"Completely Integrated" : The Alienation and Integration of Robert Jordan in Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls

Abstract:   For Whom the Bell Tolls is Ernest Hemingway's story of the Spanish Civil War. This war has often been seen as a conflict between good and evil, and the novel is frequently viewed as a way of illustrating the brotherhood of man in its portrayal of how Robert Jordan fights as a volunteer for the republicans against the fascists. This essay shows that Jordan actually loses his faith in the war. I instead propose that his determination to perform his mission is regained through Maria, and that he integrates with her as he finishes his mission. Initially, Jordan becomes alienated because he discovers the hopelessness and immorality of the republican struggle. The fascists are really not true enemies, and the republicans seem to have become the very evil that they originally set out to destroy. His faith in his mission is regained through Maria, and the completion of his mission becomes entwined with his integration with her. It becomes clear that she, a character whose thematic importance has often been neglected, is a part of the natural world. By becoming a part of nature, Jordan can thus become an eternal part of her. As he finishes his mission, his integration with nature intensifies. As he awaits death after having finished his mission, he literally becomes a part of nature and thematically a part of Maria, and even though he will die, the lovers are united. This, I suggest, is the complete integration that Jordan experiences.