WEBVTT 00:10.933 --> 00:15.103 WAI CHEE DIMOCK: So I was able to come to Anna's 00:15.100 --> 00:17.030 section last week. 00:17.033 --> 00:19.233 And I really enjoyed the discussion very much. 00:19.233 --> 00:24.873 So I look forward to coming to all the sections and just 00:24.867 --> 00:28.627 matching the faces to the names and just hearing your 00:28.633 --> 00:30.033 voice and your ideas. 00:30.033 --> 00:34.703 So it was a great experience last Thursday. 00:34.700 --> 00:39.430 And once again, just can't stress enough how important it 00:39.433 --> 00:43.073 is to take advantage of the writing center. 00:43.067 --> 00:45.927 So today, we're going to go back. 00:45.933 --> 00:48.903 And I just want to refresh your memory about some of the 00:48.900 --> 00:52.730 things that we've been saying about For Whom the Bell Tolls. 00:52.733 --> 00:56.633 Those seven-fold permutations that we're looking at, in 00:56.633 --> 00:57.773 fact, pretty much all semester. 00:57.767 --> 01:01.767 And so individual in time, voluntary versus involuntary, 01:01.767 --> 01:06.697 foreign versus not foreign, literate versus not literate. 01:06.700 --> 01:11.170 And on Thursday, we were talking about the distant home 01:11.167 --> 01:13.527 versus the on-site environment. 01:13.533 --> 01:19.473 And it turns out that there really are two very distant 01:19.467 --> 01:23.127 homes and maybe just two homes for Robert. 01:23.133 --> 01:27.333 One is Paris, which isn't really a real home. 01:27.333 --> 01:31.233 But it is a home in the sense that it is something that he 01:31.233 --> 01:35.233 has the luxury of taking completely for granted. 01:35.233 --> 01:39.303 And so that's one definition of home, a place where he can 01:39.300 --> 01:42.330 work unselfconsciously. 01:42.333 --> 01:47.573 And the other home is a more complicated place in the sense 01:47.567 --> 01:51.827 that maybe it's not even a geographical locale, but a 01:51.833 --> 01:57.103 kind of emotional shelter that is given to him-- 01:57.100 --> 01:58.700 bestowed upon him really-- 01:58.700 --> 02:04.230 by his grandfather's very heroic presence 02:04.233 --> 02:05.733 in the civil war. 02:05.733 --> 02:08.803 So it's a nineteenth century home for him. 02:08.800 --> 02:15.100 And he needs that very much because of the non-home that 02:15.100 --> 02:17.000 is the twentieth century. 02:17.000 --> 02:20.600 I think that is really a very sad fact about Robert. 02:20.600 --> 02:23.300 And maybe it's true of some people. 02:23.300 --> 02:29.470 Sometimes it's true of some authors that I love that I 02:29.467 --> 02:31.567 feel that they really should have existed in a different 02:31.567 --> 02:36.267 century, and things would have been so much easier for them. 02:36.267 --> 02:38.167 Robert isn't exactly that kind of person. 02:38.167 --> 02:40.897 But there is a sense that the twentieth century has been 02:40.900 --> 02:42.470 very, very hard on him. 02:42.467 --> 02:46.297 And it is especially hard on him because of 02:46.300 --> 02:47.730 the fact of his father. 02:47.733 --> 02:51.473 And really, there's no more central fact than what your 02:51.467 --> 02:53.297 parent was. 02:53.300 --> 02:58.000 So this is the moment that clears up a lot of things for 02:58.000 --> 03:01.670 us why his own home, is in some sense, a 03:01.667 --> 03:03.927 non-home for him. 03:03.933 --> 03:07.503 So he got this gun back, his pistol, that was his 03:07.500 --> 03:11.570 grandfather's pistol from the Civil War that was misused by 03:11.567 --> 03:12.897 his own father. 03:12.900 --> 03:15.970 And this is what Robert does with that pistol. 03:15.967 --> 03:19.127 "...he climbed out on the rock and leaned over and saw his 03:19.133 --> 03:23.933 face in the still water and saw himself holding the gun, 03:23.933 --> 03:26.433 and then he dropped it, holding it by the muzzle, and 03:26.433 --> 03:30.633 saw it go down making bubbles until it was just as big as a 03:30.633 --> 03:34.633 watch charm in that clear water, and then it was out of 03:34.633 --> 03:35.903 sight." 03:35.900 --> 03:39.570 This is the best that he can do for his father is to make 03:39.567 --> 03:42.627 his father disappear. 03:42.633 --> 03:45.933 The extent of the contamination that his father 03:45.933 --> 03:50.203 has brought upon the memory of his grandfather can be washed 03:50.200 --> 03:55.370 clean only when he becomes no more than a bubble. 03:55.367 --> 04:00.867 And then not even a bubble anymore in that clear water. 04:00.867 --> 04:04.767 It clearly goes back to Hemingway's conception of 04:04.767 --> 04:09.867 cleanliness, of how one clears up one's life in In Our Time 04:09.867 --> 04:12.997 in the Big Two-Hearted River. 04:13.000 --> 04:18.170 But I think that also within For Whom the Bell Tolls, it 04:18.167 --> 04:23.327 also looks forward to a moment, a traumatic moment, 04:23.333 --> 04:27.373 when someone else is looking at something like a mirror and 04:27.367 --> 04:28.897 seeing his own reflection. 04:28.900 --> 04:31.830 And I just want to call your attention to the very 04:31.833 --> 04:37.603 deliberate composition of this particular visual tableau. 04:37.600 --> 04:39.730 Robert isn't just dropping the gun. 04:39.733 --> 04:41.203 He has to go up there. 04:41.200 --> 04:43.130 He has to see his own face. 04:43.133 --> 04:46.273 He has to see himself holding the gun. 04:46.267 --> 04:52.227 And it's that kind of almost narcissistic observation of 04:52.233 --> 04:55.503 himself that Hemingway is really fascinated by, and the 04:55.500 --> 04:57.530 psychological meaning of that. 04:57.533 --> 05:00.433 So we can read all kinds of meaning into 05:00.433 --> 05:01.333 this particular scene. 05:01.333 --> 05:05.873 And we'll see it repeated by another person in an equally 05:05.867 --> 05:07.427 traumatic moment. 05:07.433 --> 05:13.333 But here, it seems that Robert really has no parent. 05:13.333 --> 05:17.303 He looks at the world, and the only thing that 05:17.300 --> 05:19.600 he can see is himself. 05:19.600 --> 05:23.000 It's almost as if he's really an orphan, has always been an 05:23.000 --> 05:27.900 orphan all the time, because his father can't really be a 05:27.900 --> 05:29.630 father to him. 05:29.633 --> 05:34.173 And so the act of dropping the gun is, in some sense, only a 05:34.167 --> 05:36.697 redescription of what has long been a 05:36.700 --> 05:40.030 psychological fact for Robert. 05:40.033 --> 05:45.933 So all this highlights the fact of how important it is to 05:45.933 --> 05:49.333 die well, not just for yourself, but also for other 05:49.333 --> 05:54.173 people for whom your death would also be consequential. 05:54.167 --> 05:57.397 And here, the biography of Hemingway really 05:57.400 --> 05:59.500 becomes quite important. 05:59.500 --> 06:04.370 Hemingway's own father, Dr. Clarence Hemingway, died by 06:04.367 --> 06:06.527 his own hand. 06:06.533 --> 06:09.873 And we know that Hemingway himself also 06:09.867 --> 06:11.597 died by his own hands. 