The Bridge Symbol in For Whom the Bell Tolls

In the novel, the bridge seems to represent the futility of the war, since it connects the fascists and the Republicans; the war has broken down distinctions between the two groups, each becoming as violent and disorganized as the other.

Robert Jordan meets the guerillas with whom he becomes hopelessly entangled—namely Pablo, Pilar, and Maria—because of his orders to blow up the bridge, and complications arise when Pablo takes issue with the plan, eventually sabotaging it and ensuring the guerillas’ failure against the fascists. By exploding the bridge, the guerillas hope to block an incoming fascist offensive, and the plan stands as one of the Republicans’ final hopes. If the bridge is blown, no connections can be made between the fascist and Republican camps, and the Republicans can safely move down from the mountains to another area without being detected.

Despite the clear division between the Republicans and the fascists, throughout the novel, Hemingway suggests that there are fewer differences between the two opposing groups than either of them would want to believe. Both are engaged in the brutal acts of fighting and killing, and though Hemingway’s preference for the Republican cause is clear (manifested through his stand-in Robert Jordan, a left-wing journalist like Hemingway himself), he describes the Republicans as a group of individuals who have become corrupted and distant from their original goals, disillusioned by the difficulties of war. Though Pilar declares herself “for the Republic,” it is no longer entirely clear what “the Republic” represents: the Republicans are firmly against fascism, yet they lack a coherent vision of the future, and their morals are all over the map—ranging from Anselmo’s pious pacifism to Pablo’s bloodthirsty violence. Though the fascists are not portrayed at length, a brief conversation depicted between fascist soldiers suggest their unwillingness to fight and their own disillusionment with their own cause.

Ultimately, when the bridge collapses—the physical structure and symbol that was connecting the two groups—all hope for reconciliation or peace between the two groups is destroyed. With this event, the novel winds to a pessimistic end: the fascists will take over, the Republicans will be killed or forced to surrender, and the war, at least for the Republicans, was futile.

The Bridge Quotes in For Whom the Bell Tolls

The For Whom the Bell Tolls quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Bridge. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

All the best ones, when you thought it over, were gay. It was much better to be gay and it was a sign of something too. It was like having immortality while you were still alive. That was a complicated one. There were not many of them left though. No, there were not many of the gay ones left. There were very damned few of them left. And if you keep on thinking like that, my boy, you won’t be left either. Turn off the thinking now, old timer, old comrade. You’re a bridgeblower now.

Related Characters: Robert Jordan / Roberto / The Young Man (speaker)

Related Symbols: The Bridge

Related Literary Devices:

Page Number and Citation: 17

Explanation and Analysis:

Robert Jordan […] saw also the wife of Pablo standing there and watched her blush proudly and soundly and healthily as the allegiances were given.

“I am for the Republic,” the woman of Pablo said happily. “And the Republic is the bridge.”

Related Characters: Pilar / Pablo’s Wife (speaker), Robert Jordan / Roberto / The Young Man, Pablo

Related Symbols: The Bridge

Page Number and Citation: 53

Explanation and Analysis:

But in the meantime all the life you have or ever will have is today, tonight, tomorrow, today, tonight, tomorrow, over and over again (I hope), he thought and so you had better take what time there is and be very thankful for it. If the bridge goes bad. It does not look too good just now. But Maria has been good. Has she not? Oh, has she not, he thought. Maybe that is what I am to get now from life. Maybe that is my life and instead of it being threescore years and ten it is forty-eight hours or just threescore hours and ten or twelve rather. Twenty-four hours in a day would be threescore and twelve for the three full days.

