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In some ways, Chapter 4 is like the classic scene from a Western
movie where two men confront each other in a war of nerves that may
soon turn into a war of bullets.
The showdown between Pablo and Robert Jordan begins. It soon becomes
a matter of Pablo versus everyone else. At stake are two things:
demolition of the bridge and official leadership of the guerrilla
band. Hemingway builds the tension with mastery. Death for one of
the men looms as a real possibility.
In the end, Pablo loses on both accounts. After a moment so tense
that Jordan\'s hand is resting on his pistol, Pablo officially backs
down and relinquishes command to Pilar. The remaining guerrillas
endorse the demolition of the bridge, but only after Pilar approves of
it.
Notice that there is less than unanimous commitment among the
gypsies to the mission of destroying the bridge. Most would rather
blow up a train, which at least would result in material to loot.
One of them says that the bridge means nothing, that he is \"for the
mujer of Pablo,\" and others agree. The somewhat indifferent
attitudes of these men emphasize one of Hemingway\'s themes: that the
Spanish Civil War was fought in large part for the leaders of Spain
and of foreign countries, not for the people of Spain, who had the
most to lose. Here, Hemingway shows you a band of rebels doing their
best to get along, although not sure why they\'re fighting.
Hemingway also dwells on the relationship of the individual to
mankind and mysticism, both through Pilar. Pilar shows a devotion to
the cause similar to Jordan\'s with her statement, \"I am for the
Republic, and the Republic is the bridge.\" The personal consequences
of the demolition of the bridge, she claims, mean nothing to her.
Secondly she states, \"That which must pass, will pass.\" And upon
remembering what she saw when she read Jordan\'s hand, she becomes at
first momentarily enraged- and then extremely sad. The chapter
leaves us wondering what Pilar knows that we don\'t.
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