Ernest Hemingway 's For Whom The Bell Tolls

War, no matter what the size or the reason for fighting, effects people in many different ways. In Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls the novel about the Spanish Civil War, digs deep into the reality that comes with warfare. This novel really focuses on how being in a war can idealize the “perfect love”, forces the act of killing whether it is believed in or not, and how war can consume anyone brining out the barbaric side in some people. There are many examples throughout the novel that shows how the characters and even how Ernest Hemingway was effected by the war.

In the novel Robert Jordan, who is an American volunteer, and Maria, a Spanish girl, are brought together for three days by a military operation. They are both not prepared for the connection that going to spark between them. Neither of these two have felt the romantic love that they are feeling for one another, and this feeling is very over whelming for them. Through all of the excitement of the war it is hard to tell if this is real true love between them or if it is just lust. Often at times it is hard to tell the difference between love and lust, in real life as well as in literature. This well detailed three day love affair is very convincing. “She sat down opposite him and looked at him. He looked back at her and she smiled and folded her hands together over her knees. Her legs slanted long and clean from the open cuffs of the trousers as she sat with her hands across her knees and he could see the shape of her small up-tilted breasts under the gray shirt. Every time Robert Jordan looked at her could feel a thickness in his throat” (Hemingway 22). As soon as Robert Jordan meets Maria it is not just a normal casual first meet, the can tell that he feels...

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...eally was not involved with the war, she had not killed any one she was just a young girl. If it was not for the war the fascist would not have came into her town and done those awful things.

The Spanish Civil War was not the biggest war that this world has seen but no matter what the size or the reason for fighting, it effected people in many ways just like any other war has. In Ernest Hemingway’s novel For Whom the Bell Tolls there are many examples how the war can effect how people how people idealize the “perfect love”, how it forces the act of killing whether it is believed in or not, and how war can consume anyone brining out the barbaric side in some people that can not be controlled. Not just the characters in Hemingway’s novel were effected by this war. Hemingway himself was also effected to the point that he had changed his whole mind set toward the war.