For Whom the Bell Tolls

For Whom the Bell Tolls, Gary Cooper (as Robert Jordan) and Ingrid Bergman (as María) in the1943 film version of Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.novel by Ernest Hemingway, published in 1940.

The novel is set near Segovia, Spain, in 1937 and tells the story of American teacher Robert Jordan, who has joined the antifascist Loyalist army. Jordan has been sent to make contact with a guerrilla band and blow up a bridge to advance a Loyalist offensive. The action takes place during Jordan’s 72 hours at the guerrilla camp. During this period he falls in love with María, who has been raped by fascist soldiers, and befriends the shrewd but cowardly guerrilla leader Pablo and his courageous wife, Pilar. Jordan manages to destroy the bridge; Pablo, Pilar, María, and two other guerrillas escape, but Jordan is injured. Proclaiming his love to María once more, he awaits the fascist troops and certain death.

The title is from a sermon by John Donne containing the famous words “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main…. Any man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind. Any therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”