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
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.
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.”
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.