Related Characters: Robert Jordan / Roberto / The Young Man (speaker), Maria

Related Symbols: The Bridge

Page Number and Citation: 166

Explanation and Analysis:

The Bridge Symbol Timeline in For Whom the Bell Tolls

The timeline below shows where the symbol The Bridge appears in For Whom the Bell Tolls. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

The Eternality of the Present Theme Icon

...over his shoulder. The man says to the older man that he cannot see the bridge from this point in the forest. The older man describes a road nearby that leads... (full context)

Violence, Cowardice, and Death Theme Icon

...He promises to figure out how many men are positioned at the mill and the bridge, and the younger man asks him how many men they can get for their side.... (full context)

...yet “had an opportunity to test his judgment.” He knows how to blow up the bridge, since he has blown up many before, and he feels that there are enough explosives... (full context)

In a flashback, Golz tells Jordan that “to blow the bridge is nothing”: “merely to blow the bridge is a failure,” since the bridge must be... (full context)

Golz tells Jordan that the bridge must be blown up after the attack starts and that he will tell Jordan when... (full context)

...he will undertake it. Golz makes him promise that “nothing will come up over that bridge”—that it will be destroyed after the attack begins, and that no enemies will be able... (full context)

Jordan replies that he is able to blow up bridges “sometimes,” and Golz changes the subject, asking if there are “many girls on the other... (full context)

...with the dynamite, and Jordan tells him that he is going to blow up a bridge, though he will not tell him which one. Pablo says that it's not possible to... (full context)

...would be willing to be left behind if wounded in “such a thing as this bridge.” Jordan responds that if he ever has “any little favors to ask of any man,”... (full context)

...he is an explosives expert like Kashkin, though he has come to blow up a bridge this time, not a train, and she recalls the explosion at the train with Kashkin.... (full context)

...eight. The woman thinks highly of El Sordo, and she reminds Jordan that after the bridge, the group must move down from the mountain. Jordan thanks her for her frank advice... (full context)

Anselmo and Robert Jordan move down the hills and spot the bridge in the distance: it is a steel bridge with a sentry box at each end,... (full context)

Anselmo tells Jordan that there are seven men and a corporal on guard at the bridge. Jordan says that they will go as soon as the sentry is quiet, since they... (full context)

...like they were rabbits. Jordan thinks that it will not be difficult to destroy the bridge, and he plans to write down the plans or explain them to those in the... (full context)

...he is hungry and bored. His name is Agustin, and he asks Jordan about the bridge, but Jordan doesn’t reveal anything. Agustin curses at him and says that he wishes to... (full context)

...and Pablo suggests that they blow up another train. Jordan says they can, after the bridge, and Pablo responds that he and his people do not support the bridge. Anselmo says... (full context)

...to Maria, who leaves the cave. Jordan says to Pablo that they will blow the bridge without his help, and he asks Pablo’s wife if she supports blowing up the bridge.... (full context)

Rafael asks Robert Jordan if he saw the bridge, and Jordan shows him his sketches. Pablo goads Jordan, and Pablo’s wife, angered, tells him... (full context)

...in the meadow, finding five. He tells himself that he is obligated to fulfill the bridge plan, and he must take no risks until he completes this duty; he wonders, though,... (full context)

...that the Republic is preparing an offensive. Some say that there will be two, on bridges near them and near the Escorial. There is some talk that troops have been sent... (full context)

...in Pablo. Agustin insists that they need Pablo to help organize the attack on the bridge, but Pilar disagrees. She believes that the bridge must be attacked if they are to... (full context)

...a short, heavy man with a “hooked nose like an Indian’s.” He asks when the bridge will be blown up, and Robert Jordan tells him that it will take place the... (full context)

Pilar asks where El Sordo thinks they should go after blowing up the bridge; she says she wants to go to the Republic, and he says that it is... (full context)

El Sordo says that “it is the morning that is difficult,” since blowing up the bridge would be easy before daylight or at daylight, but fleeing from the mountains will be... (full context)

Though Jordan is beside Maria, his mind is “thinking of the problem of the bridge,” and he starts to think about the positioning of the explosives, though he tells himself... (full context)

...they are putting on a “lousy show,” and they will have to blow up the bridge under “impossible conditions” “to abort a counter-offensive that will probably already be started.” He thinks... (full context)

...his sleep.” Rafael enters the cave to report back about the fascist command at the bridge. He says that there has been no unusual movement on the road, and Robert Jordan... (full context)

