Thinking activity on For Whom The Bell Tolls

 Comparison of the literary works which are based on the war themes and also in narrative techniques, Characterization, effect of war , plot and point of view etc: 

Hello readers, here I'm gonna do the comparison between two works which are " All Quiet on the Western Front " and " For Whom The Bell Tolls " .So,  let's begin…

⚫ Introduction

Many times we have made a comparison between various literary works but it's very interesting to do the comparison between two novels which are based on war . 

All Quiet On The Western From: 

All Quiet on the Western Front  is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I.

The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the detachment from civilian life felt by many of these soldiers upon returning home from the front.

The novel was first published in November and December 1928 in the German newspaper Vossische Zeitung and in book form in late January 1929.more

For Whom The Bell Tolls: For Whom the Bell Tolls is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940. It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer attached to a Republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a dynamiter, he is assigned to blow up a bridge during an attack on the city of Segovia.

It was published just after the end of the Spanish Civil War , whose general lines were well known at the time.

It assumes the reader knows that the war was between the government of the Second Spanish Republic,more

⚫ Narrative technique of All Quiet On The Western Front : 

In a novel format, the author can choose either a first-person, third-person limited, or third-person omniscient narration. In his classic anti-war novel “All Quiet on the Western Front,” Erich Maria Remarque chooses a first-person narrative approach that accomplishes very specific effects. 

⚫ Narrative Technique of For Whom The Bell Tolls : 'For Whom Bell Tolls' presents the narrative through an omniscient point of view that continually shifts back and forth between the characters. In this way, Hemingway can effectively chronicle the effect of the war on the men and women involved. 

In the novel "All Quiet On The Western Front" the narrative technique is first person narrative approach while in the novel "For Whom The Bell Tolls" Hemmingway presents the narrative through an omniscient point of view…

⚫ Writing style of "All Quiet On the Western Front"

⚫Direct

⚫ Edgy ