Hemingway

For Whom the Bell Tolls

By Ernest Hemingway

Biography of Ernest Miller Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway was born in July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois. His father was a doctor, and his mother was musically trained. Ernest was the second of six children. His mother hoped Ernest would be influenced by her musical interests but he preferred fishing and hunting trips with his father, this love of adventure trips would later be reflected in many Hemingway's stories. But from his mother he acquired a quick eye and a sensitive mind. Hemingway's aptitude for physical challenge remained through high school, where he played football and boxed. Because of an eye damage caused from numerous boxing matches, Hemingway was rejected from service in World War One. Hemingway also edited his high school newspaper and reported for the Kansas City Star. Later Hemingway participated in World War One as an ambulance driver for the American Red Cross. He was wounded on July 8, 1918. War itself is a major theme in Hemingway's works. He would witness first hand the cruelty required of soldiers he described in his writing as he wrote about the Greco-Turkish War in 1920. In 1937 he was a war correspondent in Spain; the events of the Spanish Civil War inspired For Whom the Bell Tolls. Upon returning to the United States after the World War he lived for a short time in Chicago. There, he met Sherwood Andersen and married Hadley Richardson in 1921. On Andersen's advice, the couple moved to Paris, where he served as foreign correspondent for the Star. As Hemingway covered events on all of Europe, the young reporter interviewed important leaders such as Mussolini. They lived in Paris from 1921-1926; this time is important because of Hemingway's stylistic development. This time in Paris inspired the novel A Moveable Feast, published posthumously in 1964. The late 1920's were a time of much publication for Hemingway. In 1926 The Torrents of Spring and The Sun Also Rises were published. In 1927 Hemingway published a short story collection, Men Without Women. In that year he got divorced and married Pauline Pfieffer,a write for Vogue. They had two sons Patrick and Gregory. 1928 was a year of both, success and sorrow for Hemingway, in this year, A Farewell to arms was published and his father committed suicide. This painful experience is reflected in the pondering of Robert Jordan in For Whom the Bell Tolls. In addition to personal experiences with war and death, Hemingway's travels also provided a lot of material for his novels. Bullfighting inspired Death in the Afternoon. Hemingway went on safari in Africa, which gave him new themes on which to base The Snows of Kilimanjaro. After his divorce from Pauline in 1940, he married Martha Gelhorn, a writer, the couple toured China before settling down in Cuba. For Whom the Bell Tolls was published this year. During World War Two Hemingway volunteered his fishing boat and served with the U.S. Navy in the Caribbean. In 1944, he travelled through Europe with the Allies as a war correspondent and participated in the liberation of Paris. Hemingway divorced again in 1945, and married Mary Welsh, a correspondent for Time magazine, in 1946. They lived in Venice before returning to Cuba. In 1953. The Old Man and the Sea won the Pulitzer Prize. In 1954 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. After Hemingway moved to Idaho he was hospitalized for uncontrolled high blood pressure, liver disease, diabetes and depression. On July 2, 1961, he died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds and was buried in Ketchum. Hemingway was both, a legendary celebrity and a sensitive writer, and his influence, as well as unseen writings, survived his passing.

Short Summary "For whom the bell tolls" shows three days in the life of Robert Jordan, an American expert in explosives who is in Spain fighting for the Civil War. Jordan is ordered by General Golz to bomb a bridge as part of their offensive against the Fascists. This task is very dangerous. Golz is only interested in the offensive as a means of practicing his military tactics and he is cynical about its success in the hands of the Spanish farmers. Anselmo, an old guide, brings Jordan through the woods to the hiding-place, an abandoned cave, of the men who will help him complete his mission. The guerrillas that Jordan meets obviously do not want to be involved in the war any longer. They meet Agustin in the woods, visibly relieved to see them because he has forgotten the password to their cave. The gypsy Rafael, despite being the guard, is only interested in joking. He tells Jordan about Kashkin, the previous foreign dynamite expert who, ironically, killed himself after being wounded during their last mission, the explosion of a train. The most cynical and discouraged guerrilla, however, is Pablo, their leader. Despite being a courageous man before, Pablo now wants only to return to his village to raise the horses he gained as spoils of war. Many conflicts arise between Pablo and Jordan, as Pablo doesn't want that a foreigner is interfering in a matter that can risk his own life and those of his band. There are also two women at the camp: Pilar, who is Pablo's wife, and Maria, a girl they rescued from the train carrying prisoners of war. Despite her hair, which was shaved during her confinement by the Fascists and the obvious psychological damage that was done to her, she is beautiful. Pilar is an ugly woman, but celebrated for her bravery. Since Pablo lost the courage and dedication he showed at the beginning of the war, Pilar maintains the unity of his band. Pilar is a gypsy and, upon introductions, reads Jordan's palm of the hand. The future she sees there is grim but she will not reveal it. Pablo's cowardice soon makes him give up power to Pilar, his brave wife. Pablo announces that he is against blowing up the bridge, but Pilar supports Robert Jordan and the men follow her leadership. After the confrontation, Rafael tells Jordan that he should have killed Pablo, and that he would have had the support of the guerrillas. Jordan tells that this would be an assassination and that he won't do it. As Pablo continues to insult and cause trouble of Jordan throughout the novel, Jordan wonders if he made the right decision. After the confrontation with Pablo, during the night after the first day, Jordan makes love to Maria when she comes to his bed outside the cave. The nineteen-year-old girl, who has been raped and orphaned, has fallen quickly and madly in love with Jordan. She believes that her love will purify her from past cruelties committed to her. Jordan returns her feelings, as he has stared upon her all day. He celebrates finding for the first time a person with whom he finds and shares happiness. Jordan's new