Question 2, Paper 2 – Writer’s Effects
IGCSE EFL
For Whom the Bell Tolls was inspired by Hemingway's experiences as a foreign correspondent
in Paris and Spain during the Spanish Civil War. In 1937, Hemingway travelled to Spain to write
about the war for the North American Newspaper Alliance. When For Whom the Bell Tolls was
published, it was considered Hemingway's finest work, and many critics still consider it to be his
masterpiece. Specifically, the literary world praised Hemingway's spare style and powerful
symbolism.
People still consider this book to be not only Hemingway's best, but also as one of the best war
novels of all time.
Read the following extract from Ernest Hemingway’s ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’.
It is the Spanish Civil War. In the forests of the Spanish Sierra, a guerrilla band prepares to
blow up a vital bridge. Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer, has joined the small
group of rebels on this mission. It is night in the rebel camp, and Pablo – one of the Spanish
guerrillas – has insulted the American.
“Pablo is drunk” Primitivo said. “Pay him no heed, Inglés.”
“I do not think he is so drunk,” Robert Jordan said.
Maria was standing behind him and Robert Jordan saw Pablo watching her over his shoulder.
The small eyes, like a boar’s, were watching her out of the round, stubble-covered head and
Robert Jordan thought: I have known many killers in this war and some before and they were
all different; there is no common trait nor feature; nor any such thing as the criminal type; but
Pablo is certainly not handsome.
“I don’t believe you can drink,” he said to Pablo. “Nor that you’re drunk.”
“I am drunk,” Pablo said with dignity. “To drink is nothing. It is to be drunk that is important.
Estoy muy borracho.”
“I doubt it,” Robert Jordan told him. “Cowardly, yes.”
It was so quiet in the cave, suddenly, that he could hear the hissing noise the wood made
burning on the hearth where Pilar cooked. He heard the sheepskin crackle as he rested his
weight on his feet. He thought he could almost hear the snow falling outside. He could not,
but he could hear the silence where it fell.
I’d like to kill him and have it over with, Robert Jordan was thinking. I don’t know what he is
going to do, but it is nothing good. Day after tomorrow is the bridge and this man is bad and
he constitutes a danger to the success of the whole enterprise. Come on. Let us get it over
with.
Pablo grinned at him and put one finger up and wiped it across his throat. He shook his head
that turned only a little each way on his thick short neck.
“Nay, Ingles,” he said. “Do not provoke me.”
Pramod Kanakath
2. Re-read the descriptions of:
a. Pablo and war killers as thought about by Robert Jordan in paragraph 4;
b. the quietness in the cave experienced by Robert Jordan in paragraph 8.
Explain the effects the writer creates by using these descriptions. Support your answer by selecting
words and phrases from these paragraphs.
[10]
Sample answer:
a. Robert Jordan’s assessment of Pablo’s outward appearance is curious. He turns
pensive when he places Pablo side by side the other war killers with a seemingly
different façade. Pablo’s ‘watching her over his shoulder’ signals something secretive
and does not speak of a straightforward character. His ‘small eyes’ are compared to
‘a boar’s’, indicating an animal instinct to hunt or harm. His civilised self is probably
eluding him as he is a guerilla. The ‘stubble-covered head’ adds to the animal-like
appearance, suggesting he is not tidy. It could also reflect his hardy nature as a
fighter.
Robert’s experience of seeing war killers makes him think they are ‘all different’,
meaning there are no stereotypical characters in war. ‘No common trait nor feature’
boosts this fact. We get an impression of an arena where no two killers look alike.
Robert also doesn’t want to brand them as ‘criminal type’, meaning theirs is a job for
a cause and not an ordinary crime for money or revenge. Is Pablo different? He ‘is
certainly not handsome’, implying he may be different but Robert has his own
doubts.
b. The quiet of the cave is carved out in a pictorial style using different imageries.
Rather than measuring the depth of silence in plain words, the writer brings out the
contrasting, audible noises which make it noticeable. The ‘hissing noise’ of the wood
is normally soft, like that of a slithering snake but the quietness helps Robert hear it.
His own movement breaks the silence. He hears the ‘sheepskin crackle’, again
pointing out the fact that even soft movements could be heard. ‘Snow falling’
decreases in noise intensity, even softer than the wood or the sheepskin. Hearing
that, one could sense the utter quietness of the cave. But Robert only hears the
‘silence where it fell’. From things which make noise he comes down to silence itself
which assumes sound. It is silence all that he hears.
Prepared by: Pramod Kanakath
Pramod Kanakath