The treacherous terrain where the novel is set—the hills and mountains near Segovia, north of Madrid—represents the treacherous ups and downs of war, in which successes are often followed by failures, and the thrill of victory often accompanies stifling boredom and miserable conditions. The mountains where the Republican guerillas have positioned themselves comprise a harsh, forbidding environment, with rugged terrain and a volatile climate: it even snows at one point, though the novel is set in late May. Though difficult to navigate, the snow also proves useful to the Republicans, helping to disguise them from the fascists; as the weather clears, the fascists are able to gain control of the territory and launch attacks. Thus, the Republicans’ success is in many ways contingent on the conditions of the mountains, and they strategize frequently about finding discreet vantage points and hiding from plane surveillance. At times, the mountains seem like the ideal setting in which to hide and organize strategy, but the guerillas often complain of boredom and of primitive living conditions, given that their headquarters are in a cave.
Furthermore, though it is implied that some of the guerillas (Pablo, Pilar, and Maria) are able to escape the mountains at the end of the novel, Robert Jordan is left to die in them, suggesting that warfare—and all that it entails, both wins and losses—is unavoidable and all-encompassing, just as massive and intimidating as mountains themselves.
The Hills and Mountains Quotes in For Whom the Bell Tolls
If I die on this day it is a waste because I know a few things now. I wonder if you only learn them now because you are oversensitized because of the shortness of the time? There is no such thing as a shortness of time, though. You should have sense enough to know that too. I have been all my life in these hills since I have been here. Anselmo is my oldest friend. I know him better than I know Charles, than I know Chub, than I know Guy, than I know Mike, and I know them well. Agustin, with his vile mouth, is my brother, and I never had a brother. Maria is my true love and my wife. I never had a true love. I never had a wife. She is also my sister, and I never had a sister, and my daughter, and I never will have a daughter. I hate to leave a thing that is so good.