06:11.600 --> 06:14.430 So in many ways, For Whom the Bell Tolls is kind of a 06:14.433 --> 06:18.903 meditation ahead of time to that moment when Hemingway 06:18.900 --> 06:22.630 would have to decide what to do with his own life. 06:22.633 --> 06:27.173 And so this was front page news in the New York Times, 06:27.167 --> 06:29.727 June 3, 1961. 06:29.733 --> 06:33.603 Front page news, Chicago Tribune. 06:33.600 --> 06:41.330 And on July 3, 1961, the interpretation of the death of 06:41.333 --> 06:43.803 Hemingway was that it was accidental. 06:43.800 --> 06:48.430 He was cleaning his gun, and the gun just kept going off. 06:48.433 --> 06:54.473 And this fiction lasted for five years, until 1966, when 06:54.467 --> 06:57.097 his widow, Mary Hemingway, finally admitted that no, 06:57.100 --> 07:00.200 actually that he had just put the gun into his own mouth and 07:00.200 --> 07:02.330 blew out his own brains. 07:02.333 --> 07:05.673 So it took five years for the truth to come out. 07:05.667 --> 07:07.767 And now there are all kinds of theories. 07:07.767 --> 07:10.067 In fact, just last summer-- 07:10.067 --> 07:14.027 I think it was July-- there was a lot of speculation that 07:14.033 --> 07:15.973 Hemingway might have died because he was under such 07:15.967 --> 07:18.567 close surveillance by the FBI. 07:18.567 --> 07:22.597 So that's just a new theory that would still be coming up 07:22.600 --> 07:27.630 in 2011, so many years after the death. 07:27.633 --> 07:31.573 People still continue to have conjectures about why it was 07:31.567 --> 07:33.727 that Hemingway killed himself. 07:33.733 --> 07:37.303 But I think that one simple explanation is that he was 07:37.300 --> 07:39.430 just in very, very poor health. 07:39.433 --> 07:41.633 And he was not able to write. 07:41.633 --> 07:44.303 And I think that for a writer, there probably is nothing more 07:44.300 --> 07:47.000 painful than that, or something that would make life 07:47.000 --> 07:49.370 more meaningless than not being able to write. 07:49.367 --> 07:52.527 So this is a picture of him fairly close to the end. 07:52.533 --> 07:54.633 And this was a public appearance. 07:54.633 --> 07:56.333 So he wasn't looking too bad. 07:56.333 --> 07:59.803 But we can sort of see that he really wasn't looking well. 07:59.800 --> 08:00.570 And he was there. 08:00.567 --> 08:02.497 It was a fishing competition. 08:02.500 --> 08:05.330 And Castro apparently won lots of trophies. 08:05.333 --> 08:08.403 And Hemingway was there to give him the trophies. 08:08.400 --> 08:10.070 But he really wasn't looking well. 08:10.067 --> 08:14.197 So I think that that probably is the simplest explanation, 08:14.200 --> 08:17.900 that he no longer is what he once was. 08:17.900 --> 08:21.070 And he simply couldn't accept the fact that there is this 08:21.067 --> 08:26.197 kind of sharp decline in his mental abilities 08:26.200 --> 08:28.570 and physical abilities. 08:28.567 --> 08:32.167 So this is the last image that I like 08:32.167 --> 08:34.027 to show you of Hemingway. 08:34.033 --> 08:36.833 It's just where he used to write. 08:36.833 --> 08:41.903 And that is the most important place for him, really, in the 08:41.900 --> 08:43.230 whole world. 08:43.233 --> 08:47.833 And today, we'll talk about the thinking about that, about 08:47.833 --> 08:49.433 how he ended his life. 08:49.433 --> 08:54.373 We'll think about the varieties of dying and the 08:54.367 --> 08:58.627 numerous ways by which people end or choose 08:58.633 --> 09:00.233 not to end the life. 09:00.233 --> 09:03.333 So Hemingway actually covers the entire spectrum-- 09:03.333 --> 09:06.803 people who choose to die as well as people who choose not 09:06.800 --> 09:11.900 to die and seeing what it means in each case. 09:11.900 --> 09:16.700 So we'll begin by looking at the central event in For Whom 09:16.700 --> 09:20.870 the Bell Tolls, the execution of the fascist. 09:20.867 --> 09:24.427 And then we'll look at the personal end or non-end of 09:24.433 --> 09:27.603 various individuals, beginning with Finito whose name 09:27.600 --> 09:29.230 obviously is a pun. 09:29.233 --> 09:33.433 And then the old women in the Madrid market, in the bombing, 09:33.433 --> 09:37.173 which is a new phenomenon in the early twentieth century. 09:37.167 --> 09:39.397 And then Robert's father again. 09:39.400 --> 09:42.900 And then Pablo, someone who refuses to die. 09:42.900 --> 09:48.500 But first of all, the execution of the fascist. We 09:48.500 --> 09:52.370 should remember this whole, very long episode 09:52.367 --> 09:54.597 is narrated by Pilar. 09:54.600 --> 09:58.170 So I hope that you guys will talk about it in section what 09:58.167 --> 10:02.567 it means for a woman who's on the Republican side to be 10:02.567 --> 10:05.667 recounting this story, the execution of her political 10:05.667 --> 10:09.767 enemies and how she feels about this, and why it is that 10:09.767 --> 10:13.997 Hemingway chooses to have a woman tell this story. 10:14.000 --> 10:19.730 So anyway, this is Pilar speaking, and how the 10:19.733 --> 10:23.433 Republican guerrillas have taken the town, so they can 10:23.433 --> 10:25.433 execute all the fascists. 10:25.433 --> 10:29.003 And this is all engineered by Pablo. 10:29.000 --> 10:34.130 "He placed them in two lines as you would place men for a 10:34.133 --> 10:38.503 rope pulling contest or as they stand in the city to 10:38.500 --> 10:42.800 watch the ending of a bicycle road race with just room for 10:42.800 --> 10:46.870 the cyclists to pass between, or as men stood to allow the 10:46.867 --> 10:51.197 passage of a holy image in a procession. 10:51.200 --> 10:55.200 Two meters was left between the lines and they extended 10:55.200 --> 10:59.600 from the door of the Ayuntamiento clear across the 10:59.600 --> 11:02.670 plaza to the edge of the cliff. 11:02.667 --> 11:06.467 So that, from the doorway of the Ayuntamiento, looking 11:06.467 --> 11:10.397 across the plaza, one coming out would see two solid lines 11:10.400 --> 11:12.570 of people waiting." 11:12.567 --> 11:15.997 For Pilar, this formation, this 11:16.000 --> 11:18.030 particular visual tableau-- 11:18.033 --> 11:20.433 and once again, it's highly visual-- 11:20.433 --> 11:23.203 is emphasizing what one will see coming out of the 11:23.200 --> 11:25.500 Ayuntamiento. 11:25.500 --> 11:30.000 It's two solid lines of people who are very, all the way, not 11:30.000 --> 11:34.270 inflamed by passion, just doing what needs to be done. 11:34.267 --> 11:39.927 And so all the metaphors that Hemingway uses are actually 11:39.933 --> 11:44.603 ritualistic metaphors, something that is extremely 11:44.600 --> 11:47.570 well-defined or very well-defined rules of the 11:47.567 --> 11:51.367 game, like rope pulling contests or better yet, 11:51.367 --> 11:53.397 bicycle race. 11:53.400 --> 11:58.700 Not considered a violent event, either of those. 