It Tolls for the Spanish

“Fascism.”

Most picture Hitler when told the word “fascism.” That is unless one asks a Spaniard. In this case, a new image is created. One with Francisco Franco’s face plastered across it.

The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) is one of the most underrated historical conflicts in the twentieth century. The direct fight between communism and fascism was greatly overshadowed by the impending Second World War and that “democracy,” the Second Spanish Republic, lost the conflict to fascism.

However, some Americans, as well as persons of other nationalities, became very involved in the conflict and wished to aid the II Republic. One famous expatriate was Ernest Hemingway. He expressed his feelings about the war – and his great respect for the Spanish people – through his 1940 novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Hemingway tells the story of the unknown Spanish peasants, a group mostly overlooked by onlookers of the war. The delicacy of European politics caused many to look at the war as a purely political struggle that continued to be fought through WWII. Conversely, Hemingway examined the conflict’s effects on the ‘typical’ Spaniard and the Spanish way of life.

Prior to the start of the war, Hemingway had a great love for Spanish culture, particularly bullfighting. He believed that the Spanish peasants lived a more fulfilling life because they relied mainly on the land and their religion. He illustrated this direct connection to their roots by using ‘earthy’ adjectives when describing Maria, Jordan’s lover. She is meant to be the stereotypical Spanish village girl who gets caught in the crossfire of the war. Her nickname is “Rabbit” and her body is described using comparisons to the land.

Hemingway depicts the destruction of their simplistic way of life through Pilar’s description of her town at the start of the war. Pilar questions if Jordan had witnessed the takeover of a small village on page 99:

“ ‘No, Inglés, I am not joking. Didst thou see the start of the movement in any small town?’

‘No,’ Robert Jordan said.

‘Then thou hast seen nothing. Thou hast seen the ruin that now is Pablo, but you should have seen Pablo on that day.’ ”

Pilar is Hemingway’s commentary on how the Spanish command and the rest of Europe refused to see the individual horror caused by the war. She believed that he “has seen nothing” because he only viewed the start of the war on a political basis. By giving the atrocities within the town a detailed account, Hemingway sought to make the ‘expendable’ peasants, in the eyes of the generals, indispensable. He forces the reader to view them as real human beings instead of numbers and bodies.

The blame for this bloodiness is placed upon both sides of the conflict. Hemingway describes Jordan’s disillusionment with the Republican cause, ultimately faulting both the fascists and the communist leaders. The author views the generals’ disregard for the lives of the Spanish as inexcusable, yet necessary. This conflicting opinion is resolved by Jordan’s acceptance at the end of the novel to be a man of action, instead of contemplation. However, Hemingway does not forgive the generals for causing the demolition of the Spanish way of life.

“There wasn’t any Grant, nor any Sherman nor any Stonewall Jackson on either side so far in this war. No. Nor any Jeb Stuart either. Nor any Sheridan. It was overrun with McClellans though. The fascists had plenty of McClellans and we had at least three of them” (233).

Hemingway depicts a close parallel between the American Civil War, which Jordan’s grandfather fought in, to the Spanish Civil War. This comparison is effective because the American Civil War was the bloodiest conflict in American history, just as the Spanish Civil War was equally violent. The reference is also very apt because Sherman, a northern leader, razed the southern farmlands and cities, which, along with the abolition of slavery, shattered the southern lifestyle; the fascists, who were centered in the north, are faulted by Hemingway for causing a horrific war that also destroyed the Spanish farming way of life.

In the end, Hemingway had hope for the Spanish people’s future represented by the escape of Maria and the other fighters. Jordan plans to give his friends more time to find safety and one day build a life similar to their past.

“It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.”

-          Roy Disney