Hemmingway Essay Research Paper For Whom the free essay sample

Hemmingway Essay, Research Paper For Whom the Bell Tolls For Whom the Bell Tolls is a novel slackly based on Ernest Hemingway # 8217 ; s ain experiences in the Spanish Civil War in the 1930 # 8217 ; s. Before I delve into the book itself, I thought it would be best to give some background information on Ernest Hemingway and on the Spanish Civil war and the fortunes environing it. Hemingway was born July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois, and the second of six kids. His male parent, Clarence Hemingway, was a doctor and his female parent was a piously spiritual adult female with a endowment for music. When he was immature, Ernest acquired the moniker # 8220 ; title-holder, # 8221 ; which he relished and felt it showed his bully, hardheaded out-of-door sense of escapade. He had garnered his male parent # 8217 ; s passion for runing and fishing in the north forests of Michigan, a period of his childhood which left of import feelings subsequently reflected in several of his short narratives such as # 8220 ; Up in Michigan # 8221 ; and # 82 20 ; Big Two Hearted River. # 8221 ; In high school, Ernest edited the school newspaper, excelled in football and pugilism, and ran off from place twice. Upon his graduation, 17 twelvemonth old Hemingway headed to Kansas City to enlist in World War I, in straight-out rebelliousness of his parents expostulations. However the ground forces rejected Hemingway, despite his perennial attempts, due to lasting oculus harm incurred from his old ages of pugilism. Yielding eventually to the ground forces # 8217 ; s rejections, he added a twelvemonth to his age and was hired as a newsman for the Kansas City Star, a national newspaper. While working at the Star, Hemingway continued his attempts to take part in the war, and eventually succeeded when he joined a voluntary Red Cross ambulance unit as a driver. In 1918 he was really earnestly injured at Fossalta on the Piave River. Hemingway received 12 operations on his articulatio genus, an aluminium patella and two Italian Decorations. After a long period of painful conv alescence in Milan, Ernest Hemingway joined the Italian foot to contend once more. These graphic experiences provided the base for Hemingway # 8217 ; s womb-to-tomb captivation with war. Surviving World War I, he subsequently covered the Greek-Turkish War in 1920, World War II and the Spanish Civil War in 1937, the scene for For Whom the Bell Tolls. In 1928, Hemingway # 8217 ; s father committed self-destruction. He did non reflect on this event in his authorship until the ideas of Robert Jordan, the chief character in For Whom the Bell Tolls, in 1940. The Spanish Civil War ( 1936-1939 ) followed the failure of a military rebellion to subvert Spain # 8217 ; s democratically elective authorities. The war divided Spain both geographically and ideologically and it brought to power General Francisco Franco who ruled Spain from the terminal of the war until his decease in 1975. Following the Spanish American War ( 1898 ) , Spain lost the balance of its one time great imperium. This li cking greatly increased dissatisfaction and the demands for alteration grew. Peoples disagreed on the alterations needed, nevertheless and Spanish political relations became dominated by cabals. In 1936 the Republic was in power in Spain. A rebellion led by Francisco Franco and the Second Republic began and they received enormous sums of support from the people of Spain. They were known as the Rebels. Robert Jordan battles on the side of the Loyalists in this novel, as did many Americans and other foreign voluntaries, known as the International Brigades. Equally good as support from the people, the Second Republic had support from Germany and Italy. In the terminal these forces proved excessively much to manage for the weary Loyalists, and the war was lost to the Second Republic. For Whom the Bell Tolls is the narrative of Robert Jordan, an American college Spanish professor, contending for # 8220 ; the cause # 8221 ; with the stalwarts as an expert in destruction. It is written i n startlingly sharp, concise prose ( something which Hemingway was know for ) , and is meant to demo the horrors and inhuman treatment of war and the endurance which it requires. It is besides a love narrative. The fresh clears with a flashback of a conversation between Robert Jordan and General Golz, A Russian officer who is directing the extroverted onslaught. We learn that Jordan is transporting explosives and that his mission is to blow up a span. Golz is interested in the violative chiefly as a military manoeuvre