008: Interesting Timing on my Most Recent Read…

So I finished “For Whom The Bell Tolls” today, a legendary novel from the legendary writer Ernest Hemingway. I’m a wiser person for reading it. It is a classic for a reason. I’ll preface anything else by saying that the ending brings about as minimal closure as one can possibly imagine. Leading up to that, there is tragedy, there is romance, personal feuds which parties put aside for the betterment of their cause, and the general brutality of war. 

The end…we’re left to almost fill in the blanks of what exactly happens to the main character in Robert Jordan, and what happens to the band of Spaniards with which he was working. Robert Jordan was a dynamiter from the United States, working in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. His role was to carry out a bridge demolition ahead of the advancing fascists who were trying to overtake a position. The three days leading up to the demolition saw everything. There was a romantic element with a girl who was with the band of Spaniards he joined who was known as Maria, there was a heavily reliable older man (Anselmo), a few useful partners, a useless number of people (most notably the Gypsy who went by Rafael who actually did come through to some degree in the end), and–an unlikable at best and antagonist at worst–Pablo who was a smart but untrustworthy character.

There was tragedy with a partnering band led by a man who went by El Sordo, as he and his men were killed by the fascists. There was a disappearance of Pablo, which complicated the demolition, as detonators disappeared with him. He did return but without the detonator, which forced an improvisation on the demolition. There was also Pablo’s woman who went by Pilar, who was an ultimate instigator. I personally got a kick out of her character throughout the book, given how much she infuriated others–but almost lightheartedly. 

Spoiler: skip to the next section if you prefer.

In the end, Robert blew up the bridge with the help of Anselmo, but Anselmo was killed in the process. Anselmo was easily the most reliable of this band, and this was a tragedy. Shortly after, the fascists advanced to the edge of the bridge and began firing on Robert and everyone else. The horse Robert was riding fell, which resulted in a severely fractured femur. This prompted Robert to encourage the others to move without him. At the end, the fascists found their way close to Robert’s position, though Robert was sheltered and had the crosshairs of his firearm on a Lieutenant from the opposing forces. The others seemingly escaped (or did they), but did they make it to where they were going? We’re left to speculate the fate of Robert, as well as of the band he supported. 

I’m leaving out a few details, some of which involve some of the politics among the brass. These are interesting scenes as you read through them, and there are lessons to be had in them regarding the ugliness of war.

My Takeaways:

War is hell. I often see the engagement question asked–if I could eliminate one thing from the world, what would it be? For me, it is war. It brings out the worst in humanity. Could one say cancer? Chronic illness? Greed? Sure. I should preface my next statement by saying that of course one could speculate that large entities in the healthcare industry are doing whatever is necessary to make money. While less than ideal for a host of reasons, any treatment they unroll will be effective in some way at treating the targeted illness.

War? The industry involved is interested in killing. The money behind it all is an engine for death. The politics behind it will result in death, and those who benefit from rebuilding societies after war only profit because they were destroyed in the first place. Powerful people exploit those in inferior positions to promote their own agendas.

Furthermore, those in the heat of it themselves, as the book so eloquently illustrates, will turn on each other to promote their own cause. It is implied, for example, that Pablo kills an entire band of people he recruited to help him in the end, simply so he had enough horses to escape. This is one of many atrocities he committed so that he could remain in a position of influence. A powerful French military leader who was involved in the war would have others killed at random. For egotistical purposes, he withheld a message for a detrimentally long time which would have called off an aerial attack on a position which served no purpose. 

War is the antithesis of everything humanity should stand for. I should acknowledge the unconventional camaraderie that often results on a micro level from war; this much is evident, as brother will ultimately help brother. If we can’t find that through avenues which don’t involve heavy destruction and genocide, then I have no faith in humanity.

Apply that to today. I’ll start by saying that I understand if you do not want to read my words as I pontificate on international affairs. I will say that my undergrad degree was in international affairs and I have followed international politics rather closely for a long time, so I’m at least not ignorant to everything. Anyway, I won’t say we’re on the brink, but to say we don’t risk nuclear war currently would be a mistaken thought. I want to make no mistake that I am more sympathetic to the Ukrainian cause in this war. Russia invaded Ukraine’s territory and will not leave. You can bring in any conversation you want about NATO, about rhetoric, about anything else, but the bottom line is that Russia invaded sovereign territory.

However, I do not believe that everyone wanting to see the war end as quickly as possible is pro-Kremlin. As I see it, there are a number of positions people have.

There are those who support Ukraine until the bloody end. Ironically, these are mostly people who were just some years ago against wars in Iraq and even Afghanistan to some degree. Nonetheless, they want Ukraine to fight until the end.

Some support Ukraine, but they do not want to see weapons and money transferred from the United States to Ukraine in the way that it is. There are some who want the transfer to stop, and there are some who simply want more transparency around it.

Others are neutral and just want nothing to do with any of it as Americans.

Then there are those who inexplicably support the Russians.

Within these categories are slight modifications, of course, but for me, I simply want to see the war end with Ukraine maintaining as much of their territory as possible. While Russia’s military has taken a hit in this conflict, and I don’t see Putin marching directly into Poland or some other country, a buffer is still good. The constant spending packages to Zelensky, along with new authorizations for him to use American weapons in Russian territory, is potentially asking for further escalation (though I could also make a case that it adds an element of leverage for the Ukrainians in the case of any negotiations, but that is undoubtedly risky).

We could talk the strategy of this all day. In short, however, Russia was on the brink of demographic collapse before the war. It is only worse now. Ukraine was also in a nightmarish demographic position before the war. This has left them in a tragic position demographically. Cultures and families are being destroyed in both sides. Despite the political rhetoric, there are decent people on both sides who have families and are being forced to do reprehensible things. 

The more quickly the war comes to its conclusion, the more quickly it allows humanity to heal. As all of this comes to a head, I am just finishing a classic novel which vividly covers the ugliness of war. Media allows us to see the war in Ukraine at a macro level, but I often wonder how many of these more granular stories similar to what we read in “For Whom The Bell Tolls” take place everyday. It is tragic to think of.

And the cynical parts of me can’t help but think that the money behind this war are funding it just to an extent that allows it to continue in perpetuity so that they can maximize their revenue–that is of course just speculation though. If that cynicism is rooted in accuracy, however, how ugly is that?

On a lighter note, Hemingway constructed every piece of dialogue as if it were spoken in Spanish but wrote it in English. One would think after a while that this simply would not work. It did though, and I am in awe at how non-disruptive it was to the flow of the novel.