11:58.700 --> 12:03.930 But it still more intensifying the degree of ceremoniousness 12:03.933 --> 12:06.333 is the procession of the holy image of 12:06.333 --> 12:08.273 an icon going through. 12:08.267 --> 12:11.767 So the three metaphors highlight the fact that there 12:11.767 --> 12:19.227 is the equivalent of those rituals, civic and religious 12:19.233 --> 12:24.833 rituals, that would be a political ritual of execution. 12:24.833 --> 12:27.073 At it's most utopian -- 12:27.067 --> 12:31.627 the execution of your opponents, which is a 12:31.633 --> 12:34.233 necessary thing in some cases -- 12:34.233 --> 12:37.973 the execution of your political opponents should be 12:37.967 --> 12:41.767 as ritualistic, as ceremonious, as free of 12:41.767 --> 12:45.627 passion, as all those other ritualistic events. 12:45.633 --> 12:49.933 So this is a very utopian moment in For 12:49.933 --> 12:51.003 Whom the Bell Tolls. 12:51.000 --> 12:55.870 And if it could be held at this level, then the Spanish 12:55.867 --> 12:59.327 Civil War, according to Pilar, would in fact be a good war or 12:59.333 --> 13:00.173 a beautiful war. 13:00.167 --> 13:03.627 And she tends to think of those terms as sometimes 13:03.633 --> 13:05.233 synonymous, and we'll talk about that. 13:05.233 --> 13:08.533 But in any case, it begins with a very utopian 13:08.533 --> 13:12.373 description of what a war could be and what you could do 13:12.367 --> 13:15.197 to your enemies without debasing them, without abusing 13:15.200 --> 13:18.130 them, even though you do kill them. 13:18.133 --> 13:22.233 And I tried to find an image of the two lines of people, 13:22.233 --> 13:25.903 with the people who are being executed passing through. 13:25.900 --> 13:28.370 And I just couldn't find an image, I guess. 13:28.367 --> 13:29.527 It's not surprising. 13:29.533 --> 13:32.833 Probably nobody will be taking pictures at that moment. 13:32.833 --> 13:37.003 But as it turns out, one major artist actually has numerous 13:37.000 --> 13:39.930 paintings that seem to be alluding to 13:39.933 --> 13:41.073 that kind of formation. 13:41.067 --> 13:44.427 And it's Robert Motherwell, a major twentieth century 13:44.433 --> 13:47.303 artist. And not only does he have one, he 13:47.300 --> 13:49.030 actually has numerous. 13:49.033 --> 13:53.273 From the '50s on to the '70s, he produced numerous paintings 13:53.267 --> 13:56.567 all called Elegy to the Spanish Republic with this two 13:56.567 --> 13:57.597 line formation. 13:57.600 --> 14:00.100 So this is an early one that was found in, I 14:00.100 --> 14:02.700 think it was 1954. 14:02.700 --> 14:03.830 And this one is much later. 14:03.833 --> 14:05.333 He numbers all of them. 14:05.333 --> 14:08.873 This one is in the Metropolitan Museum. 14:08.867 --> 14:12.667 And this one is 102, I don't actually remember what date it 14:12.667 --> 14:15.227 was, but obviously later. 14:15.233 --> 14:18.403 And this one is quite late in the '70s, 14:18.400 --> 14:20.400 110 now in the series. 14:20.400 --> 14:22.630 And it's in the Guggenheim Museum. 14:22.633 --> 14:28.273 So clearly, Hemingway's talking about something that's 14:28.267 --> 14:32.867 also recognized by other people as, in many ways, kind 14:32.867 --> 14:38.627 of the utopian moment of the war when violence is both 14:38.633 --> 14:44.033 executed, but not allowed to get out of hand. 14:44.033 --> 14:49.073 But Hemingway also shows us that, in fact, that is not a 14:49.067 --> 14:51.927 sustainable Utopia. 14:51.933 --> 14:58.103 That violence kept within limits, violence kept within 14:58.100 --> 15:01.930 bounds, is not likely to last for the whole 15:01.933 --> 15:04.103 duration of the war. 15:04.100 --> 15:09.130 So Pilar refers to this as drunkenness 15:09.133 --> 15:11.803 coming into the lines. 15:11.800 --> 15:17.230 ".,..the people of this town are as kind as they can be 15:17.233 --> 15:22.833 cruel and they have a natural sense of justice and a desire 15:22.833 --> 15:24.573 to do that which is right. 15:24.567 --> 15:28.767 But cruelty had entered into the lines and also drunkenness 15:28.767 --> 15:32.067 or the beginning of drunkenness and the lines were 15:32.067 --> 15:36.497 not as they were when Don Benito had come out... 15:36.500 --> 15:40.900 in Spain drunkenness, when produced by other elements 15:40.900 --> 15:45.030 than wine, is a thing of great ugliness." 15:45.033 --> 15:48.503 So already we're beginning to see the language of beauty and 15:48.500 --> 15:52.900 ugliness coming into the situation where it seems that 15:52.900 --> 15:55.670 moral judgment is in play. 15:55.667 --> 16:00.897 So Pilar's referring to real drunks, actual people who are 16:00.900 --> 16:03.800 drunks in that episode. 16:03.800 --> 16:07.200 But she's also referring to another kind of drunkenness, 16:07.200 --> 16:09.670 which is to be drunk with maybe 16:09.667 --> 16:11.897 the desire for vengeance. 16:11.900 --> 16:15.900 Drunk with your own sense of momentary power, absolute 16:15.900 --> 16:17.970 power over someone. 16:17.967 --> 16:20.827 Drunk with your ability to bring about absolute 16:20.833 --> 16:23.573 debasement in your opponent. 16:23.567 --> 16:26.397 All of those things can make people inebriated. 16:26.400 --> 16:29.170 And so Hemingway's really talking about and Pilar is 16:29.167 --> 16:33.827 talking about different forms of inebriation and how they 16:33.833 --> 16:39.933 can all work to break down the stability, orderliness, and 16:39.933 --> 16:43.073 ceremoniousness of what really ought to be 16:43.067 --> 16:44.667 no more than a ritual. 16:44.667 --> 16:48.597 So it's the breakdown of ritual that for Pilar marks 16:48.600 --> 16:52.600 the beginning of the chaos and the mob violence that takes 16:52.600 --> 16:55.500 over the scene. 16:55.500 --> 16:59.070 So just because we're talking so much about-- she just talks 16:59.067 --> 17:00.327 about ugliness. 17:00.333 --> 17:04.573 And in many ways, she's inviting us to think about 17:04.567 --> 17:08.027 both the ethics, but also the aesthetics of killing. 17:08.033 --> 17:12.003 A book that is pertinent to that kind of thinking is 17:12.000 --> 17:15.800 Elaine Scarry's book On Beauty and Being Just. And her 17:15.800 --> 17:19.730 argument is that beauty is actually very important in our 17:19.733 --> 17:21.933 consideration of justice. 17:21.933 --> 17:25.203 That the sense of proportion, the sense of balance, the 17:25.200 --> 17:27.830 sense of symmetry, all those ideas that we associate with 17:27.833 --> 17:32.073 beauty should also be concepts that we consider when we think 17:32.067 --> 17:34.127 about crime and punishment. 17:34.133 --> 17:37.473 Whether the punishment is commensurate with the crime. 17:37.467 --> 17:39.627 So it's a very interesting argument. 17:39.633 --> 17:43.933 And not really just about execution of political 17:43.933 --> 17:47.433 prisoners, but thinking about justice in general. 