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Get every literary device explanation for For Whom the Bell TollsPlus so much more...
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Allusion
Explanation and Analysis—Poetry and Language:
In the following passage from Chapter 1, Hemingway includes an allusion referencing Francisco de Quevedo, a writer from Spain's baroque period (early 17th century to 1750s).
The old man turned toward him suddenly and spoke rapidly and furiously in a dialect that Robert Jordan could just follow. It was like reading Quevedo. Anselmo was speaking old Castilian and it went something like this, "Art thou a brute? Yes. Art thou a beast? Yes, many times. Hast thou a brain? Nay. None. Now we come for something of consummate importance and thee, with thy dwelling place to be undisturbed, puts thy fox-hole before the interests of humanity."
Quevedo utilized conceptismo (conceptism) as a primary poetic style. This form of poetry focuses on paradoxically simple language, imbued with multiple possible meanings. Anselmo's speech, following Jordan's observation, has been translated into older-sounding English to imitate the tone and impression of Anselmo's words.
This multiplicity of meanings, conceptismo, plays out on multiple levels in For Whom the Bell Tolls: the moral complexity of war, Jordan's unconfirmed fate, even Hemingway's own use of language. The tone of the novel is one of indecision, marked by questions Jordan poses to the universe that don't necessarily have answers. Utilizing allusion as a device, Hemingway plays with this multi-potentiality within the novel's thematic and syntactic context.
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