Violence In Ernest Hemingway's For Whom The Bell Tolls

A war can be described as a period in which two or more parties experience great hostility towards one another. Although that definition is quite vague and watered down, it gives us a basic sense of what a war can be. I believe that the key word in the definition that I provided would be hostility. Throughout history, we have seen wars breakout due to intense hostile feelings towards others (of course, I am fully aware that hostility is not the only reason for wars). With all that being said, the soldiers that end up on the battlefield are the ones who get firsthand experience of the war. These brave souls must endure the hardships that a war basically throws at them. In Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, we followed Robert Jordan and his story during the Spanish Civil War. To compare, Wallace Terry’s Bloods recounted the numerous experiences of

You could also imagine the fear that these soldiers were feeling because war is definitely a scary place to enter all alone. That being said, another reality that many soldiers may come in contact with during a war is creating relationships, like a brotherhood, with the other soldiers. Robert Jordan rationalized that “[y]ou had to trust the people you worked with completely or not at all, and you had to make decisions about the trusting” (Hemingway 4) and it still might be a little confusing as to why making friends would conflict with a soldier’s duty. However, Luther C. Benton III explained how he “didn’t have a really good friend over there because [he] didn’t want to” and it sounds a little strange at first, but he continued to explain and brought us to a harsh reality. “I did not want to have anyone that I got close to that I would care too much if they become injured or killed” (Terry 67). Entering the war without anyone beside you is tough, but leaving the war without your “’brother’ because in a war...we all brothers” (Terry