and he needs Jordan to blow up a span to impede Rebel supports. He knows that Jordan will hold to enlist the aid of an antifascist guerilla unit in the mountains and he is misanthropic because he feels that the Spaniards will merely interfere. Ironically, this same cynicism is expressed when Jordan arrives at the guerilla # 8217 ; s hideaway in the mountains. Pablo, the guerilla leader, resents the fact that a alien has come to run the show for awhile. It puts Pablo i n an inferior place where he is no longer the spokesman of the group. Irony is a major subject in this novel and is illustrated often in the ideas and actions of its characters. Pablo is interested merely in the safety of himself and his set and Jordan # 8217 ; s military programs are of small importance to him. Anselmo is besides introduced in the first chapter. Anselmo is an of import character in that he is one of the few people that Robert Jordan trusts. He is an aged adult male, but wholly committed to the cause. He in bend topographic points his trust in Jordan. Robert Jordan has here-to-fore been shown as an first-class soldier. He is skilled in his work, dedicated, determined to transport out his orders, and he is willing to give himself and others for the good of the cause. However, in chapter 3, we see a inkling of bitterness come over his character when he comes to footings with the fact that the mode in which his mission is to be carried out is really irregular and so i s extremely unsafe. He begins to experience that possibly a cause International Relations and Security Network # 8217 ; t ever deserving giving people for but he brushes the thought aside, non desiring to # 8220 ; believe such ideas # 8221 ; ( p. 41 ) . In Chapter four, there is a confrontation between Jordan and Pablo and in it, Pablo announces that he doesn # 8217 ; t want to blow up the span. Pilar, Pablo # 8217 ; s married woman and one of the lone others that Jordan feels he can swear, sides with Jordan. Subsequently, the remainder of the set side with her, experiencing that Pablo has # 8220 ; gone bad # 8221 ; ( p. 56 ) . Pablo is homesick, tired of the war and scared of acquiring killed, by his ain work forces and at the conflict of the span. Jordan wrestles with the thought of whether or non he should hold killed Pablo in the confrontation but is reassured by Pilar that he was right non to. In malice of all efforts to keep a coldly professional attitude toward his wor k and to stay degage from any emotional engagement, Robert Jordan finds himself falling in love with Maria. Jordan # 8217 ; s Battle within himself has now passed the beginning stage. He talks to Pilar about his sense of duty but he acknowledges the fact that he cares very much for Maria. It begins to become obvious to all the characters that their enemy is better organized, has more support, is better equipped, and really cannot be defeated. It is becoming less obvious to them that the cause is worth all of their lives and the lives of others like them. Chapter 10 was the most impressive narration I have ever read. It serves the purpose of displaying how, in war, the â€Å"good guys† can be just as cruel as the â€Å"bad guys.† Hemingway, in masterful style, recounts the executions of several members of the Second Republic. â€Å"There were more than twenty (fascists). But none was shot† â€Å"What was done?† â€Å"Pablo had them all beaten to death with flails and thrown from the top of the cliff into the river.† â€Å"?in all my life never do I wish to see a scene such as the flailing to death in the plaza on the top of the cliff above the river.† â€Å"The fascists were all held in the Ayuntamiento, the city hall?† â€Å"There was a great crowd outside and there was some levity outside and some shouting of obscenities, but most of the people were very serious and respectful.† â€Å"? most had flails? and those who did not have flails had heavy herdsman’s clubs, and some had wooden pitchforks? Some had sickles and reaping hooks but these Pablo placed at far end where the lines reached the edge of the cliff.