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  • Essay / The Value of Life in “For Whom the Bell Tolls”

    Life expectancy in the United States is approximately seventy-eight years. Life expectancy in Zambia is approximately thirty-three years. Does this mean that it is impossible for a person in Zambia to have a more fulfilling life than someone in the United States? In Ernest Hemingway's novel For Whom the Bell Tolls, Robert Jordan conforms outwardly, but raises inner questions about the value of life and discovers that it is possible to live a fulfilling life at any time if we live life to the fullest. no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay At first, Robert is sure of his causes and beliefs and is willing to sacrifice his life to win the war. But in the end, Robert's experiences and his new knowledge work in synergy to persuade him otherwise. His companions change the value of human life for him. Anselmo, Pablo and Robert are killers. They have all taken human lives before, but have different views on it. For Anselm, “killing is a sin. Taking the life of others is… very serious” (page 41). Religious and idealistic, Anselmo is the type of man Robert would like to admire, but knows he can never be. Whatever path he takes, he will never be able to compete with Anselmo, a peace-loving man: Robert has too many reasons to fight, too many reasons to live. On the other hand, Pablo is the most different from Robert, but at the same time the most similar. For most of the novel, Pablo is portrayed as a weakling, a man whose spirit has been broken, even though he was once a terrible killer. As Pilar said: “You have seen Pablo's ruin now, but you should have seen Pablo that day” (page 74). Unlike Anselmo or Robert, Pablo likes to kill; he enjoys it, for the most part. But it is broken before Robert arrives, and so Robert is unable to witness Pablo's transformation from a ruthless killer to a drunken redneck. Pablo has undergone a change, through a psychological transformation, much like the change Robert is going through. The only difference between the two is that Robert continues to outwardly conform to the needs of society despite his inner transformation, while Pablo chooses to abandon society and chooses to fully display his inner transformation. True to his character, Robert becomes even more conflicted towards the end. He doesn't want to kill and doesn't want to be killed, but he chooses to continue fighting for a cause he no longer completely believes in. These changes occur in Robert because of his new friendships, particularly his bond with Maria. about life changing as he moves forward, especially after meeting Maria. Before meeting Maria, Robert was convinced that “there are necessary orders…and there is a bridge and that bridge may be the point on which the future of the human race can turn” (page 43). At this point, he is full of conviction and ready to fight for the cause he fully believes in. With high hopes of changing the future, he is even willing to die for his cause, even though he does not like the prospect. His life has no meaning. Very quickly, Robert meets Maria and she redefines the limits of his world. Life really begins to mean something: Robert wants to live thanks to Maria. Yet he sees the future and sees time passing. This is the critical point, and he realizes that “There is only now and if now is only two days, then two days is your life and everything will be proportionate to it” (Page 167). For Robert, there is only one path. He can't just stop fighting; he can only change his reasons for fighting. Robert sees his.