Themes Death is one of he main themes in this novel. When Robert Jordan was assigned to blow up the bridge, he knew that would die along with the bridge. He battles the decision to blow up the bridge or not because he was ordered to blow it up but he also doesn’t want to die. Almost every character in Whom the Bell Tolls have trouble with choosing between their own death or living. Pilar ends up doing a palm reading on Robert Jordan and refuses to tell him what he saw but the reader obviously knows what Pilar saw, he saw the death of Robert Jordan. Some of the characters reference to suicide in the story. They would rather kill themselves than be captured or even kill someone else to not be captured. An example of this is when Robert Jordan is wounded and injured and is expecting one last ambush that he could potentially get captured during so he prepares him self to possibly commit suicide. Robert Jordan also struggles to face the fact that he might have to commit suicide because he thinks his own father is a coward because he committed suicide and he doesn’t want to be know as a coward. One theme that can reflect off of death is sacrifice in the face of death. A couple of the characters in the story such as Robert Jordan and Anselmo are ready to give the ultimate sacrifice; give up their own life for the greater good. This gives a feeling of the close companionship and the kid of relationships that they had together even as death was approaching them. The