For Whom the Bell Tolls

Pablo is the leader of the guerrilleros to whom Robert is directed to request help for the bridge operation. Pilar is Pablo’s “woman” or wife—the official or unofficial nature of their relationship is unclear, and terms for her vary among the others. Despite the initial introduction of Pilar as Pablo’s woman, Pilar immediately strikes Robert as competent and reasonable, and she quickly gains control over the group when Pablo’s desire not to blow up the bridge is seen as cowardly.

Pablo’s journey encompasses his resistance to the plan, his later role as antagonist due to his stealing of some of the dynamite and equipment, and his prodigal return to help the group when he realizes he is lonely without them. Despite the fact that Robert has been sent to blow up the bridge and fight fascists, Pablo provides the most conflict for Robert outside of the natural elements, like the snow that reveals El Sordo to the fascists.

Pilar comes across as brave and wise, and while these traits are accurate, the stories she shares of her life reveal that she contains depths of sorrow and shame over some events of the war, such as how Pablo handled the executions of fascists in his town when the war started. Pilar remains determined to support the Republican cause until the end, but she is acutely aware of the fact that fascists are not the only ones who commit atrocities.

Maria is the daughter of a local governor who was killed by fascists alongside his wife. After their executions, Maria was taken to have her hair shorn and her body abused by the fascist soldiers. Robert is told that she was a mess when the guerrilleros rescued her, on Pilar’s orders, from a train they attacked; still in the height of her trauma, she could not function and had to be carried.

Maria has been doing better, but the others tell Robert that she seems much better after seeing him; the two experience an immediate connection. At Pilar’s urging, Maria goes to Robert in the night, and their physical and emotional relationship helps her to heal the psychological wounds of the abuse she experienced. She devotes herself to Robert, promising to learn how to be a good wife and claiming that they are “one” person, a concept that Robert uses to convince her to go when he is injured and dying, saying she must leave so that both of them may live through her.