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The three men arrive at the hideout. Rafael, a gypsy member of the
guerrilla band, is even less respectful of Pablo than is Anselmo.
But with Jordan, Rafael is friendly and good-natured, and Jordan
enlists his loyalty.
Jordan is the replacement for a previous demolition expert named
Kashkin, who died in a manner that Jordan knows but won\'t reveal.
Kashkin had been getting nervous about his work and speaking in a
way that was bad for morale. It makes you wonder if the tension-filled
job will eventually get to Jordan as well.
There are seven men and two women in the band Jordan will be working
with to blow up the bridge. One of the women is an attractive girl
named Maria, whom he meets as she serves the evening meal.
Throughout the meal, the girl and he stare at each other.
Previously, Jordan had told Golz that there was no time for girls when
one was working for the Republican cause. It looks as though Maria
could change his mind.
Is this section realistic? You could see it as evidence of how
firmly Jordan\'s relationship with Maria takes hold right from the
start. But some readers feel that Hemingway has painted Jordan too
much like a young man easily infatuated by a beautiful face and body.
Anselmo and Rafael prepare Jordan to meet the second woman in the
band, Pablo\'s mistress, Pilar. You learn from Anselmo and Rafael
that she is part gypsy, reads palms, has a vicious tongue, and is
generally crude- and also very protective of Maria. It was Pilar\'s
idea to take Maria with them when they left the scene of a Nationalist
train they had just dynamited. Maria had been a prisoner on the train.
Pilar lives up to her billing. In her first speech she uses some
salty language and gives the unmistakable impression of being in
charge. She hurls insults at both Rafael and Pablo.
She is neither pretty nor feminine, but, to Robert Jordan, she is
likable. Pilar exhibits qualities most people find admirable: she is
strong, honest, unpretentious. It is easy to know where she stands.
Pilar is anxious for Maria to be removed from the situation.
Pablo, she says, is beginning to desire the girl. But Jordan\'s
attraction to Maria, which Pilar has noticed, doesn\'t seem to stir any
resentment or misgivings in Pilar.
Pilar is definitely in charge of the guerrillas, in fact if not in
name. She and Jordan discuss the bridge operation. Although they\'re
counting on the assistance of El Sordo, a neighboring guerrilla
leader, additional good help may be hard to get. There will be no
money or loot from the bridge, as there was from the train they had
blown up. Instead, the operation will be dangerous and will make it
necessary to move from the mountain hideouts.
Pilar asks to look at Jordan\'s hand. Remember she is a gypsy; and
remember he has said he doesn\'t believe in the occult. Pilar sees
something in Jordan\'s hand that she obviously doesn\'t like. But she
won\'t tell what it is. And Jordan, the unbeliever who is \"only
curious,\" is frustrated at not knowing.
Notice the foreshadowing of doom that Hemingway suggests for
Robert Jordan: Pilar\'s reluctance to tell him what his palm has told
her and the revelation that Kashkin, Jordan\'s predecessor, is dead.
Jordan refuses to pay attention to these signs, but you can look at
them as Hemingway\'s hints that all will not go well for Jordan.
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