An Interpretation of For Whom the Bell Tolls from the perspective of narratology

張坤

【Abstract】For Whom the Bell Tollswas written by Ernest Miller Hemingway （July 21， 1899-July 2， 1961）， an American novelist， writer， and journalist. Hemingway received his Nobel Prize of Literature for “his mastery of the art of modern narration”. However， there are few people analyze his work from the point view of narratology. This thesis would focus on the techniques of narratology to analyze For whom the bell tolls. The author would give you four parts of analysis， including narrative perspective， narrative structure， narrative mode， and narrative discourse.

【Key words】For Whom the Bell Tolls; narratology; Robert Jordan; Maria

Introduction

For Whom the Bell Tolls is told in the third person narrator in the novel， which is regarded one of Hemingways best novels.

The book tells the story of an American young man who called Robert Jordan， who is a professor of Spanish in the university and volunteers to join in the Spanish army， under one mission， he was ordered to blow bridge with the help of local guerrillas. In his three days of blowing bridge， he wins the support of the guerrilla members; meets his true love; finishes the task， but ultimately; sacrifices his young life for the people of Spain. The main characteristics of Robert Jordan and Maria are designed for narratology. Jordan are designed a hero to rescue the people who suffered by Fascist. Especially， from the perspective of narrative structure， Jordan presents a classic heroic character by his lots of monologue in novel. Maria， a persecutor， her sufferings are adopted by repeating narrative.

Chapter 1 Narrative Perspective

Gérard Genette （1930-） has come up with the term of “focalisation” to replace “vision”， “field”， or “point of view” in his book Narrative Discourse， 1972， 1980 however， there are still many scholars prefer to use the term “point of view”， “narrative perspective”. （Shen Dan&Wang Liya， 2010： 89） He points that foculization should be divided into three types： the zero focus; the inner focus; and the outer focus.

Obviously， For Whom the Bell Tolls belongs to the zero focus， for narrator controls plot of blowing bridge. The narrator describes everything happened in the three days： the general measures and steps for opposing fascist; the way how to blow bridge; every guerrillass mental activity; a painful emotion for a Spanish girl who are raped by the enemy. Besides， we also know the characteristics of every person he shapes， for example， Jordan is a brilliant military conductor and Bablo is a selfish， stubborn coward.

Chapter 2 Narrative Structure

Basicly， narrative structure is concerned with two things： the content of the story; and the form used to tell the story. Usually， the content of a story is set by chronological order. Without exception， For whom the bell tolls is described in a lineary order， all plots are told based on a chronological order.

As for the plot of storytelling， Hemingway adopted the techniques of “stream of consciousness” to shape the character as well as tell story. When people discussed For Whom the Bell Tolls， they often mentioned Robert Jordans inner monologue and his memories. （Zhang Yuan， 2015： 65） In chapter 30 of this book， Jordans status and his family are introduced in the way of “stream of consciousness”.

You do very well for an instructor in Spanish at the University of Montana， he joked at himself. You do all right for that. But do not start to thinking that you are anything very special. You havent gotten very far in this business. （560）

You could take the pistol out of the drawer and hold it. “Handle it freely，” was Grandfathers expression. But you could not play with it because it was “a serious weapon”. （561）

Then after your father had shot himself with this pistol， and you had come home from school and theyd had the funeral， the coroner had returned it after the inquest saying， “Bob， I guess you might want to keep the gun. Im supposed to hold it， but I know your dad set a lot of store by it because his dad packed it all through the War， besides out here when he first came out with the Cavalry， and its still a hell of a good gun. I had her out trying her this afternoon. She dont throw much of a slug but you can hit things with her.”（563）

Besides， the excerpts I illustrated above， Jordans inner monologue is presented in the chapter 1， 5， 11， 13， 18， 23， 26， 30， 31， 35， 37， 38， 39， 41， 43， etc. By these fragments description， we know Jordans past， present， and future.

Chapter 3 Narrative Mode

The mode of narration refers to how a writer describes the plot and action or otherwise conveys information to the reader. The most common types of narrative modes are first-person， second-person， and third-person. This book is told in the third person.

Dialogues which cover over two-thirds of the whole text are an inevitable part for this book to be analyzed. As we can see in the book， lots of characteristics are reflected by conversations. The examples would be illustrated in the follow.

Chapter 4 Narrative Discourse

Classical narratology classified time into three subsystem： order; duration; frequency. （Tang Weisheng， 2013： 11）

Order in this book is written in natural order of events. Of course， when Jordan recalled his past and his family in chapter 30， that description part belongs to analepsis.

Duration refers to the relationship between a duration （that of the story， measured in seconds， minutes， hours， days， months， and years） and a length （that of the text， measured in lines and in pages）. （G. Genette， 1980：87-88） From this point of view， Hemingway adopts the technique of “showing more， telling less” by dialogues.When Jordan first met Pilar， she reads his hand in such an dialogue：

“What did you see in it？” Robert Jordan asked her. “I dont believe in it. You wont scare me.”

“Nothing，” she told him. “I saw nothing in it.”

“Yes you did. I am only curious. I do not believe in such things.”

“In what do you believe？”

“In many things but not in that.”

“In what？”

“In my work.”

“Yes， I saw that.”

“Tell me what else you saw.”

“I saw nothing else，” she said bitterly. （56）

Though in this conversation without descptions of Pilars facial expression， we still can feel that she already knows Jordans misfortune in future. However， with the techniques of dialogue （showing without description）， this passage foreshadows the climax of the story more vividly.

What I call narrative frequency， that is， the relations of frequency （or， more simply， of repetition） between the narrative and the diegesis， up to this time has been very little studied by critics and theoreticians of the novel. （G. Genette， 1980： 113） In For whom the bell tolls， narrator use the techniques of repeating narrative on Marias suffering.

When Pilar mentioned Maria firstly with Jordan ， she said this to Jordan，

Be very good and careful about the girl. The Maria. She has had a bad time. Understandest thou？ （53）

In the chapter 7， Maria told it from her mouth when she did passionate things with Jordan：

Then suddenly， going dead in his arms， “But things were done to me.”

“By whom？”

“By various.”

Now she lay perfectly quietly and as though her body were dead and turned her head away from him.

“Now you will not love me.”

“I love you，” he said. （117）

In the chapter 10， Pilar recalled evil deeds fascism brought to them：