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Dramatic Irony
Chapter 14
Explanation and Analysis—The Matador:
In Chapter 14, Pilar and her husband discuss a matador they both once knew. In a flashback sequence, Pilar meditates on this "good matador" from her past, who killed bulls but did not necessarily take pleasure in the killing:
She saw him standing there in the sweated, hollow relief of it being over, feeling the relief that the bull was dying, feeling the relief that there had been no shock, no blow of the horn as he came clear from it and then, as he stood, the bull could hold to the earth no longer and crashed over, rolling dead with all four feet in the air, and she could see the short, brown man walking tired and unsmiling to the fence.
The matador leaves, tired, unsmiling, and relieved from his conflict—clearly, he only kills because he has to do so for work, not because he takes pleasure in the act. Compare this response to soldiers and guerilla fighters in For Whom the Bell Tolls, including Jordan himself. Jordan does not take pleasure in violence, becoming soon disillusioned with it. Similarly, the matador, who must commit an act of violence every day as a part of his job, has grown disillusioned with killing.
Related Themes:
Chapter 18
Explanation and Analysis—Chastity:
In the midst of a flashback in Chapter 18, Jordan recounts his time spent with Karkov in Madrid. During this recollection, Jordan contemplates the ways in which he himself has become complacent in his work, using metaphor to illustrate his thoughts:
But was it corruption or was it merely that you lost the naivete that you started with? Would it not be the same in anything? Who else kept that first chastity of mind about their work that young doctors, young priests, and young soldiers usually started with? The priests certainly kept it, or they got out. I suppose the Nazis keep it, he thought, and the Communists who have a severe enough self-discipline. But look at Karkov.
The above indirect metaphor dwells on the "chastity of mind," relating sex drive and virginity to work drive, discipline, and personal motivation. This metaphor may also connect sexuality to an individual's sense of purpose, or level of idealism with regards to their profession. A "chaste" mind, in this analogy, refers to the mind of a person that has yet to be tainted with disillusionment. Chastity represents a pre-sexual state, one in which the person in question may not even be aware of what sex is. Similarly, Jordan's "chastity of mind" is a pre-experiential, idealized state.
Related Themes:
