Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in For Whom the Bell Tolls, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love in War
Cultural Connections
Violence, Cowardice, and Death
The Eternality of the Present
Summary
Analysis
In the morning, Robert Jordan and the others are eating breakfast. Jordan has “never been hungrier,” and Agustin comments that he is “very rare”: very different from the last dynamiter who worked with them, Kashkin. Jordan says that there is one difference between them: he is alive, and Kashkin is dead. He immediately regrets saying this, and, more seriously, he adds that Kashkin was a man who suffered greatly. Agustin says that he suffers for others only.
Throughout the novel, comparisons are made between Kashkin and Jordan, mainly relating to their personalities in war, which help to further demonstrate Jordan’s attitudes toward the conflict. Whereas Kashkin was tormented, Jordan is unconcerned with his own pain (like Agustin, for suffers “for others only”), since he prioritizes the Republican cause above himself.
Themes
Agustin also says that Jordan’s love for Maria is a “rare thing”: when they found her at the train, Pilar guarded her with “fierceness,” and he thinks that she has given Maria to Jordan as a present. Jordan says that his love for her is “serious,” and that after the bridge, she will come with him wherever he goes. Agustin says that he cared for Maria, too, “more than one is able to imagine,” and that she is “no whore.” Jordan says that “there has been informality” in their relationship because of the lack of time they have together. Maria and he have been forced to live all of their lives together in a short amount of time.
Agustin’s sexist, paternalistic attitudes toward Maria (mirrored by many of the guerillas) suggest her status as an icon of purity, hope, and innocence in the midst of the corruption and chaos of war. Additionally, Jordan again reflects on his “abridged” life, which has forced him to live only for the present. His relationship with Maria progressed quickly because time, for them, seems to be running out: chaos is right around the corner.
Themes
Jordan asks Agustin to promise to obey him, even if his orders “appear wrong,” since discipline is crucial in combat. Agustin agrees and says that if he has to die “for the thing of tomorrow,” he will go “gladly.” He tells Jordan that Primitivo, Pilar, Anselmo, Andrés, Eladio, and Fernando are dependable, though Pablo and Rafael are not. Jordan hears automatic rifle fire in the distance and surmises that El Sordo has been attacked. Though Agustin says that they should go aid them, Jordan insists that they stay where they are.
Jordan finds an ally in Agustin, who agrees with Jordan’s attitudes about prioritizing the Republican cause above all else—even one’s own life and livelihood.
Themes
