For whom the bell tolls

HISTORICITY AS ACCEPTABLE CASUALTY OF WAR ERNEST HEMINGWAY’S FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
If there is one thing Ernest Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” insist on, it is the solidarity of humanity against a common threat. The novel begins with a poem by 17th century Christian poet John Donne “No man is an Iland, intire of itself; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine…. And therefore, never send to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee”.⁶ With over 785,000 copies sold in the United States and another 100,000 copies sold in the United Kingdom by the end of 1943, For Whom the Bell Tolls not only bring forth the issue of The Spanish Civil War to the free world, it also promotes solidarity among mankind against the rise of fascism regardless of reader background. However, despite off From Whom the Bell Tolls’ commercial success and continued status as a postmodern classic, the novel is not without its critics when it comes to the issue of historicity and relevance to the modern reader. Harold Bloom states that among Ernest Hemingway’s many creations, only 15 of his short stories and the novel The Sun Also Rise transcends their time and exist as more than mere period pieces.⁷ Per Harold Bloom’s definition of “period piece”, “In a literary context, a period piece is not timeless in its aesthetic and intellectual value, but merely reflects a particular moment (or span) when an ideology or culture was dominant.” Therefore, under the context of the above definition, Bloom implies that in his opinion, For Whom the Bell Tolls’ aesthetic and intellectual value provides the modern reader with no insight into the human condition beyond that of The Spanish Civil War temporal space. Some critics such as Dwight Macdonald even attacks the novel’s historicity, accusing of Hemingway masquerading Stalinist propaganda as historical fiction.
Though dissecting the series of events faced by Robert Jordan in For Whom the Bell Tolls and fact checking them against historical records of the Spanish Civil War, this essay aims to dispute the historicity of the novel. Through an examination of the ethno-cultural makeup of the group the novel’s protagonist is embedded in, this essay suggests that Hemingway maybe presenting an unrealistic or idealised version of the Spanish society. Thereby this essay suggests the world constructed by Hemingway may not provide us with an accurate picture of the events and general sentiment during The Spanish Civil War. However, this essay also argues against
Harold Bloom’s classification of the novel as a mere period piece. This essay suggests that while the novel was set in the Spanish Civil War, the purveyance of elements such as solidarity against a common enemy, morality, vengeance, abeyance of the nature of truth in pursuit of victory enable this novel to transcend the time of The Spanish Civil War, thereby enabling the modern reader to reflect upon the plight that befalls their society regardless of the social-historical situation.
The novel is set in the Sierra de Guadarrama Mountain range along the centre of the Iberian Peninsula. For three days in May 1937, the protagonist Robert Jordan is embedded with a band of republican guerilla fighters. The communist has tasked Robert Jordan to demolish a bridge during a Republican offensive to prevent the Nationalists from retreating. Beginning from the setting of the novel itself it already proves to be problematic. Regarding the historicity of the novel’s setting, Castillo-Puche et al notes:
“There had been no guerrilla forces, either large groups or small isolated bands, operating in this sector during the war…. I had often questioned forest rangers, highway workers, peasants in little villages in the sierra, men who had fought on both sides during the war, and none of them could recall any situation even remotely similar to that in the novel…. Soldiers and officers of every rank had all agreed that there had been no such infiltration and sabotage by small bands of guerrillas”.⁸ While guerilla warfare did occur during The Spanish Civil War, it was often met with great opposition from the establishment. On 12 October 1936, Louis Fischer, a pro-communist American journalist for The Nation drafted a large-scale guerrilla warfare recommendation in a letter to Premier Francisco Largo Caballero. “I know some attempts have been made here. But this should be launched on a vast scale, and right now when the enemy is near”. Premier Largo Caballero rejected Fischer’s suggestion on grounds of insufficient cadres available to train up a guerrilla force and insufficient weapons and munitions to arm them. While Caballero’s explanation seems to be supported by the arms shortage situation described in George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia, Whaley argues that the real reason behind Caballero’s rejection can be mainly attributed to Caballero’s gross misconception about the effectiveness of guerrilla warfare when supplies and manpower are limited.⁹ Regardless of the underlying reasons behind Caballero’s decision, historical records seem to suggest For Whom the Bell Tolls’ setting of irregulars operating behind fascists lines at Sierra de Guadarrama may not necessarily be historically accurate.