17:47.433 --> 17:53.133 So just keep that in mind as we go with Pilar to talk more 17:53.133 --> 17:56.733 about the breakdown of the line. 17:56.733 --> 18:00.733 "Then some drunkard yelled, 'Guillermo!' from the lines, 18:00.733 --> 18:05.073 imitating the high cracked voice of his wife and Don 18:05.067 --> 18:09.927 Guillermo rushed toward the man, blindingly, with tears 18:09.933 --> 18:13.273 now running down his cheeks and the man hit him hard 18:13.267 --> 18:17.827 across the face with his flail and Don Guillermo sat down 18:17.833 --> 18:21.073 from the force of the blow and sat there crying, but not from 18:21.067 --> 18:25.067 fear, while the drunkards beat him and one drunkard jumped on 18:25.067 --> 18:27.767 top of him, astride his shoulders, and beat him with a 18:27.767 --> 18:30.867 bottle." 18:30.867 --> 18:33.567 My reading is not even doing justice to just how horrendous 18:33.567 --> 18:35.427 this scene is. 18:35.433 --> 18:40.073 And I think that the reason that Hemingway really singles 18:40.067 --> 18:45.527 out this moment is, in fact, incommensurability between the 18:45.533 --> 18:46.903 punishment and the crime. 18:46.900 --> 18:48.270 We know in fact-- 18:48.267 --> 18:50.627 and Pilar is very careful to tell us-- 18:50.633 --> 18:53.673 that Guillermo is not the worst of the fascists. 18:53.667 --> 18:55.367 In fact, he's not rich. 18:55.367 --> 18:56.297 He doesn't own anything. 18:56.300 --> 19:00.900 He owns a wooden implement little shop. 19:00.900 --> 19:02.800 He is a fascist because of his wife, 19:02.800 --> 19:04.630 because his wife is religious. 19:04.633 --> 19:08.803 And so he just becomes a fascist to humor her. 19:08.800 --> 19:12.470 So he really is the last person who ought to be 19:12.467 --> 19:15.227 executed under those circumstances. 19:15.233 --> 19:18.273 And he's also the last person who ought to be humiliated in 19:18.267 --> 19:19.827 this particular way. 19:19.833 --> 19:22.433 There's various kinds of execution. 19:22.433 --> 19:26.133 There doesn't have to be this kind of very brutal kind of 19:26.133 --> 19:28.573 debasement of the person that's 19:28.567 --> 19:29.967 just very cruel mockery. 19:29.967 --> 19:33.597 This is really what Pilar means that these people are 19:33.600 --> 19:38.570 naturally kind, but they're also capable of great cruelty. 19:38.567 --> 19:42.727 And this is the moment when we see that cruelty dramatized. 19:42.733 --> 19:46.033 So it's not even the killing of Guillermo. 19:46.033 --> 19:47.803 It's the making fun of him. 19:50.733 --> 19:57.333 And just the whole treatise, the scenario engineer in such 19:57.333 --> 20:00.973 a way as to bring about the maximum degradation on the 20:00.967 --> 20:02.167 part of Guillermo. 20:02.167 --> 20:05.897 This is what makes this scene so unbearable. 20:05.900 --> 20:14.730 And so for Pilar, this is the absolute low point maybe of 20:14.733 --> 20:16.333 the whole Spanish Civil War up to that point. 20:16.333 --> 20:18.473 Although she can't look into the future, and she doesn't 20:18.467 --> 20:20.727 know what's to come. 20:20.733 --> 20:25.373 But in any case, this is the moment when all of a sudden, 20:25.367 --> 20:28.227 everything seems to be going the wrong way. 20:28.233 --> 20:33.903 And it is a turning point for the worse for Pilar. 20:33.900 --> 20:37.670 "'I myself had felt much emotion at the shooting of the 20:37.667 --> 20:42.727 guardia civil by Pablo,' Pilar said. 'It was a thing of great 20:42.733 --> 20:48.233 ugliness, but I had thought if this is how it must be, this 20:48.233 --> 20:52.073 is how it must be, and at least there was no cruelty, 20:52.067 --> 20:56.527 only the depriving of life, which as we all have learned 20:56.533 --> 21:01.903 in these years is a thing of ugliness but also a necessity 21:01.900 --> 21:06.770 to do if we are to win, and to preserve the Republic.'" 21:06.767 --> 21:11.267 So it's a very complex bit of reasoning here. 21:11.267 --> 21:13.867 And it seems that Pilar's actually 21:13.867 --> 21:15.667 disagreeing with Scarry. 21:15.667 --> 21:19.067 So Scarry thinks that there's almost kind of a perfect match 21:19.067 --> 21:21.597 between beauty and justice. 21:21.600 --> 21:24.330 That in our mind's eye-- 21:24.333 --> 21:26.533 not so much in the physical eye, but in our 21:26.533 --> 21:29.033 mind's eye in our mind-- 21:29.033 --> 21:32.103 what we recognize in our mind's eye as beautiful will 21:32.100 --> 21:34.870 also be just. That there's that kind 21:34.867 --> 21:36.927 of balance and symmetry. 21:36.933 --> 21:39.533 But Pilar's making a distinction between something 21:39.533 --> 21:43.603 that is ugly and something that is morally reprehensible 21:43.600 --> 21:46.330 and something that is politically necessary. 21:46.333 --> 21:48.033 So those are the three kinds of 21:48.033 --> 21:50.103 concepts that are in play in her head. 21:50.100 --> 21:56.500 And for her, something that is politically necessary can also 21:56.500 --> 21:59.330 be ugly, and that is OK. 21:59.333 --> 22:03.003 So she can take ugliness. 22:03.000 --> 22:03.930 She doesn't welcome it. 22:03.933 --> 22:05.573 She doesn't love it. 22:05.567 --> 22:07.497 But she can take it. 22:07.500 --> 22:10.970 It is the cruelty that she can't take. 22:10.967 --> 22:15.127 And so based on that distinction, it is the fact 22:15.133 --> 22:22.473 that cruelty had entered into the lines. 22:22.467 --> 22:29.127 For her, that is the measure of just how much the sense of 22:29.133 --> 22:32.673 war has been corrupted from within. 22:32.667 --> 22:35.027 That basically it has gone bad. 22:35.033 --> 22:38.473 And that is a phrase that Hemingway uses quite a bit in 22:38.467 --> 22:39.867 For Whom the Bell Tolls. 22:39.867 --> 22:43.097 Pablo is someone who has gone bad. 22:43.100 --> 22:47.870 And the Spanish Civil War, the Republican cause is something 22:47.867 --> 22:49.267 that has gone bad. 22:49.267 --> 22:53.597 So the final reflection from Pilar. 22:53.600 --> 22:57.230 "...but I could not sleep that night and I got up and sat in 22:57.233 --> 23:01.003 a chair and looked out of the window and I could see the 23:01.000 --> 23:04.630 square in the moonlight where the lines had been and across 23:04.633 --> 23:08.203 the square the trees shining in the moonlight, and the 23:08.200 --> 23:11.600 darkness of their shadows, and the benches bright too in the 23:11.600 --> 23:15.330 moonlight, and the scattered bottles shining, and beyond 23:15.333 --> 23:18.533 the edge of the cliff where they had all been thrown. 23:18.533 --> 23:22.603 And there was no sound but the splashing of the water in the 23:22.600 --> 23:28.370 fountain and I sat there and I thought we have begun badly." 23:28.367 --> 23:33.467 So she's arriving at that, which for her, is the ultimate 23:33.467 --> 23:34.197 really judgment. 