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You\'ll find a great deal to think about in Chapter 13. The
relationship of Jordan and Maria is intensified. Jordan entertains
even more serious doubts and recriminations about his activities in
Spain and begins to change his opinion of what is most important to
him. You also learn a good bit more about his background, which has
been presented sketchily so far.
Jordan and Maria\'s lovemaking was an intense experience- both say
they felt the earth move. Maria confesses that she \"died.\" Robert
Jordan says he almost did.
Jordan now realizes how special Maria is to him. He admits that he
has made love before, but the earth did not move. There is magic in
her body, he says.
Shortly afterwards, as they\'re walking back to meet Pilar, he begins
planning the bridge operation. And suddenly he suffers from another
wave of guilt and uncertainty about what he\'s going to do. These
periods are coming more frequently now.
Jordan reflects ironically that he is about to do the kind of
thing he is supposed to be fighting against, trying to prevent: he
is about to use and at the same time destroy people. Why? He has to do
this to help his side win the war. And why does he want his side to
win? So that people don\'t get used and destroyed!
Yet, blowing up the bridge will not guarantee a successful end to
the war, and it will certainly not help the people. So \"should a man
carry out impossible orders knowing what they lead to\"?
Jordan\'s answer is yes. Yes, you must, because you won\'t know
whether the orders are impossible (or harmful) until after you\'ve
executed the mission. Is Robert Jordan indulging in another instance
of \"Act now, think later\"?
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NOTE: PERSONAL INTEGRITY VS. FOLLOWING ORDERS Although Jordan\'s
orders come from General Golz, he wouldn\'t be court-martialed and
ruined if he didn\'t carry them out; he\'s a skilled foreign
volunteer, not a drafted recruit. But what do you think that someone
in military or government service should do who believes that the
orders from above are not only futile but harmful- perhaps even
monstrously inhumane?
Can a person escape moral responsibility simply by saying, \"I was
following orders\"? Are the personal consequences of not following
orders (loss of job, ruination of career, imprisonment, perhaps even
death) a valid consideration? Many high-ranking Nazis used
\"following orders\" as a defense of their personal involvement in
horrendous crimes during World War II.
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Thoughts involving several of the novel\'s themes occupy Robert
Jordan\'s mind now. He reflects that his presence brings danger to
the people of the region. They\'ll be hunted down because of him.
But, he rationalizes, if he weren\'t there, they\'d be hunted down for
some other reason anyway. So the war is futile, but it\'s still
necessary to fight on.
He admits to himself that he has no particular politics now. This is
amazing. A short while ago, he was saying that if this war (for
people\'s rights) were lost, everything would be lost.
What\'s made the difference? Have his political views simply
vanished, leaving a complete void? Not quite. Maria has come to fill
the void.
He wants to spend the rest of his life with her. Consequently,
he\'s no longer quite so enthusiastic about dying a hero\'s death as did
the Greeks at Thermopylae, or holding out, like Horatius or the
Dutch boy of legend, against almost insurmountable odds. Instead, he
dreams of life with Maria as his wife back in the United States.
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NOTE: Thermopylae was the name of the narrow mountain pass where the
Greeks under the Spartan king Leonidas made a stand in 480 B.C.
against invading Persians.
Horatius was a legendary Roman hero celebrated for his defense of
a bridge across the Tiber against the Etruscans.
\"The Dutch boy\" is the hero of the tale that pictures him
undertaking a night-long ordeal of plugging a small hole in a dike
with his finger to prevent the hole from enlarging and causing the
eventual collapse of the dike.
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This section finally gives us answers to a few questions you\'ve
probably had about the background of Robert Jordan. He\'s a professor
of Spanish at the University of Montana and has taken a leave of
absence in 1937. He had spent much time in Spain during previous
summers, doing civil engineering work, in the course of which he
learned the science of demolition.
Now Jordan\'s thoughts occur rapid-fire. He realizes that bringing
Maria home to the United States as his wife is a highly unlikely
eventuality. But what he does have is now.
Is he being cheated if all he has is now? He tries hard to
convince himself that a short time packed full of intense
experiences could be the equivalent of living out a long life. And
then he says that all such thoughts are nonsense.
Hemingway presents quite a picture of Robert Jordan: as a college
professor, as a trained guerrilla and demolition expert, as an avid
lover... and as a man who is very confused about the meaning of
everything.
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NOTE: Many readers have criticized Robert Jordan for being
muddleheaded about his politics, saying that he hasn\'t learned
enough about the issues to warrant leaving his university life to join
the guerrilla band. According to these readers, he also makes many
contradictory statements concerning his political philosophy, at one
point saying he is merely an antifascist, at another point claiming to
have no politics. Some readers defend Jordan, however, indicating that
he is typical of many who supported the Republicans. Such people
displayed much courage but often did not have a clearheaded
intellectual understanding of the issues. As you read For Whom the
Bell Tolls you\'ll want to consider whether Jordan is a contradictory
person or whether his political beliefs are less important to his
makeup than his heartfelt zeal.
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Jordan and Maria find Pilar feigning sleep when they come back.
Pilar seems to find vicarious satisfaction in learning (through
insistent questioning) that the lovemaking was quite an experience for
both Jordan and Maria.
Looking at the sky, Pilar predicts snow, even though it\'s late
May. A snowfall could be disastrous for the guerrillas. Making a
safe retreat after blowing up the bridge would then probably be more
difficult than the demolition itself. If the snow-covered ground
betrays their retreating tracks...
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