† (p.103-104) Pilar went on to describe the gruesome way in which the fascists were forced to run the gauntlet to the edge of the cliff, where they were then thrown off. Some of the men went screaming and crying, begging for mercy, some had to be dragged, near paralyzed with terror. It was absolutely the most heartbreaking, gut-wrenching thing I have ever read. I was as close to tears as I had ever been. The sympathy one feels for the fascists at this point is short lived though when, in chapter 11, the reader learns of the slaughter of Joaquin’s (part of Pablo’s band of guerrillas) family. It serves to acquaint the reader with the cruel practices of the fascists. In chapter 13 Jordan’s battle within himself has swollen massively. He wants to live out a normal life with Maria as his wife and he does not want to die for a cause. He argues bitterly with himself and he becomes disgusted with the politics of both sides. He admits to himself for the first time that he is in love with Maria, and his love has made him see things clearly. Here is another example of the theme of irony: he has finally met someone he truly loves and in less than four days he must blow up this bridge and probably die. The urgency of his desire for Maria shows his fear that they have little time left. That fear is shown again when Jordan wakes up one night and holds her tightly as if he were afraid of losing her. It soon comes to Robert Jordan’s attention that the plans for the attack have been leaked to the fascists. He sends a message to General Golz asking to call off the attack. Jordan’s longing to stay alive grows and, aware of this, he tries to make sure that the message he sends to Golz doesn’t sound like he wishes the attack to be called off for personal reasons. He entertains the idea that the offensive could be merely a diversionary tactic to draw enemy troops away from another front. If that were the case, then he had little hope that the attack would be canceled, for fascist knowledge of the attack would mean little to Golz. In chapter 30 we learn that Jordan’s father committed suicide- a shameful and cowardly act in Jordan’s mind. It is the first time Ernest Hemingway ever reflected on the suicide of his father in his writing. We learn that Maria’s father was the mayor of her town and that her mother was not a Republican, but was loyal to h er husband. Both were killed by a Falangist firing squad. We know also that Maria was a captive of a vicious group of fascists before she was rescued by Pablo’s band, and that she was raped repeatedly by her captors. The battle at the bridge has grown more and more hopeless up to this point (it has even snowed so that the fascists will be able to follow their tracks). Robert Jordan’s daydreams of taking Maria to vacation in Madrid are indicative of his little hope of surviving. Jordan awakes from his daydreams to Pilar shaking him. Quickly he returns to reality when he learns that Pablo has vanished, taking many of the explosives, and their means of escape, with him. He is terribly discouraged but assures Pilar that he can find another way to set of the explosives at the bridge. Jordan is furious with himself for forgetting that Pablo would only be friendly in order to betray him. He becomes furious with Spain and with both sides of the fight. He decides that they will be able to blow the bridge, but that they will die doing it, as Pablo and his horses were their only source of escape. Robert Jordan lay sleeping that night next to Maria: â€Å"He lay there holding her very lightly, feeling her breathe and feeling her heart beat, and keeping track of the time on his wrist watch.† Chapter 37 shows Jordan and Maria’s last intimate moments together. He feels as if he has spent his whole life at this cave, that the guerrillas are his brothers, and that Maria is his wife. The scene in the cave before the fight is one of nervous despair. The men are riddled with angst and are snapping at each other. Jordan’s plan which he had thought up the night before doesn’t seem like such a great one now that morning is near. The situation has become progressively worse. He doesn’t have enough men to overcome the enemy guard posts, and he has lost the equipment necessary to blow the bridge correctly. Suddenly, Pablo reappears, with additional men and horses in tow. Immediately things begin to look better and the task at hand doesn’t look quite so impossible. â€Å"Organized confusion,† (p 404) describes the pre-battle preparations. Jordan repeats several times that no one is to do anything until they hear the offensive begin. The time of the battle finally arrives. It is a bloody and complicated battle where the importance the individual is reintroduced. First, when Jordan looks at the sentry he must kill and sees him as a human being- a fact which makes him decide not to look at the man again until he has to. Then, when Anselmo cries over the fact that he just killed a sentry. Finally comes the ultimate irony of the novel. Robert Jordan has done everything he should have done and his mission has actually been successful. He is in the process of escaping with Maria and everyone else who is left alive, but he will die, not for the cause, but for the protection of Maria, for true love.