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THE CHARACTERS (HFORCHAR)
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MAJOR CHARACTERS
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ROBERT JORDAN
Robert Jordan is a man of action. In For Whom the Bell Tolls, he
undertakes a dangerous mission, even welcomes it. Like other Hemingway
heroes, he seems to understand that dying well can be even more
important than living well.
But unlike other Hemingway heroes, Jordan believes in an abstract
ideal, an ideology, a cause. This cause is \"government by the
people\" in the Spain that he loves. Jordan\'s liberal political views
have motivated him to leave the University of Montana where he teaches
Spanish, in order to fight with the Spanish Republicans, or Loyalists.
Whereas most liberal intellectuals were willing only to denounce in
words the rise of fascism in Spain, Jordan takes action in support
of his political beliefs.
Beyond that, Jordan is intelligent, clever, inventive, and decisive.
He can keep his composure in sticky situations. These qualities are
necessary for survival in his role in Spain of a demolition expert
behind enemy lines.
Jordan is unquestionably in charge, except in the arena of his own
mind. Here, he begins to question and reevaluate the very ideals
that brought him to Spain. This tormented individualist sways and
wavers, experiencing moments of painful honesty and moments of
self-deception. He sometimes feels caught between new values
emerging in his life and a duty he has committed himself to.
At the conclusion of Hemingway\'s story, dedication to an ideology is
not as important to Jordan as it was at the beginning. He begins to
see that his cause is tarnished, that perhaps every cause is
tarnished. He has changed from a believer in abstract ideas to a
believer in the importance of the individual person.
You might accept this change as both credible and authentic, or
you might question it on the grounds that it\'s motivated principally
by his rather swift and passionate love affair with Maria. You\'ll have
to decide whether Jordan is more genuine or less genuine at the
conclusion of the novel- or equally so, even though his principal
allegiance has changed.
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PABLO
Pablo, the leader of the guerrilla band, is one of Hemingway\'s
richest characters. In one sense he is quite entertaining, not only
because he is frequently comically drunk but also because his behavior
is full of surprises.
At one time, there had been an entirely different Pablo, who, like
Jordan, believed strongly in the Loyalist cause. But unlike Jordan,
that Pablo was capable of immense cruelty.
Now the guerrilla leader is disillusioned. The cause means little to
him. He\'s content simply to survive, hidden in the mountains, doing
almost nothing to aid the Loyalist forces. Given his horses and his
wine, he appears happy.
On the surface, he seems to have degenerated into an ineffective
force. But he cannot be discounted. In fact, his bitter
disillusionment makes him dangerous. He\'s capable now of
deliberately sabotaging the very operations he formerly supported
and led.
Yet something of the old Pablo remains. He may have lost his
motivation and the firmness of his allegiance, but he hasn\'t lost
his cleverness and expertise as a guerrilla soldier.
During the course of the story, Pablo doesn\'t actually change, as
Robert Jordan does. He vacillates. He is now one Pablo, now another- a
frustrating figure to Jordan, and probably to you, also.
But most of the time Pablo suffers from what we might call
burnout, exhaustion and apathy resulting usually from working too hard
at something. What\'s responsible for this disintegration of Pablo from
a terror-wielding firebrand to an often drunken excuse for a soldier?
Several possibilities exist. One is his dependence on wine. You
may see that as a defect of character or as a disease. Or it could
be that the responsibility of leading his band during wartime has
simply worn him down. Perhaps through lack of willpower he has allowed
fear to transform him into a spineless character. Maybe he has
simply become soft and spoiled by the relative luxuries of his
recently sheltered situation.
A particularly intriguing line of thought is that Pablo suffers from
guilt over the atrocities he engineered at the beginning of the war,
which Pilar describes in Chapter 10. Guilt can produce severe
depression leading to inactivity and even virtual paralysis. At one
point Pablo does express a sorrow for having killed and a kinship with
his victims, but it\'s uncertain whether this is Pablo or his red
wine speaking.
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PILAR
Pilar is Pablo\'s mistress and the real leader of the guerrilla band,
even though Pablo nominally holds the title at the beginning of the
novel. As with Pablo, there is more than one Pilar. But she is far
more predictable. In fact, you typically see only her tough side.
Whatever the situation, Pilar is always in charge.
She is duly respectful of Jordan\'s status with the movement and
his expertise as a demolition expert. But she is prepared to set him
straight when she feels it\'s needed.
She is a woman born into a male-oriented culture. Thus she is
domestic in many ways. She even trains Maria in some traditional
household and man-pleasing \"duties.\" At the same time, she can carry
heavy equipment, fire a machine gun, and command a group of
seasoned, male guerrilla soldiers.
She is rough and hardened, capable of crude speech and outrageous
insults. She dispenses them freely, particularly to Pablo. Anyone
who strikes her as acting stupidly is a target for her acid tongue.
Though physically ugly- by her own admission- Pilar has not lacked
for lovers. She recalls her former lover Finito with a nostalgic
fondness. She is affectionate with Maria, for whom she has genuine
feelings. And her strength diminishes at times- the roar of plane
engines overhead sends her into a shudder of fear.
True to her complex character, when Pablo returns from his brief
desertion, she insults, forgives, then admires him nearly all in the
same breath.
Unlike Pablo, throughout most of the story Pilar professes to be a
fervent believer in the Republican movement as an ideal. In that
respect she is like the Robert Jordan we see at the beginning of the
story. You might question how genuine this is or at least what
motivates Pilar. You might see her as truly convinced of Republican
ideals, even though she could not articulate them in the
intellectual manner that Jordan would. Another interpretation is
that she has simply found her niche in this turbulent wartime
situation and receives sufficient psychological reward to keep her
going from her role as behind-the-scenes controller of what is
nominally Pablo\'s band. It might even be argued that both the above
compensate for her recent lack of romantic and sexual fulfillment with
Pablo.
There is also a mystical streak in Pilar. Although full of common
sense, she is attuned to mysteries of the universe. She reads Jordan\'s
palm and probably sees his imminent death. She also graphically
recounts the smell of death that clung to the ill-fated Kashkin,
Jordan\'s predecessor.
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MARIA
Maria is a young Spanish woman who was rescued by Pablo\'s band
when they hijacked a Nationalist train. She has been with them
since. Maria is important in the story as a principal cause of
character development in Robert Jordan. But many readers feel that she
herself changes little and is a superficial character. One commentator
has said that even Jordan\'s fantasies of love affairs with screen
goddesses are more real than the portrait of Maria.
At their first meeting, she is strongly attracted to Jordan. She
exhibits an almost desperate need for the attentions of a man who will
care for her as a woman- but with respect and tenderness.
Crucial to this need is a nightmare of Maria\'s past: the brutal rape
she experienced at the hands of her Nationalist captors. Pilar has
afforded some healing with her philosophy that whatever Maria didn\'t
actually consent to did not, in a sense, happen- or at least did not
count. But Maria needs more than this.
You might question whether Maria\'s willingness to give herself so
quickly and completely to Jordan is believable in light of her
previous brutal treatment at the hands of men. After all, even
though Jordan fights for the Loyalists, as a person he\'s an unknown
quantity to her.
Finding Jordan both masculine and gentle, Maria becomes lovingly
subservient to a degree that some women readers find somewhat silly.
She talks almost in terms of worship. As you read the novel, you\'ll
have to decide whether Hemingway has portrayed Maria\'s relationship
with Jordan in believable terms.
At the close of the story, Maria and Jordan\'s relationship is, in
their own words, much deeper than simple attraction and need. Has
Maria herself changed- or been changed? Or has something good (a
sincere love affair) simply happened to her while she herself
remains much the same person?
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SELECTED MINOR CHARACTERS
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ANSELMO
Anselmo, the oldest member of the guerrilla band, never uses his age
as an excuse for shirking work for the Republican cause. There is
nothing half-hearted about his service. Above all, he exhibits
simplicity and integrity. Many readers feel that when Anselmo
speaks, it\'s worth listening to.
Anselmo is also a gentle, sensitive man who is able to see enemy
soldiers as men very much like himself. The killing involved in the
guerrilla band\'s operations causes him much pain. At heart he is a
deeply religious man.
Thus, even in a situation he did not devise or wish for, Anselmo
seems to be an example of an honest gentleman. His integrity
combined with the nominal atheism he must subscribe to on behalf of
the Republicans have gained him the epithet \"secular saint\" in some
critiques.
Yet it\'s possible to see him in another light. Given the depth of
his religious and ethical convictions, which become particularly
evident at the end of the novel, why hasn\'t he simply stood up and
said \"I will not serve\" a cause which exercises the killing and
brutality which he hates?
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GENERAL GOLZ
Golz is a Soviet military strategist who is in Spain to help the
Republican forces. But it\'s difficult to determine his personal
involvement in the cause. He devotes himself to his job, and he\'s
upset (as Jordan will be) at the incompetent manner in which the
Loyalists wage the war. He is resentful that amateurish bumbling and
pettiness prevent his strategic plans from being carried out as he has
ordered.
This could be explained by a sincere belief in his communist
ideology and a desire to see justice and self-determination granted to
the common people of Spain. It could also stem from a love of
playing professional war games and a desire for a sparkling military
record. Golz, after all, will not answer to the people of Spain. He
answers to superiors who will determine his career as a Soviet
officer.
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EL SORDO
El Sordo (\"The Deaf One\") is the leader of a neighboring guerrilla
band. He\'s an aggressive leader such as Pablo once was, although
perhaps without the cruelty. He\'s courageous, resourceful, and
dedicated to the Republic.
But he\'s also a realist: he has no illusions about the possibility
of Republican success in the civil war. In this respect, he can be
seen as the purest example of devotion to an ideal. He knows that
the cause for which he will die will fail. Yet he does more than he
has to on its behalf. He even gives Jordan (who is expected to
return to the luxury of the United States) a rare bottle of whiskey in
hospitable thanks for Jordan\'s aid toward the cause.
He can also be seen as a contradictory character. Although he does
not accept the collectivist slogans that promise victory or at least
glory through sustained effort, he fights with all his effort on
behalf of the force which generates them.
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KARKOV
Karkov is a Soviet journalist covering the Spanish Civil War from
his headquarters in Madrid. He seems to give allegiance to the
ideology of the Republic. Consequently, the bumbling and
indifference that he observes in many of its higher echelons disgust
and infuriate him.
He\'s similar to Golz in that it\'s difficult to determine how
personally he\'s involved in the cause. While on the surface he seems
genuine, he doesn\'t hesitate to avail himself of the relatively
extravagant luxuries at Gaylord\'s Hotel, the Soviet headquarters in
Madrid. In this manner, he could easily symbolize many who have thrown
themselves into the cause of the common, impoverished people- but
without truly wanting to share their general lot in life.
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JOAQUIN
Joaquin is a young, idealistic member of El Sordo\'s band. At the
time of the air attack on the guerrillas, Joaquin at first is a
vocal partisan of the communist cause. But as the attack begins and
the possibility of death looms, Joaquin returns to his Roman
Catholic roots and begins to pray fervently.
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ANDRES
Andres is a member of Pablo\'s band. He is sent by Jordan to
deliver the message to General Golz that the planned Republican
offensive has been anticipated by the enemy.
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