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Chapter 20
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in For Whom the Bell Tolls, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love in War
Cultural Connections
Violence, Cowardice, and Death
The Eternality of the Present
Summary
Analysis
Robert Jordan awakes to hear a horse coming, and he wakes Maria; crouching down, he shoots at the man on the horse with his pistol. The man falls off of the horse, which gallops away, and the other group members come out of the cave. As he puts on his shoes, Jordan thinks that Maria has “no place in his life now.”
As soon as Jordan perceives a threat—the approaching fascist—he snaps back into “soldier” mode, pushing away his thoughts of Maria. Once again, Jordan demonstrates his ability to compartmentalize the different parts of his life, forcing himself to shift gears quickly, as well as his desire to prioritize his duties in combat above all else.
Themes
Robert Jordan tells Pablo that he is going up into the mountains. Pablo takes the soldier’s automatic rifle off of the horse, which Primitivo has retrieved, and he, Andrés, Fernando, Agustin, and Robert Jordan set off. Maria asks if she can come with him, but he tells her to stay and help Pilar. She asks him to tell her that he loves her, and he refuses. He tells her to come to them with the horses if she hears firing, and she kisses him and walks away. Primitivo asks how she is in bed, and he tells him to watch his mouth.
Despite Maria’s willingness to help Jordan prepare an attack against the approaching fascists, he orders her to stay away from combat (with Pilar). Jordan’s refusal of Maria might be read as evidence of his devotion for her—his fear that she might be hurt—though it may also be interpreted as a display of macho courage: Jordan seems to believe that the battleground is a place for men only.
Themes
