For Whom the Bell Tolls Part 2

I finished reading this novel a couple weeks ago. Thinking back on it, Hemingway has some interesting things to say about the tensions between being an individual and having personal views and opinions and functioning as a part of a greater unit. I would think that it would be very hard in war to maintain your individuality because you sometimes get orders that just don't make sense. Robert Jordan's job in this novel is to blow up a bridge at the same time that the rest of their army or regiment makes an attack. The only problem is that he discovers that the other side is going to be more prepared than they thought or hoped, and the attack would actually be useless. Jordan sends someone with a message indicating this, but by the time it gets to the general it's too late. There's a scene where the general in charge recognizes the futility of their planned assault but goes ahead with it anyway. After giving the go ahead order, "Golz watched the planes with his hard proud eyes that knew how things could be and how they would be instead and said, proud of how they could be, believing in how they could be, even if they never were, 'Bon. Nous ferons notre petit possible,' and hung up."

I think it's tragic the feeling of futility that comes in this situation. So what's the difference between this situation and situations that you read about in the Book of Mormon, for instance? Well, I guess that in comparing those two, that there are some stark differences. It makes me think, though, about the battle in which the chief captains of the Lamanites attacked the city of Noah in Alma 49. What must the troops have been thinking as they followed their orders to attack?

I think a lot must be said for the leaders and soldiers being united in the cause for which they are fighting. In Hemingway's novel, it seems that foreigners from Russia and other countries are really involved in the leadership of the Spanish Civil War, so maybe they don't care as much about the people, but only the cause. And even then their precise motivations for participating seem murky at best. Just like Amalickiah "did not care for the blood of his people." It seems to me that if you care first about the people, that will guide the decisions you make throughout the war. You will be conscientous and somber in examining the why behind the fight and the execution of the how.

At the end of the day, maybe the only principle to live by is to do your best in the sphere in which you are placed. Care about the people on your team and have compassion and understanding for those who aren't.