23:34.200 --> 23:36.400 Not ugly, but bad. 23:36.400 --> 23:41.200 That this is her verdict on her own side. 23:41.200 --> 23:45.270 So Pilar, of course, is not speaking for Hemingway. 23:45.267 --> 23:48.127 But I think that she has a lot of authority. 23:48.133 --> 23:53.003 And so her pity is something that we 23:53.000 --> 23:55.070 should take very seriously. 23:55.067 --> 23:59.567 At what point does cruelty in any war-- 23:59.567 --> 24:03.297 not just the Spanish Civil War but the first World War, the 24:03.300 --> 24:04.330 second World War especially is a war 24:04.333 --> 24:06.603 marked by great cruelty-- 24:06.600 --> 24:10.330 at what point does cruelty render that side not 24:10.333 --> 24:11.773 justifiable any action? 24:11.767 --> 24:14.667 Even winning is maybe not justifiable. 24:14.667 --> 24:20.227 So from there, from this kind of a large-scale meditation on 24:20.233 --> 24:24.233 the justice of war -- whether there could be a just war -- 24:24.233 --> 24:29.433 or at what point does all wars become unjust -- 24:29.433 --> 24:36.333 From that large scale macro meditation, let's move on to 24:36.333 --> 24:42.673 thinking about dying as a much more personal phenomenon and 24:42.667 --> 24:45.327 also a choice, quite often. 24:45.333 --> 24:48.533 Hemingway is very interested both in people dying 24:48.533 --> 24:55.033 involuntarily, but also in people choosing to live on 24:55.033 --> 24:59.373 voluntarily, even though living on might not be a very 24:59.367 --> 25:00.967 beautiful thing. 25:00.967 --> 25:04.197 Might not even be actually an ethical thing, although that 25:04.200 --> 25:07.030 is kind of a funny thing to say. 25:07.033 --> 25:13.573 But he certainly seems to be really thinking about looking 25:13.567 --> 25:17.427 forward to his own end in the Agustin episodes, but 25:17.433 --> 25:21.803 beginning with the bullfighter Finito. 25:21.800 --> 25:25.930 So this is someone who is already-- 25:25.933 --> 25:28.033 his career is over at this point. 25:28.033 --> 25:31.573 He's gone to his last corrida, last bullfight. 25:31.567 --> 25:36.197 And this is the ceremony celebrating the end of his 25:36.200 --> 25:39.900 career and his retirement and his glorious 25:39.900 --> 25:42.670 career up to this point. 25:42.667 --> 25:47.267 "Finito did not eat much because he had received a 25:47.267 --> 25:51.327 palotaxo, a blow from the flat of the horn when we had gone 25:51.333 --> 25:56.373 in to kill in his last corrida of the year at Zaragoza. 25:56.367 --> 25:59.667 So the president of the Club reached the end of the speech 25:59.667 --> 26:02.627 and then, with everybody cheering him, he stood on a 26:02.633 --> 26:07.373 chair and reached up and untied the cord that bound the 26:07.367 --> 26:09.627 purple shroud over the head. 26:09.633 --> 26:14.403 And the head of the bull was as though he were alive, his 26:14.400 --> 26:19.470 forehead was curly as in life and his nostrils were open and 26:19.467 --> 26:22.027 his eyes were bright and he was there 26:22.033 --> 26:25.173 looking straight at Finito. 26:25.167 --> 26:30.197 Everyone shouted and applauded and Finito sunk further back 26:30.200 --> 26:34.670 in the chair and then everyone was quiet and looking at him 26:34.667 --> 26:38.467 and he said, 'No, no,' and looked at the bull and pulled 26:38.467 --> 26:43.697 further back and then he said, 'No!' very loudly and a big 26:43.700 --> 26:48.470 blob of blood came out and he didn't even put up the napkin 26:48.467 --> 26:52.227 and it slid down his chin and he was still looking at the 26:52.233 --> 26:53.033 bull." 26:53.033 --> 26:56.373 There's a lot of looking in Hemingway. 26:56.367 --> 26:59.667 You guys can write a great paper just by looking at the 26:59.667 --> 27:01.867 dynamics of looking. 27:01.867 --> 27:05.197 Sort of the gaze that we cast upon someone else and 27:05.200 --> 27:08.530 sometimes the gaze that they cast back at us. 27:08.533 --> 27:11.933 Quite often it's a kind of a reciprocal process. 27:11.933 --> 27:15.833 And here it is indeed a reciprocal process. 27:15.833 --> 27:19.273 Finito is looking at the bull, and the bull 27:19.267 --> 27:21.067 is looking at him. 27:21.067 --> 27:23.027 Even though it's a dead bull, it doesn't matter. 27:23.033 --> 27:25.633 A dead bull can look back at you too. 27:25.633 --> 27:30.673 And it seems that here, actually, it is not what 27:30.667 --> 27:31.927 Finito is seeing. 27:31.933 --> 27:34.073 It's not the mirror image. 27:34.067 --> 27:36.827 And that's what's so heartbreaking about it. 27:36.833 --> 27:41.333 It would have been great if it had been a mirror image. 27:41.333 --> 27:46.403 Because what he sees in a bull is actually a bull in a full 27:46.400 --> 27:47.730 vigor of life. 27:47.733 --> 27:53.473 This bull, even though it's dead, he's more alive than 27:53.467 --> 27:59.067 when he was alive, it seems. His curly hair, his nostrils 27:59.067 --> 28:01.297 are open, his eyes are bright. 28:01.300 --> 28:04.170 He's just a great spectacle. 28:04.167 --> 28:05.397 And more than that, he's animate. 28:05.400 --> 28:10.500 He seems to be endowed with life even after death. 28:10.500 --> 28:16.830 And so if this were a mirror image, this ought to have been 28:16.833 --> 28:21.333 Finito in his prime of life, when he was a great matador, 28:21.333 --> 28:23.933 when he wouldn't be coughing blood, when he would be able 28:23.933 --> 28:27.473 to eat instead of now when he can't eat anything, because of 28:27.467 --> 28:29.827 the damage that has been done to this stomach. 28:29.833 --> 28:33.933 So if this were a mirror image, Finito would have been 28:33.933 --> 28:34.773 young again. 28:34.767 --> 28:37.797 But we all know that that's not going to happen. 28:37.800 --> 28:43.570 And so Hemingway is clearly punning on the word Finito. 28:43.567 --> 28:46.097 This is a man who is finished. 28:46.100 --> 28:52.700 When a man is finished in this particular way, is it better 28:52.700 --> 28:55.100 or worse for him to be still alive? 28:55.100 --> 28:59.330 Wouldn't it have been better if he had been killed earlier, 28:59.333 --> 29:00.673 just like the bull? 29:00.667 --> 29:05.567 Then he would have been preserved at the maximum high 29:05.567 --> 29:06.867 point of his life. 29:06.867 --> 29:09.227 So I think it's not the kind of thinking that actually we 29:09.233 --> 29:11.473 want to engage in all the time. 29:11.467 --> 29:15.297 But it is something that I think that Hemingway takes 29:15.300 --> 29:17.930 very seriously, obviously. 29:17.933 --> 29:20.733 And so for him, this is a kind of comic -- 29:20.733 --> 29:23.333 tragic-comic moment of survival. 29:23.333 --> 29:25.733 Yes, Finito is hanging on there. 29:25.733 --> 29:28.373 He's not about to just dispatch himself voluntarily. 29:28.367 --> 29:30.067 He's going to hang on. 29:30.067 --> 29:35.027 But it's a very dubious kind of hanging on. 29:35.033 --> 29:39.373 And the only redeeming thing that we can say about it is 29:39.367 --> 29:40.167 that it is funny. 