...and kind,” but that anyone killing will become “brutalized.” Anselmo does not think about the bridge anymore but thinks instead about his loneliness: he feels so lonely that there is a... (full context)

...he “has shifted like the wind.” Indeed, Pablo declares that he is now for the bridge. Pilar asks him if he was listening by the entrance to the cave after he... (full context)

...turn and you are back where you have started.” While studying his drawings of the bridge, Maria looks over his shoulder; he writes out the operation orders, thinking that the “business... (full context)

...certainly a much simpler world.” Before meeting the group, he expected to blow up the bridge, and he wanted to ask for time off after to go to Madrid, buy some... (full context)

Now that Maria has come into his life, Jordan thinks that when the bridge offensive is over, they will have to get two rooms in Madrid, and he will... (full context)

...in making a “massacre” by starting a shoot-out, since they need to carry out the bridge offensive so that they can take Segovia. (full context)

...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,... (full context)

...and still make it absolutely convincing”: he wants to call off the operation on the bridge not because of any fears he has about its dangers, but because of what has... (full context)

...El Sordo before. Jordan tells himself that he will either have to blow up the bridge in the morning or he will not have to, but it is likely that he... (full context)

...have to think. Suddenly, he knows “absolutely” that he will have to blow up the bridge, and whatever Andrés does—whether he is able to deliver the message or not—doesn’t matter. (full context)

...near the fascist post. He hopes that the group will move to Gredos after the bridge, and he reflects that if his father had not been a Republican, Andrés and Eladio... (full context)

...thought it was, and that though they are short of people, he can “do the bridge” with the few people he has left. He tells the sleeping Maria that he has... (full context)

...but that they are “all flash and no fragments,” and thus not useful for the bridge. Jordan thinks that the mission is impossible, since they were “as sunk when [the fascists]... (full context)

...Jordan’s pack down the gorge, into the river. He believes that they can detonate the bridge using a grenade, though, and he tells the group that his leaving was only a... (full context)

...will deal with the lower fascist post, cutting the wire and “falling back” upon the bridge. Ever since Pablo returned to the cave, Robert Jordan has felt increasingly better; seeing him... (full context)

...allies now. Pablo apologizes for taking the explosives, and he says that he thinks the bridge will be a “successful termination.” (full context)

...Agustin that he and Anselmo will “deal with” the sentries at the posts near the bridge. Jordan tells Anselmo to fire at the sentry when he does, and when the man... (full context)

...cavalry automatic rifle; he picks up his packs and runs toward the road and the bridge, where he meets Anselmo. Anselmo says that he killed his sentry, and Jordan climbs into... (full context)

...who seems to have been shot through the groin. Jordan tells Anselmo to blow the bridge if tanks come, even if he is below the bridge. Anselmo sees Jordan running up... (full context)

Anselmo, watching for Robert Jordan on the other side of the bridge, does not feel afraid; he hated shooting the guard, which gave him the feeling of... (full context)

...truck coming down the road, and he yells out to Anselmo to blow up the bridge: he sees the bridge rise up in the air “like a wave breaking,” and he... (full context)

...the exploder that Pablo destroyed, Anselmo wouldn’t have been killed; he could have blown the bridge from a safer distance. Slowly, though, “from his head,” he begins to “accept it and... (full context)

...small distance from the rest of the group, she cannot see the road or the bridge, and she pats the horses nervously, praying for “Roberto”: “Oh please have him be all... (full context)

...repercussions.” He feels “numb with the surprise that he had not been killed at the bridge,” since he had “accepted being killed.” Pablo comes running around the bend in the road,... (full context)

...As they prepare to cross, bombs start to fall. Jordan attempts to ride past the bridge, and he sees a flash from the tank in the road. Suddenly, he is under... (full context)

...it,” but now, at last, “there was no problem.” He watches the activity at the bridge and on the road, and he reflects that Pilar will take care of Maria; he... (full context)

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Ernest Hemingway

The Bridge Symbol Analysis

The Bridge Quotes in For Whom the Bell Tolls

The Bridge Symbol Timeline in For Whom the Bell Tolls