Nihilism In Hemingway's For Whom The Bell Tolls

In For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemingway demonstrates nihilism through Jordan’s view of death. Coming to face death, Jordan states, “That’s what it will be like. Like a cool drink of water. You’re a liar. It will just be nothing. That’s all it will be. Just nothing” (FWTBT, 470). Faced with death alone, Jordan views death as not even an event; he believes it as an escape from the current complications of his life. On this idea, Emil Cioran, a famous nihilist philosopher, explains, “The deepest and most organic death is death in solitude…In such moments you will be severed from life, from love, smiles, friends and even from death. And you will ask yourself if there is anything besides the nothingness of the world and your own nothingness.” Death

is only a cutting from the world. For Hemingway, there is no deeper belief about death besides its lack of meaning. Jordan shows a nihilistic approach to death because he does not believe that the event has any significance.
Moreover, Jordan’s alienation from society shows his nihilistic view. In a conversation with Pablo, Jordan is called “a false professor” because “it would be easier and clearer for Don Roberto to teach English” (210). Jordan is an American fighting in a war for the Spanish, fighting for a country he lived in for only a short time. Jordan searches for meaning outside of his own country but is unable to directly connect the war within himself. Even Hemingway states, “He would not think about that. That was not his business. That was Golz’s business” (8). He follows his duties, even if it means death, but Jordan does not find the personal purpose that he wants, following Cioran’s idea: “What attracts me is elsewhere, and I don’t know where that elsewhere is.” Jordan searches for meaning in his life, but cannot find it even in his duty.
Although Jordan finds some hope in Maria, she becomes nothing but a fantasy against his fate.

For example, Jordan has an idealized expectation of his time with Maria: “He felt the earth move out and away from under them” (FWTBT, 159). Jordan romanticizes his love for her, even clouding his perception of reality. His strong feelings for Maria seem to take Jordan away from the reality of fate. Although noble, Jordan realizes his vision is colored by love: “What nonsense, he thought. What rot you get to thinking by yourself” (FWTBT, 166). Jordan is more wrapped up in his ideal than the suffering that stares him in the face. Killinger explains, “Hemingway’s Jordan dreams often of a day when the war will be over for him, and he can resume his freedom.” Sadly, this reality is impossible to accomplish because of his orders. Despite Jordan’s idealistic expectation, the hopelessness of his situation is always present.

Although Hemingway gives an existential picture of his characters, their ideals clash with the hopelessness of their surroundings. This paradox is present in all of Hemingway’s works, yet the contradiction only strengthens the intent of the application. Viewing A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls, readers see the heroes create their own inner meaning in the face of a meaningless universe. How is this paradox ultimately solved in Hemingway’s works? In light of the topic, readers solve this problem with the philosophy of Albert

Camus.