29:40.167 --> 29:40.997 It's comical. 29:41.000 --> 29:43.900 So once again, the only way that we can take this, we can 29:43.900 --> 29:47.030 swallow this, stomach it, is by saying that it is a comical 29:47.033 --> 29:49.373 moment in For Whom the Bell Tolls. 29:49.367 --> 29:54.867 And there's another equally tragic-comic, obviously mostly 29:54.867 --> 29:58.467 comic moment in For Whom the Bell Tolls about somebody 29:58.467 --> 30:00.767 hanging on, refusing to die, even though they have 30:00.767 --> 30:04.497 finished, as Finito is also finished. 30:04.500 --> 30:10.130 This is Pilar talking to Robert about 30:10.133 --> 30:10.933 the smell of death. 30:10.933 --> 30:14.033 And then he doesn't know what that smells like. 30:14.033 --> 30:17.173 And she tells him to go to the market in Madrid. 30:17.167 --> 30:21.997 "'You must go down the hill in Madrid to the Puente de Toledo 30:22.000 --> 30:26.070 early in the morning to the matadero and stand there on 30:26.067 --> 30:29.727 the wet paving when there is a fog from the Manzanares and 30:29.733 --> 30:33.473 wait for the old women who go before daylight to drink the 30:33.467 --> 30:36.297 blood of the beasts that are slaughtered. 30:36.300 --> 30:40.930 When such an old woman comes out of the matadero, holding 30:40.933 --> 30:46.233 her shawl around her, with her face gray and her eyes hollow, 30:46.233 --> 30:51.303 and the whiskers of age on her chin and on her cheeks, set in 30:51.300 --> 30:54.630 the waxen white of her face as the sprouts grow from the seed 30:54.633 --> 31:00.073 of the bean, not bristles but pale sprouts in the 31:00.067 --> 31:01.527 death of her face. 31:01.533 --> 31:05.233 Put your arms tights around her, Ingles, and hold her to 31:05.233 --> 31:08.873 you and kiss her on the mouth and you will know the second 31:08.867 --> 31:11.897 part that odor is made of." 31:11.900 --> 31:15.030 I definitely think there's quite a bit of 31:15.033 --> 31:17.333 misogyny going on. 31:17.333 --> 31:21.503 Old people, male and female kind of look bad. 31:21.500 --> 31:25.630 But Hemingway seems completely fixated on how 31:25.633 --> 31:28.573 bad old women look. 31:28.567 --> 31:32.797 And especially the bean sprouts growing on her face -- 31:35.767 --> 31:39.067 I think that's why it's sort of comic and is 31:39.067 --> 31:40.627 OK because of that. 31:44.467 --> 31:48.497 Actually, lots of very well known older women have this 31:48.500 --> 31:52.370 kind of whiskers on the faces. 31:52.367 --> 31:55.627 And it's just a fact. 31:55.633 --> 31:58.973 But for Hemingway, it seems to be a kind of a reproach on the 31:58.967 --> 32:01.367 old women that they should have this 32:01.367 --> 32:04.297 growth on their faces. 32:04.300 --> 32:08.300 And that, in many ways, they are going against nature, that 32:08.300 --> 32:11.470 suddenly they have become men rather than women to have 32:11.467 --> 32:13.867 whiskers on their faces and so on. 32:13.867 --> 32:17.367 And so they really ought to have died earlier instead of 32:17.367 --> 32:20.367 allowing this unnatural phenomena to happen to them. 32:23.633 --> 32:28.833 It's really a very small incident, but nonetheless, the 32:28.833 --> 32:32.703 female counterpart to the Finito story. 32:32.700 --> 32:35.830 And I just want to stop here for a moment and talk a little 32:35.833 --> 32:38.673 bit about the interconnections between Hemingway and 32:38.667 --> 32:39.127 Fitzgerald. 32:39.133 --> 32:43.003 In fact, we've seen this phenomenon before of a kind of 32:43.000 --> 32:46.230 an unnatural growth that is almost a parody of nature. 32:46.233 --> 32:49.333 So we've just had this tragic comic bean 32:49.333 --> 32:52.173 sprouts on a human face. 32:52.167 --> 32:58.067 And actually in Fitzgerald, we have a kind of non-comic 32:58.067 --> 33:01.697 version of that in The Great Gatsby in the Valley of the 33:01.700 --> 33:04.830 Ashes with the ashes growing like wheat. 33:04.833 --> 33:07.573 And I'll read you the passage in a moment. 33:07.567 --> 33:11.927 But Hemingway also has the kind of non-comic parallel to 33:11.933 --> 33:15.833 the Fitzgerald version, which is also a kind of parody of 33:15.833 --> 33:17.403 nature that we'll look at. 33:17.400 --> 33:22.070 But first, something that is almost like the market scene 33:22.067 --> 33:24.727 of the bean sprouts in The Great Gatsby. 33:24.733 --> 33:30.473 "This is the valley of ashes, a fantastic farm where ashes 33:30.467 --> 33:35.997 grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque 33:36.000 --> 33:36.830 gardens." 33:36.833 --> 33:40.033 So Fitzgerald's talking about some kind of grotesque 33:40.033 --> 33:44.103 vegetation that is made up of the animate and the inanimate. 33:44.100 --> 33:47.070 And in many ways, Hemingway's talking about exactly the same 33:47.067 --> 33:48.567 thing, the bean sprouts. 33:48.567 --> 33:50.127 The women are almost inanimate. 33:50.133 --> 33:52.503 They really ought to be inanimate. 33:52.500 --> 33:57.130 It's a caricature of the animate that they are animate. 33:57.133 --> 34:01.333 But in any case, it is sort of the re-commingling of the 34:01.333 --> 34:04.333 animate and the inanimate that he's talking about and that 34:04.333 --> 34:06.533 Fitzgerald is also talking about. 34:06.533 --> 34:11.433 So just really curious that the organic and inorganic are 34:11.433 --> 34:15.403 mixed in this way for both authors. 34:15.400 --> 34:19.000 I would say that for Fitzgerald this is very hard 34:19.000 --> 34:20.970 to see this as comic at all. 34:20.967 --> 34:22.497 He didn't try very hard. 34:22.500 --> 34:26.800 But this is just not that funny. 34:26.800 --> 34:27.570 It's ominous. 34:27.567 --> 34:31.067 It refers to a tragedy. 34:31.067 --> 34:37.997 But Hemingway also has a completely non-comic parallel 34:38.000 --> 34:42.770 to that of something that is almost a parody of nature, 34:42.767 --> 34:45.927 except that it doesn't take the form of bean sprouts. 34:45.933 --> 34:53.233 It is a human invention that looks like the work of nature, 34:53.233 --> 34:55.703 but there's something else. 34:55.700 --> 34:59.700 So there's another bombing of the El Sordo band on the top 34:59.700 --> 35:00.300 of the hill. 35:00.300 --> 35:03.570 They've been chased to the top of the hill, and they're 35:03.567 --> 35:07.627 basically kept there by the firing power of the enemy. 35:07.633 --> 35:11.033 And they're on the top of the hill, so they're just being 35:11.033 --> 35:16.733 bombed, the maximum point of efficiency from the bombs. 