In Ernest Hemingways novel, For Whom The Bells Tolls, he develops each character and his attitude towards death in the environment of the Spanish Civil War. First this can be seen through Pablo. He is intensely loyal to his band of guerrillas, however his dedication to the Republic has declined from his greatness at the massacre in his hometown. He takes extraordinary steps to protect those for whom he cares, but he does not value other peoples lives. Second, Anselmo detests the killing of fellow men. However, he knows that he is in a war and he has faith in the cause, so he forces himself to kill, hoping to make penance later on.
Third, Lieutenant Berrendo Feels strongly that human lives should not be played with. As a commander of other men, he knows he must risk their lives, but not unnecessarily so. The first impression of Pablo is seen through his reaction to Jordans mission. He says in response to Jordan, If it is in this territory it is my business. You cannot blow bridges close to where you live. You must live in one place and operate in another. I know my business. One who is alive now, after a year, knows his business. He is a survivor, and his words show how he is reluctant to have anyone else interfere ith the life that he has built for his band.
However, many such as Agustn and Pilar feel that he is but a shadow of his former self. Pilar tells the story of Pablos first uprising against the fascists. It is a bloody story of Pablos capacity for homicide and viciousness. It shows the greatness of Pablo as a leader and how terrible were the acts he committed. Now he is content to stay where he is and has not made an attack since the train with Kashkin. For most of the three days, Pablo was against the attack because he felt that it was doomed to failure. In desperation, a moment of weakness, Pablo stole Jordans xploder and detonators.
This was an attempt to discourage Jordan from blowing the bridge. Without the equipment or enough men, maybe he would not try it. Pablo did return though, with more horses and more men from other bands. The final telling act of Pablo occurred before he returned from the mill. Pablo shot all of the men who he had brought so that his people would have enough horses. He explained, I have to look after thy interest and that of the band. This is war. One cannot do what one To Pablo, the war is as much a matter of self-preservation as fighting for the Republic.
He continually balances both sides, but always emembers his people. It is most interesting to contrast Pablos value of life in different situations. He always survives. After his fight with Pablo, Agustn tells Jordan, it is not for nothing that he is alive and comfortable in these hills and able to drink himself to death while there are so many others that have died against a wall… If he were not of great ability he would have died last night. It seems to me you do not understand politics, Ingls, nor guerilla warfare.
In politics and this other the first thing is to continue to exist. Look how he continues to exist last night. And the quantity of dung he ate oth from me and from thee. Pablo puts the lives of those he cares for above all else, above the enemy, the Republic, and above fellow men. Anselmo has a very different view on life and on death. He is an old man, almost sixty-eight years old, who is afraid of no one… I am an old man who will live until I die. As he and Jordan walk to look at the bridge, they have a long discussion in the security of darkness about killing.
Anselmo is an avid hunter, which he demonstrates by telling the story of the bear he killed with pride, but he knows there is a great difference between killing men and killing bears. Yet you ave killed, Jordan tells him. Yes. And will again. But if I live later, I will try to live in such a way, doing no harm to anyone, that it will be forgiven. Those two lines of Anselmos clearly outline how he will act through the story, with a willingness to accomplish what must be done accompanied by reservations as to the morality of his actions. On top of this, he is struggling with the concept of religion in war.
He cannot reconcile all that he has seen in war with the faith that he had held in a benevolent God. This is part of the reason why Anselmo is so set against killing fellow men. Later, while he is aiting for someone to come to the post, refusing to leave until someone does, he looks down on the soldiers at the mill and thinks, Those men are not fascists. I call them so, but they are not. They are poor men as we are. He believes wholly in the cause that he is fighting for. He dreams of a future peace in a new Republic, That we should win this war and shoot nobody…
And that those who have fought against us should be educated to see their error. The next key moment for Anselmo in these three days takes place as he learns of the deaths of El Sordo and his men. For the first time since the beginning of the war he prays, howing how it is still important to him even in the midst of war. Help me, O Lord, he prays, to comport myself as a man tomorrow in the day of battle. Since I have asked this aid of thee, please grant it, knowing I would not ask it if it were not serious, and I will ask nothing more of thee again.
Anselmo comes to accept the fact that he may not survive the war, but he will feel satisfied if he can finish blowing the bridge. If I am able to endure the battle, then I will have done all that an old man may do in this war. Finally, as he is waiting for Jordan to finish laying the dynamite on the bridge, he ontemplates his life and the battle and is content. That is over, he told himself, and thou canst try to atone for it as for the others. But now thou has what thou asked for last night coming home across the hills. Thou art in battle and thou hast no problem.
If I die on this Lieutenant Berrendo takes still a third view of death. He is only seen in one short scene at El Sordos final stand, but much of his character can still be learned. While Lt. Berrendo is speaking with Captain Mora, Captain Mora says They are all dead, dont you hear me say they are all dead? Then Lt. Berrendo says You mean our comrades on the slope? This shows Lt. Berrendos devotion to his own men. He is saddened by the deaths of his comrades and his good friend Julian. Lt. Berrendo is angered by the superfluous killing of soldiers.
Captain Mora could easily have waited for the planes to come yet he sent the men to advance on El Sordo. He feels sorry for the deaths of these people because he is such a devout Catholic. As they crouched now behind the boulder watching the captain and listening to what he was shouting, they both disassociated themselves from him and what he was saying. They did not want to have that sort of talk on their consciences on a day in hich they might die. This shows how religious Berrendo is. He does not want to die on bad terms. If Lt.
Berrrendo is going to die, he does not want to die having all of these casualties on his conscience. Similarly to Anselmo, Lt. Berrendo will die for the cause if he must, but would rather not. I will go if you order me to. But under protest. If he was ordered to carry out an order he would but would not have wanted to because he does not believe in unnecessary killing of people. He values human life greatly and has a compassionate soul. [Joaquin] had known nothing and had no feeling since he had suddenly een in the very heart of the thunder and the breath had been wrenched from his body when the one bomb struck so close and Lt.
Berrendo made the sign of the cross and then shot him in the back of the head, as quickly and as gently, if such an abrupt movement can be gentle, as Sordo had shot the wounded horse. Lt. Berrendo felt bad about killing Joaquin but knew that it was the humane thing to do. Hemingways characters on both sides of the war live with the constant specter of death. It is an inevitability, with which all must deal with, but each has his or her own method of dealing with and accepting that fact.