your last thoughts, with the smell of burning flesh, with your last blood running silently into the dirt.
Hemmingway spares us the simplistic narrative style of describing each character's feelings. Instead, he offers the scenes themselves with such insightful observation and flawlessly rendered detail that every one of the many conflicting shifts of allegiance happening in Pablo's scheming mind is writ in his every gesture and expression and telling silence. Neither the characters nor the narrator ever need discuss these in so many words. The tensions among the characters as they huddle in their cave hideout are a fascinating web of unexpected assessments of each other, shifts of power and influence, tactical and strategic wins and loses. Though never spoken of, the delicacy and danger of Jordan's human task is clear. As a contrast there is Maria, at first seeming too childish until we realize Jordan's love for her is love for lost innocence, and that she in turn-only seventeen-has every right to her emotional fragility and her desperation.
And then there is the war itself, and here again Hemmingway's powers of observation and prose composition startle. Every action bears on every other, and the individuals are placed firmly in context from the cave to the local mountains to the whole of Spain to the abstractions of global political movements. Without a syllable of pedantry the author draws the relationship between each detail of individual action and the whole of the conflict. And vice versa, with ideals or their absence making each person's motives a little different, and often making helpless puppets of them all.
There is very little in literature to compare with For Whom the Bell Tolls. It sees humanity at its very best and very worst simultaneously, and sees it directly in vivid, glimmering images and beautifully textured emotional nuance, without wordy narrative telling the reader what to think and when. The fact that Hemmingway yet controls our understanding with absolute ease and clarity is only half of the writer's art. His critique of warfare and its human toll, expressed in Jordan's arc of hope and tragedy and resignation, is as brutal as the fear and blood on the ground, and ultimately contemplates the interconnectedness of life and the sacrifices made to sustain it. "No man is an islande, intire unto itselfe... Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee." Among the finest literature we have. |
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Doug Anderson (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
This is a unique novel in the Hemingway collection, it has a plot. This is the longest of his novels though the easiest to describe. The Hemingway style is not as lean as in earlier works, one might even say it is pleasantly plump in comparison (as Papa himself was at the time of writing). I'll never forget my first reading of this book. One of those books you put down and just hold your breath with the memory of it all. This might best be described as Hemingway fare for non Hemingway fans. Though Hemingway fans like it too, but it will always be number three to them. The Sun Also Rises is perhaps one of the more difficult books to summarize and Hemingway's style is so new in it that the book created a buzz that has still not died down. What was not said in that first book left some feeling a bit famished. Others were intrigued by this new kind of writing that held its cards so close to its chest. In this book you get a more conventional novel of a novel though the events described in it are very powerfully told. (It is fun to see pictures of Hemingway as a reporter at this time. A world famous novelist in the field.) This book along with A Farewell to Arms prove no American knew better how to convey by written words that nasty busines of war better than Hemingway. Robert Jordan is one of the least talked about Hemingway characters ever. Perhaps because he is a character invented to serve a plot. You will love this book of fighting and love in the Spanish mountains. John Donne himself I think would have proudly read and enjoyed this. |
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Jesse Rouse (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
A number of previous reviewers have noted that this book is about the difference one man makes in the world. Unfortunately, I think a number of reviewers have missed what Hemingways is saying about the issue. He is not saying that one man makes all the difference in the world, or that one man is meaningless compared to the whole. What he is saying is that the world continues without him regardless of whether he changes the world or not. The title of this book, and its theme, comes from John Donne's 17th Meditation, which says that
"...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..."
Hemmingway masterfully tells the story of a man, Robert Jordan, who becomes involved with some Spanish gypsies on his mission to blow up a bridge to help his side win a war. He begins thinking that it does not matter whether he lives or not, as long as he accomplishes his goal. However, he falls in love with Maria, and suddenly wants to live. He takes great pains to make sure that he will be able to do his job and blow up the bridge. He finally does it. Then he dies in the escape. And the world continues on without him. Hemingway is trying to say what Donne was saying: life is not tied in the individual, though the individual may be important. The individual is a part of the collective whole. The issue is not whether the individual is valuable or not, but rather the issue is the individual's relation to the complex web of human existence. Perhaps the best illustration of this idea is in Hemingway's beginning and conclusion of the book. It begins with Robert Jordan lying in some pine needles planning his life. It ends with him lying in pine needles dead. The whole middle of the book simply details his part in the complex web of human existence.
Hemingway also explores the concept of war through Robert Jordan, who is fighting a war he does not need to be in. Robert begins to question why he is fighting and why the war is happening. Some have complained that Hemingway glorifies war. I do not disagree. I disagree when they say that it is wrong to glorify war. It is not at all wrong to glorify the Allies side of World War II, is it? It is wrong to glorify war for war's sake, but I'm not sure that Hemingway does that. He glorifies the willingness to lay one's life down for what one loves, not simply dying and killing meaninglessly (which makes his own suicide later in life rather ironic).
Whether you agree with Hemingway's thesis or not, it is very well written and very interesting to read. The characters are very real, and it is neat to see what Spanish gypsies were like in the early part of the 20th century. |
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Utah Blaine (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
This rich novel explores many fundamental human themes including love, duty, perseverance, and sacrifice. Like all great literary works, it transcends the era in which it was written and speaks to readers for generations after the author has passed away. This is a great novel by a great writer, and I can't understand how anyone would rate this less than five stars. The novel spans only a few days, and contains the story of Robert Jordan, a volunteer in Spain who is sent on mission to blow up a key bridge with a band of guerillas behind the Nationalist lines as part of a Republican offensive. The novel is primarily a dialogue between Jordan and the members of the guerilla band. The tension builds to the final confrontation at the bridge. There are several extensive sidebars not directly relevant to the main plot, including the discussion of the fate of Pilar's village, and the last stand of El Sordo's guerilla band. These are probably the best written, most detailed, sections of the novel. Some would say that these distract from the main story, but I argue that they add richness and depth to the characters and to the events of the main plot.
Hemingway writes with a direct, readable prose. His characters are complex and multi-dimensional, and often conflicted. One may argue as to whether this is his best work or not, or whether he was a better writer of short stories or novels. What does it matter? This is one of the greatest war novels, indeed one of the greatest novels, ever written. In terms of richness and depth, only Zola's La Debacle is comparable to this work.
One thing in particular struck me about this story that make it an unconventional war novel. Most war novels either take the philosophic position of patriotic glory for the homeland or war as a pointless exercise in destruction. Robert Jordan has a unique perspective in this book in that he is an outsider fighting for a cause, not for a country or a government. He isn't driven by patriotism, or love of country. He isn't fighting for the national army of his homeland. This gives him a unique perspective to question why he is fighting and what he is fighting for, particularly after he falls in love.
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