Despite the United States’ strong opposition to Fascist ideology, this American author includes several humanizing portrayals that suggest their allegiance to cultural tradition rather than to authoritarianism.

While his Republican protagonists claim atheism in allegiance to their ideology, those of merit display a feverish sense of religiosity in their devotion to “the movement.” In this sense of passion, the Catholic authoritarian Fascists and secular egalitarian Republicans are quite similar. Though scholars find his political and ethical opinions to be elusive in his works, Hemingway asserts two main consistencies throughout: the merit of sacrifice in the name of one’s beliefs, and the unfortunate necessity of killing for a cause. Hemingway uses instances of tragedy in the text to reveal a common humanity amongst his characters, which blurs the line between their seemingly distinctive ideologies. Hemingway successfully captures the polarized condition of the interwar period, and yet both Fascist and Republican characters in the novel demonstrate an ongoing contest between political allegiance and moral belief.

This violent division of Spain is a useful example of political extremism and its unfortunate consequences, especially considering the divided condition of American and European politics today. On its surface, Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls presents the Spanish Civil War as a binary conflict: a struggle between Fascism and Socialism.

Hemingway editor for spanish