The Bell: Mortality - Literary Influence

For Whom the Bell Tolls: Hemingway's novel owes themes as well as its title to Donne's Meditation

Ernest Hemingway wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls, which was published in 1940 to wide critical and public acclaim. This novel was written because Hemingway wanted his readers to feel that what happened to the Loyalists in Spain in 1937 was a part of the twentieth century world crisis in which everyone shared. Hemingway focused the conflict of war in the experiences of a single man, Robert Jordan. Why Hemingway wrote the novel in this way can be seen in John Donne's quotation: "any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee." Hemingway got the title for this novel from Donne's passage in Meditation XVII of Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions. he was first going to name the novel The Undiscovered Country. Hemingway went with For Whom the Bell Tolls, though, because he thought it had the magic that a title had to have. He said in a letter that "this is the first one [title] that has made the bell toll for me."

Donne's views are seen widely throughout Hemingway's novel: the love and death, the "Mankinde," integration, and involvement. The main character, Robert Jordan, feels the love for many people, yet he has times that he feels very isolated. He seems somewhat disconnected from death, which is changed by the death of Anselmo. From this, Jordan learns how to die, which is different from his disinterest in death. Jordan can die after he has been integrated; integrated in the sense that he has felt the earth move and he has been selfless and given completely of himself. He feels himself a part of humanity, which links to Donne's Mankinde, and he has felt in touch with nature. He is able to die knowing that he has done and seen everything that he can possibly do as one man. Instead of trying to be an island, Jordan realizes that he needs to be able to depend on other things. After realizing this, and realizing that everyone must die, that the bell tolls for everyone, he accepts death.

What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day: Modern "Bell" Literature

John Donne's Meditation, from which the famous quote "No man is an island" comes, deals with two topics - mortality and isolation. Donne also writes that no matter what a person does, it affects everyone around him or her. Pearl Cleage's What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day deals with a woman, Ava, who is isolated and then returns to her hometown in search of herself and support. Ava, from Crazy, knows from the start of the book that her life is not going to last forever and that death is closer than it should be. She finds out that she is HIV positive and she realizes that all of her reckless days have finally caught up with her. She is mortal and mortal people eventually die, but she is probably going to die sooner than most people. Although Ava doesn't continually dwell on the fact that she has the HIV virus which will eventually turn into AIDS, she knows what her limits are and that she must be careful about what she does and how she does it. For a long period of time, Ava seeks for comfort from a bottle of vodka and does so until she reaches her sister's house in Idlewild. She gives up the vodka after being there a while and depends on other people for support. Ava seems to be a very strong person, but even strong people need help once in a while.

Deborah Tannen writes in her article, "The TV host: Oprah Winfrey" that "Women, especially, listen to Winfrey because they feel as if she's a friend....Winfrey transformed the format into what I call 'rapport-talk,' the back-and-forth conversation that is the basis of female friendship, with the emphasis on self-revealing intimacies" (Tannen 2). Ava looks at her sister, Joyce, as one of these friends that she can tell her innermost secrets to. Joyce and Ava constantly have these back-and-forth conversations that Tannen is talking about. And what Ava does affects her sister and other people around her. Ava also seems to have a similar relationship with Eddie as it turns into more than a friendship. They have the same back-and-forth conversations that reveal their intimacies and their confessions. Two of these conversations include the most important confessions - why Eddie was in jail and Ava's secret about being HIV positive. In different conversations, Eddie confesses that he had once sold crack and had killed two people that tried to steal his stash of crack. In a different conversation, Ava tells Eddie that she is HIV positive. These conversations seem to bring them closer as friends and as lovers. Friendships between women are the same way. When secrets are shared between women, it brings them closer because they seem to feel like they know something that not everybody knows about and it makes them feel special. But during all of this, Ava still knows that she is mortal and that she will die eventually from her mistakes. That is why she is so cautious in telling Eddie and about getting close to him too soon. She was afraid that he would leave her as soon as he found out that she was HIV positive like every other man had done as soon as he found out. Eddie took it like a real man and understood that precautions had to be made, but he still wanted to be with her and this wasn't going to stop him.

Like the other main theme in Donne's Meditation, that what people do affects everyone around them, Ava affects everyone around her. She affects her sister, Eddie, Aretha the girl from the Sewing Circus, people in Atlanta and Idlewild, and even the little crack baby, Imani. What she says or does, or even people knowing that she is HIV positive affects them. Her sister feels her pain and tries to do what she can for Ava to make her feel better. At the same time, Joyce is trying to help Ava live a more fulfilled life. She gives her love and support and Ava reciprocates that love and they become best friends along with being sisters. Eddie is affected, and so is Ava, because they seem to find comfort in each other and they also find a lover. Aretha is made to feel special by Ava throughout the time that they are around each other. Ava tries to make Aretha feel like she can do and be anything is she just tries her hardest and wants to do it with enough energy. Ava cuts her hair before Aretha leaves to go to school and this seems to be the most dramatic influence on Aretha because Ava tells her that "Only free women can wear their hair this short" (148). She makes Aretha feel like she is a free woman and that she can be and do anything that makes her happy and successful. Aretha seems to be more affected by Ava than anyone else in the story, because Ava has made her feel special and has made her feel like she is something. Ava also had an affect on Imani, or rather Ava has been affected by Imani. She used to take her on walks with her in the mornings and would talk to her about whatever was on her mind. Since Imani couldn't talk yet, she was a good listener for Ava and this made her feel a little better because she knew Imani wasn't going to go around telling everyone what she had said. Anyone that knew that Ava was HIV positive was affected too. The people in Atlanta didn't want anything to do with her, the wife that came in and screamed at her for saying her husband needed to be tested, the women at the drugstore in Idlewild that were talking and whispering about it, and the two kids outside that were talking about her; these were all people that were affected by Ava, even though it was not exactly on purpose. It's amazing how many people take it to heart when they find out someone they know is HIV positive. It is almost like they feel like they are worse of a person or guilty somehow by knowing this person.

Click me in the left frame!How does Ava's story relate to Jordan's? Why do authors choose to write about themes of mortality? Questions? Please ask us! If this web site has provoked any questions in your mind, or if you're just curious or confused about something you see here, please click on the question mark icon in the panel to the left of this article. Then fill out the form and send your question to us!