Essay Topics for For Whom the Bell Tolls:
Choose one topic and write a minimum of a three page essay using 1.5 spacing and 12 font. You should use quotations and evidence from the text to support your thesis.
1. What is the novel's message about romantic love in the context of war? Can they co-exist?
2. What commentary is the novel making about death and its various forms? Is there such a thing as a good death?
3. According to the novel, how should power be shared among the citizens of a country? What form of government is fair?
4. What does For Whom the Bell Tolls say about man and his relation with the natural world or nature?
5. Analyze the character of Robert Jordan. Does he develop throughout the course of the novel? If so, is this development positive or negative?
6. Analyze and evaluate the character of Pablo. How do other characters react to him? Is there more to him than meets the eye? Why does he behave the way he does? By the novel's end, is Pablo a hero, a villain, or something in between? Give textual evidence to support your argument.
7. Analyze, compare and contrast the two characters of Pilar and Maria. Hemingway has been accused by many critics of endorsing a gender hierarchy by portraying female characters as weak and submissive. Does this novel fit this pattern? Analyze the two female characters and use them to evaluate Hemingway's portrayal of women in this novel.
8. Analyze and evaluate Gypsies', or more correctly, Romas' portrayal in the novel. How does Hemingway represent these people in the novel? What connections are made between Romas and superstition, to the supernatural, to Spain, to the Spanish Civil War? Analyze the character of Rafael. Is Rafael a positive or negative character, and are these attributes related to his status as a Roma?
9. Analyze Anselmo as a foil to Robert Jordan.
10. Does the novel suggest that our destinies have been predetermined, that we have free will, or some combination of these two ideas?
11. What commentary does the novel make about ethics in wartime?
12. What kind of commentary does the novel make about sexual trauma and recovery?
13. According to the novel, in the context of war, should an individual always follow orders, or should he, on occasion, make independent decisions, even if they are contrary to previously given orders?