35:16.733 --> 35:19.273 "Then, through the hammering of the gun, there was the 35:19.267 --> 35:23.267 whistle of the air splitting apart and then in the red 35:23.267 --> 35:28.627 black roar the earth rolled under his knees and then waved 35:28.633 --> 35:32.973 up to hit him in the face and then dirt and bits of rock 35:32.967 --> 35:37.167 were falling all over and Ignacio was lying on him and 35:37.167 --> 35:39.467 the gun was lying on him. 35:39.467 --> 35:42.567 But he was not dead because the whistle came again and the 35:42.567 --> 35:46.667 earth rolled under him with the roar then they came again 35:46.667 --> 35:49.867 and the earth lurched under his belly and one side of the 35:49.867 --> 35:54.467 hilltop rose into the air and fell slowly over them where 35:54.467 --> 35:55.827 they lay." 35:55.833 --> 35:58.873 Supposedly it is bombs dropped by all those 35:58.867 --> 36:00.297 bombers that we saw. 36:00.300 --> 36:03.430 The Heinkos and the Fiats, the German Heinkos and 36:03.433 --> 36:06.333 the Italian Fiats dropping the bombs. 36:06.333 --> 36:09.733 In this case, I think it's just the Italian bombers. 36:09.733 --> 36:15.033 But the way that this moment of bombing is described three 36:15.033 --> 36:20.603 times in this passage is that the earth is rising up and 36:20.600 --> 36:26.300 hitting the guerilla band and every one of them gets killed 36:26.300 --> 36:28.200 in this bombing. 36:28.200 --> 36:33.330 It is the fact that the earth seems to be conspiring with 36:33.333 --> 36:38.073 the bombers and hitting the human beings that it has 36:38.067 --> 36:40.027 nurtured all this time. 36:40.033 --> 36:41.733 That is the ultimate insult. 36:41.733 --> 36:44.173 That's the ultimate injury. 36:44.167 --> 36:49.197 That the Spanish peasants, they live on the earth. 36:49.200 --> 36:52.370 They think that the earth is on their side. 36:52.367 --> 36:56.167 And to have the earth suddenly joining the side of the enemy 36:56.167 --> 36:59.527 is about the worst thing that could happen. 36:59.533 --> 37:04.303 And so this is the cruelty of the description of that scene. 37:04.300 --> 37:06.870 A cruelty that is very much coming from Hemingway himself. 37:06.867 --> 37:10.897 He didn't have to describe the bombing as the action of the 37:10.900 --> 37:13.730 earth rising up and hitting all these human beings. 37:13.733 --> 37:15.603 He doesn't have to describe them in this way. 37:15.600 --> 37:19.700 He's describing the incident in this way deliberately to 37:19.700 --> 37:22.570 highlight the fact that in which nature has been 37:22.567 --> 37:24.767 perverted by human action. 37:24.767 --> 37:28.227 That modern technology has perverted nature so that 37:28.233 --> 37:31.273 nature is no longer a place where human 37:31.267 --> 37:33.067 beings can be nourished. 37:33.067 --> 37:36.197 It's that nature is something-- the earth itself 37:36.200 --> 37:40.130 is a weapon that can be used against human beings. 37:40.133 --> 37:46.673 And what is also cruel about this particular realignment of 37:46.667 --> 37:51.427 the earth with the enemy is that it reaches back, and 37:51.433 --> 37:55.503 retrospectively and retroactively rewrites and 37:55.500 --> 37:58.030 ironizes an earlier moment. 37:58.033 --> 38:00.733 Because this is not the first time that we hear about the 38:00.733 --> 38:03.433 earth rolling or the earth moving. 38:03.433 --> 38:08.503 In fact, one of the most famous little detail from For 38:08.500 --> 38:10.270 Whom the Bell Tolls is that when you have good sex 38:10.267 --> 38:13.897 supposedly the earth moves under you. 38:13.900 --> 38:15.370 And this is what Pilar wants to get. 38:15.367 --> 38:18.197 The information that Pilar wants to get from Maria to 38:18.200 --> 38:23.370 make sure that everything is fine, that this, in fact, 38:23.367 --> 38:23.867 happened. 38:23.867 --> 38:25.997 "'The earth moved,' Maria said, not 38:26.000 --> 38:26.970 looking at the woman. 38:26.967 --> 38:27.827 'Truly. 38:27.833 --> 38:31.533 It was a thing I cannot tell thee...' 'For you, Ingles?' 38:31.533 --> 38:33.773 Pilar looked at Robert Jordan. 38:33.767 --> 38:38.327 'Don't lie.' 'Yes' he said. 'Truly.' 'Good,' said Pilar. 38:38.333 --> 38:39.633 'Good. 38:39.633 --> 38:40.873 That is something.'" 38:40.867 --> 38:45.267 So this is back in page 174. 38:45.267 --> 38:49.397 The earth moving, it's all on the human side. 38:49.400 --> 38:52.870 And for someone who has a very short life-- 38:52.867 --> 38:55.427 everyone seems to know that Robert might actually have a 38:55.433 --> 38:56.103 very short life-- 38:56.100 --> 38:58.770 for someone who's going to have a very short life, having 38:58.767 --> 39:01.127 that experience is very important. 39:01.133 --> 39:08.903 So on page 174, the earth moving has one connotation. 39:08.900 --> 39:13.670 And the cruelty of what happens on page 331 is that it 39:13.667 --> 39:18.897 completely rewrites that earlier scene and assigns a 39:18.900 --> 39:23.500 completely different-- in fact the opposite-- meaning to the 39:23.500 --> 39:25.000 earth moving. 39:25.000 --> 39:29.500 So this is what Hemingway's sometimes quite brutal 39:29.500 --> 39:34.370 narrative can do, is that even something that seems to be 39:34.367 --> 39:37.097 safely concluded -- 39:37.100 --> 39:45.170 that earth moving for Robert and Maria -- 39:45.167 --> 39:50.227 even though that is safely concluded in the past, it is 39:50.233 --> 39:55.933 actually not safe from a subsequent rewriting and a 39:55.933 --> 39:58.273 reassignment of meaning. 39:58.267 --> 40:03.527 So that the meaning of the earth moving clearly is in 40:03.533 --> 40:05.133 flux maybe. 40:05.133 --> 40:07.303 Maybe it could be either way. 40:07.300 --> 40:11.330 Or maybe, the later event actually can completely erase 40:11.333 --> 40:12.233 the earlier meaning. 40:12.233 --> 40:15.603 I think we have to decide for ourselves to what extent page 40:15.600 --> 40:21.670 321 can undo that earlier Utopian moment. 40:21.667 --> 40:28.297 I want to talk about two other things that are associated 40:28.300 --> 40:33.130 with dying and not dying, both hinging on the 40:33.133 --> 40:35.973 word "cobarde," coward. 40:35.967 --> 40:38.667 The first actually goes back to Robert's father. 40:43.233 --> 40:46.333 But when we're looking at the scene when he's just dropping 40:46.333 --> 40:52.573 the pistol in the water, there's no description of how 40:52.567 --> 40:54.397 he feels about his father. 40:54.400 --> 40:56.370 It's just that he wants to get rid of the gun. 40:56.367 --> 40:57.767 He never wants to see the gun again. 40:57.767 --> 40:58.727 That's it. 40:58.733 --> 41:01.073 He's managed to get rid of the gun. 41:01.067 --> 41:05.967 But actually, there is an upfront description of how 41:05.967 --> 41:10.567 Robert feels about his father and also a clarification of 41:10.567 --> 41:12.097 why he needs his grandfather. 41:14.900 --> 41:18.130 "Aw hell, I wish grandfather was here, he thought. 41:18.133 --> 41:19.973 For about an hour anyway. 41:19.967 --> 41:24.167 Maybe he sent me what little I have through the other one 41:24.167 --> 41:26.267 that misused the gun. 41:26.267 --> 41:29.067 Maybe that is the only communication that we have. 41:29.067 --> 41:30.927 But, damn it. 41:30.933 --> 41:35.373 I'll never forget how sick it made me the first time I knew 41:35.367 --> 41:37.397 he was a cobarde. 