[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

View post   
File: 88 KB, 1024x778, kara face.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1717139 No.1717139 [Reply] [Original]

Hey /lit/, I just finished For Whom the Bell Tolls.

I really like Hemingway's writing style and The Old Man and the Sea is one of my favorite books, but the ending in For Whom the Bell Tolls just... bugged me.

I don't understand why Jordan didn't ride the other horse that was carrying the gear. Yes, I understand that it was carrying their gear (pots, pans, etc), but those things aren't exactly necessary. Especially since Anselmo is a hunter and others are skilled with weapons. Getting food shouldn't be that difficult.

Is there something I'm missing? We read it in our class and some people gave some reasons, but they were not very good reasons. I know that /lit/ will probably come up with something better.

I have to write an essay on this book and I that Robert pussed out at the end, but the professor disagrees with me. I'm sure that I'm just not seeing something so anyone want to enlighten me?

Unless this is something that can actually be taken in different directions.

>> No.1717141

>>1717139

I have to write an essay on this book and I THINK*

>> No.1717193

he broke his leg didn't he?
kinda hard to get on a horse with a broken leg

>> No.1717202
File: 182 KB, 900x588, 1302889634024.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1717202

Hemingway tends to put people in situations where there is a sensible option and they do the nonsensical thing. he's very fatalistic

>> No.1717218

>>1717193

Yeah he did, but that shouldn't stop someone from getting on a horse. Given all the other stuff he goes through, a broken leg isn't that much.

>>1717202

Alrighty, that kinda makes sense. It explains why he chooses to stay there and die than to live. I thought that was really weird, but now that you say this it kinda does apply to a lot of his stuff, doesn't it?

>> No.1717219

>>1717218
have you tried getting on a horse without standing up
it's not like fallout 3 where you break your leg and you just limp

>> No.1717221

i haven't read the book so feel free to disregard this post but i have been camping a bunch. camping gear gets heavy fast, especially since they didn't have high tech, low weight stuff back then. wasn't it winter? you need a lot of gear for winter camping. horses aren't machines. you're going to hurt them if you overwork them. (that's a big problem to deal with out in the middle of nowhere. it might be best to divvy up the most essential gear at that point and let the horse fend for itself.) hunting for food can be an iffy proposition and winter means much less game. behind the enemy lines, gunshots are very revealing of your position. you could set a bunch of traps then you'd have to be somewhat stationary to keep checking them all the time.

>>1717193
riding a horse with a broken leg is like asking to be punched in the wound constantly. they could've possibly rigged up a stretcher.

>> No.1717263

>>1717221
i forgot to mention people need to eat a LOT of food especially if you're hiking around. your body uses up calories to heat yourself in the cold. food weighs a lot.

>> No.1717267

>>1717221
>they could've possibly rigged up a stretcher.
that wouldn't really work since i think enemies were coming for him and all of jordan's friends had left him

>> No.1717273

>>1717267
yeah, sorry. like i said, i hadn't read the book. i'm just throwing out some camping logisitics stuff.

(saging myself)

>> No.1717279

>>1717219

Other people were there to help him on the horse. And I've broken my leg in three places before at once and, while it hurts like fuck, you're not a helpless pile of flesh either.

>>1717221

It was going into the beginning of summer and all the snow had melted, so I assume that it wouldn't be too hard to hunt for food although I have absolutely no experience in doing this so I could be completely wrong :(

And this is the same guy who unflinchingly slung a burning hot heavy machine gun to his back and burned it. When he broke his leg he says that it probably smashed the nerve because it didn't hurt at all, so his leg hitting the side of the horse shouldn't hurt to much right? I dunno... maybe I'm just look into it too much D:

>> No.1717630

>>1717279
it sounds like he was ready to die. maybe this was a foreshadowing of hemmingway's own suicide