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FORM AND STRUCTURE (HFORFORM)
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For Whom the Bell Tolls is a finely crafted novel that builds to a
powerful climax. The novel covers approximately sixty-eight hours,
outlined as follows:
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first day late afternoon to midnight 6 to 8 hours
second day complete 24 hours
third day complete 24 hours
fourth day midnight to afternoon 15 to 17 hours
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The technique of flashback is used sparingly but effectively. The
most notable example is in Chapter 10, where Pilar describes the
brutality that Pablo inflicted on the leading men of a Nationalist
town his band had taken. Strictly speaking, this is indirect
flashback, since it comes through Pilar\'s narration, rather than
through a directly presented scene.
Other significant flashbacks include Jordan\'s painful recollection
in Chapter 30 of his father\'s suicide and Maria\'s moving account in
Chapter 31 of her abuse at the hands of Nationalist soldiers.
Hemingway heightens the suspense in the final chapters (33 to 43) by
devoting alternating chapters to two strands of the story line. The
odd-numbered chapters are devoted to Jordan at the scene of the
demolition. The even-numbered chapters (with the exception of 38)
feature Andres on his mission to find Golz and deliver Jordan\'s
dispatch.
The bridge, described masterfully as \"solid flung metal grace\" forms
the center of the novel. Few readers find the bridge itself to be
symbolic, but the entire action of the novel radiates from it- it is
the reason Jordan has come to the guerilla camp, it is important to
both sides at this point in the war, and the decision to blow it up is
a matter of intense controversy among the Republicans hiding in the
mountains. Virtually every movement in the novel is directed toward or
away from the bridge and is occasioned by the plan to blow it up.
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