41:37.400 --> 41:39.930 Go on, say it in English. 41:39.933 --> 41:40.833 Coward. 41:40.833 --> 41:44.533 It's easier when you have it said and there is never any 41:44.533 --> 41:48.633 point in referring to a son of a bitch by some foreign term. 41:48.633 --> 41:50.603 He wasn't any son of a bitch, though. 41:50.600 --> 41:54.930 He was just a coward and that was the worst luck any man 41:54.933 --> 41:58.503 could have." 41:58.500 --> 42:02.070 This is interesting for multiple reasons. 42:02.067 --> 42:07.067 One is that Robert really hopes that he's the grandson 42:07.067 --> 42:09.867 of his grandfather, rather than the son of his father. 42:09.867 --> 42:10.767 That's really clear. 42:10.767 --> 42:14.627 And because both actually describe him, he is both his 42:14.633 --> 42:17.773 grandfather's grandson and his father's son. 42:17.767 --> 42:20.867 If he had the choice, he would much rather be the former. 42:20.867 --> 42:23.827 So he's suddenly hoping for the best, which is that his 42:23.833 --> 42:25.373 father would just disappear and that one 42:25.367 --> 42:27.167 link would be invalid. 42:27.167 --> 42:30.467 It would be an invalid link. 42:30.467 --> 42:34.727 But the way that he thinks about his father is-- 42:34.733 --> 42:37.603 first of all, that this is a moment when Spanish seems to 42:37.600 --> 42:38.800 come in handy. 42:38.800 --> 42:41.900 That maybe it's easier just to ease your way into that way of 42:41.900 --> 42:43.070 thinking about your father. 42:43.067 --> 42:45.197 So you go by way of a foreign language. 42:45.200 --> 42:48.500 But then you really have to say it in your own tongue. 42:48.500 --> 42:52.770 But then the way that he thinks about that word is 42:52.767 --> 42:59.267 actually too empty of any moral judgment. 42:59.267 --> 43:02.467 I think that when we use the word coward, we tend to attach 43:02.467 --> 43:05.497 a lot of moral significance to that term. 43:05.500 --> 43:09.970 Lack of bravery is a kind of a moral failing on the part of 43:09.967 --> 43:15.127 the person who's lacking that quality. 43:15.133 --> 43:20.603 But finally Robert is just empty of that moral judgment 43:20.600 --> 43:23.430 and just saying that some people are just unlucky. 43:23.433 --> 43:26.703 Some people are just born not very brave. And it 43:26.700 --> 43:28.000 is not up to them. 43:28.000 --> 43:32.230 If they are born not very brave, it is too much to 43:32.233 --> 43:35.733 expect absolute bravery from them. 43:35.733 --> 43:39.033 They're not meant to be brave. And when they are tried under 43:39.033 --> 43:42.703 certain circumstances, when they can't meet that test of 43:42.700 --> 43:46.030 bravery, then they're going to break. 43:46.033 --> 43:50.433 So this is his way of accounting for the fact that 43:50.433 --> 43:54.703 his father can't live on stubbornly-- 43:54.700 --> 43:58.030 doesn't have the will to live, to keep him going-- 43:58.033 --> 44:02.033 just to make sense of that in his own mind. 44:02.033 --> 44:07.703 So in this incident, a coward's decision to die is 44:07.700 --> 44:10.400 rendered acceptable. 44:10.400 --> 44:13.870 It's still not a great thing, but he can wrap 44:13.867 --> 44:15.227 his mind around it. 44:15.233 --> 44:17.703 And that's really what he wants to do is to be able to 44:17.700 --> 44:22.830 wrap his mind around the fact of his father's suicide. 44:22.833 --> 44:26.103 But I think that Hemingway actually-- 44:26.100 --> 44:31.030 and this really speaks to how far he's able to imagine a 44:31.033 --> 44:33.903 position that in the end we know that will be the opposite 44:33.900 --> 44:35.300 of his own-- 44:35.300 --> 44:41.600 how far he's able to imagine and give dignity or maybe a 44:41.600 --> 44:47.970 kind of admiration to someone's decision not to die. 44:47.967 --> 44:54.797 The stubborn decide to hang on and not just to go right now. 44:54.800 --> 44:59.330 And so parallel to that, symmetrical to this, but also 44:59.333 --> 45:02.933 antithetical to his father's action is a 45:02.933 --> 45:06.273 cobarde's will to survive. 45:06.267 --> 45:10.497 And the person who embodies that will to survive is Pablo 45:10.500 --> 45:12.700 whom I argue is actually one of the most interesting 45:12.700 --> 45:16.270 characters, arguably more interesting than Robert in 45:16.267 --> 45:17.997 this novel. 45:18.000 --> 45:22.370 Because so much goes on inside his head an also through him 45:22.367 --> 45:26.127 that we actually don't see represented in the novel. 45:26.133 --> 45:31.273 So this is one area where Hemingway even alerts us to 45:31.267 --> 45:32.597 the fact that there is some information 45:32.600 --> 45:34.330 that we're not getting. 45:34.333 --> 45:38.603 And that lack of information or that non-disclosure of 45:38.600 --> 45:42.770 information actually makes Pablo the very mysterious 45:42.767 --> 45:44.367 person that he is. 45:44.367 --> 45:48.727 Anyway, Pablo is close to being killed at this moment. 45:48.733 --> 45:52.133 "Agustin hit him again hard in the mouth and Pablo laughed at 45:52.133 --> 45:55.733 him, showing the yellow, bad, broken teeth in the reddened 45:55.733 --> 45:57.103 line of his mouth. 45:57.100 --> 45:59.900 'Leave it alone,' Pablo said and reached with a cup to 45:59.900 --> 46:01.900 scoop some wine from the bowl. 46:01.900 --> 46:05.930 'Nobody here has cojones to kill me and this hand is 46:05.933 --> 46:09.673 silly.' 'Cobarde,' Agustin said. 46:09.667 --> 46:13.667 'Nor words either,' Pablo said and made a swishing noise 46:13.667 --> 46:15.567 rinsing the wine in his mouth. 46:15.567 --> 46:18.327 He spat on the floor. 46:18.333 --> 46:22.403 'I am far past words.' Agustin stood there looking down at 46:22.400 --> 46:26.970 him and cursed him, speaking slowly, clearly, bitterly and 46:26.967 --> 46:31.327 contemptuously and cursing as steadily as though he were 46:31.333 --> 46:35.103 dumping manure on a field, lifting it with a dung fork 46:35.100 --> 46:36.630 out of a wagon. 46:36.633 --> 46:37.533 'And thou! 46:37.533 --> 46:40.903 And thou!' Agustin turned from the door and spoke to him, 46:40.900 --> 46:45.930 putting all this contempt into a single, 'Tu.' 'Yes, me,' 46:45.933 --> 46:50.433 said Pablo. 'I will be alive when you are dead.' 46:50.433 --> 46:56.033 So Agustin is trying his best to get Pablo into a fight so 46:56.033 --> 46:58.573 that he can be killed right then and there. 46:58.567 --> 47:03.627 And Pablo is doing everything he can to stay alive, and he's 47:03.633 --> 47:04.873 succeeding. 47:04.867 --> 47:08.927 So no question about it, he's an excellent coward. 47:08.933 --> 47:13.903 He's going to stand there and be insulted maybe for as long 47:13.900 --> 47:17.100 as Agustin has breath to insult him He's 47:17.100 --> 47:18.100 not going to break.