Book Review: "For Whom the Bell Tolls"

Contrary to the John Donne sonnet from which its title was taken, the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls reflects not the common adage for which the poem was famous - “No man is an island” - but it instead speaks of the total isolation that man faces in the midst of war.

The poem that Hemingway references aligns with the novel’s themes in that it echoes the universal tragedy that occurs after a loss of a life. There is a common sadness, a common grief that is to be shared when even one individual suffers death and pain. But interestingly, instead of badgering the readers with platitudes about the horrors of war, Hemingway also pulls at the tension between the tragedy of war and its necessity. His tone remains one of neutrality: it is horrible, it wounds and hurts men, bringing out the worst in them; yet it is necessary for them to fight.

There is a kind of putting away of self in taking up a cause, a forgetting of one’s own interests for the sake and advancement of that cause. “[War] gave you a part in something that you could believe in wholly and completely and in which you felt an absolute brotherhood with the others who were engaged in it. It was something that you had never known before but that you had experienced now and you gave such importance to it and the reasons for it that your own death seemed of complete unimportance only a thin to be avoided because it would interfere with the performance of your duty.” As much as crises bring out the worst in men, it gave them reason and opportunity to rally behind something, to throw their entire energies into that purpose.

But it would be wise to remember that this line is part of Robert Jordan’s thought processes, one of his many veering thoughts that attempt to rationalise and make sense of the circumstances he’s in. The notion that crises brings about an “absolute brotherhood” is uncomfortably questioned. Jordan is the only American in the small band of guerrillas that has been tasked to bomb the bridge. While he seems to make connections with the group, at the end as it was at the beginning, he is alone. The refrain “His mind was very good company” which occurs throughout the book points to his solitude.

The book’s blurb according to my edition (Arrow Books, 1994) advertises the story as a romance, highlighting the relationship between Jordan and Maria. But after reading it, I was not much compelled by Robert Jordan and Maria’s relationship. It was beautiful in some sense, but it did not have the emotional weight I expected it to have based on the blurb.

Jordan’s soliloquys in trying to drown out his self-interest and trying to concoct some semblance of rationality in the war were I think the thrust of the book. And it culminates in the actual execution of the bomb operation. It was duly suspenseful and thrilling, which makes slugging through the first 200 pages worthwhile. But what was interesting was how although the operation itself needed to be orchestrated harmoniously by a few key players, the mission played out in silos. There were many instances of the aloneness of the individuals in war: the lone messenger delivering the message to the General, the guerrilla member Pablo betraying and sabotaging the operation, Robert Jordan having to coldly calculate and dissect each person’s loyalties and capabilities.

Even when they are supposedly on the same side, people are still moving in their own orbits instead of really moving towards one common direction. Thus ironically, for a book whose opening poem was a bold declaration that “no man is an island”, the novel also rings aloud with the isolation in which men insulate themselves during times of crises.