For Whom the Bell Tolls: Chapter 24 Summary & Analysis

In the morning, Robert Jordan and the others are eating breakfast. Jordan has “never been hungrier,” and Agustin comments that he is “very rare”: very different from the last dynamiter who worked with them, Kashkin. Jordan says that there is one difference between them: he is alive, and Kashkin is dead. He immediately regrets saying this, and, more seriously, he adds that Kashkin was a man who suffered greatly. Agustin says that he suffers for others only.

Agustin also says that Jordan’s love for Maria is a “rare thing”: when they found her at the train, Pilar guarded her with “fierceness,” and he thinks that she has given Maria to Jordan as 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, too, “more than one is able to imagine,” and that she is “no whore.” Jordan says that “there has been informality” in their relationship because of the lack of time they have together. Maria and he have been forced to live all of their lives together in a short amount of time.

Jordan asks Agustin to promise to obey him, even if his orders “appear wrong,” since discipline is crucial in combat. Agustin agrees and says that if he has to die “for the thing of tomorrow,” he will go “gladly.” He tells Jordan that Primitivo, Pilar, Anselmo, Andrés, Eladio, and Fernando are dependable, though Pablo and Rafael are not. Jordan hears automatic rifle fire in the distance and surmises that El Sordo has been attacked. Though Agustin says that they should go aid them, Jordan insists that they stay where they are.