A bridge sabotage operation like what is depicted in the novel did occur during the Spanish Civil War but it was a professional military operation under the leadership of General “Walter” (Karol Świerczewski) the XIV International Brigade consisting of French and Belgian volunteers during the Battle of Jarama on February 11 1940. Nationalist cavalry under the leadership of Barrón pursued the XIV International Brigade across the Arganda Bridge. While Republican forces did lay demolition charges under the Arganda Bridge to prevent the fascists from crossing, the demolition charges failed to destroy the Arganda bridge. Ultimately leading to Republican’s force being pushed back from the area and the Nationalists establishing a foothold on the opposite bridgehead, inflicting heavy casualties to both sides.
The Arganda Bridge served as a key supply route into Madrid, the battle fought there proved to be pivotal to the outcome of the war. Apoorva Bharadwaj claims that after the battle, Hemingway interviewed many of the survivors and visited the bridge in person. The Battle of Jarama serves as the basis of the bridge that Robert Jordan is tasked with demolishing in the novel. However, with the French and Belgian volunteers replaced by a cast of local Spaniards, the novel inadvertently diminishes the sacrifices made by the International Brigade during the battle.
The ethno-cultural makeup of the guerrilla fighters depicted in For Whom the Bell Tolls also proves to be suspect. Pablo, the former leader of the group is a horse merchant; Pilar - Pablo’s gypsy wife used to be a prostitute before becoming the acting leader following Robert Jordan’s arrival; Anselmo, Andres, Agustin are Castilian peasants under Pablo and Pilar’s command. In the novel Hemingway depicts them as anti-fascists selflessly devoted to the defense of democracy, with the sectarianism of national politics cast aside temporarily under the threat of a common enemy. Regarding the likelihood of such an arrangement arising spontaneously, Castillo-Puche comments “it is highly unlikely Castilian peasants would accept the leadership of a Gypsy and a horse merchant”. If readers were to accept For Whom the Bell Tolls as a historical record of the events that unfolded during the Spanish Civil War, it might provide them with an understated impression of social divisiveness that persisted throughout the Spanish Civil War. Arturo Barea even goes as far as to label the novel as “deeply untruthful”.¹⁰
One of the most savage and brutal scenes depicted in the novel is perhaps Pilar’s account of a massacre of priests and fascists sympathizers in the Spanish village of Avila. In the chapter, Hemingway drew parallel between the massacre orchestrated by Pablo and the Spanish tradition of “corrida de toros” with the bulls replaced by the fascists. The brutality that is depicted muddles the question of morality superiority and paints a picture of moral greyness of which horrors of war were perpetrated by both sides and there exists no neat ethical divide. While the scene is certainly effective in its delivery, the question of historicity arises again. Arturo Barea comments that the scale of village massacres portrayed by Hemingway is greatly exaggerated, assassination and removal of fascists would have been much more discreet. While there were certainly records of massacres that occurred during the Spanish Civil War, it did not occur in Avila, instead it occurred during the Battle of Badajoz, otherwise known as the Massacre of Badajoz on August 1936 in the Andalusia region. The victims of the massacre are not those who are loyal to Franco, nor were they of the clerical class, instead 4000 Republican civilians and military supporters were massacred by the fascists following the fall of the city on August 14 1936. On the same day following the fall of the city, General Yagüe of the Second Spanish Republic ordered all prisoners (mostly civilians), including women and children to be moved to Plaza de Toros to be publicly executed. On August 18, Le Populaire published:¹¹
It is without question that the Nationalists carried out great atrocities and war crimes against the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War. In reverse however there exists little reliable record of massacres against Nationalist sympathizers like what is depicted in the novel. As a matter of fact, Hemingway’s usage of “corrida de toros” to describe the massacre that took place during in the novel seems to have lend inspiration from the massacre that befall Nationalist civilians. Castillo-Puche notes “there were no such cases of mass slaughter in towns in Segovia. Nor were there any around Avila.” Therefore, under the historical context of The Spanish Civil War, Hemingway’s depiction paints a deeply untruthful picture of the brutality that befalls Republican civilians, the victim/perpetrator role reversal might even be read as offensive to the survivors of the Massacre of Badajoz.

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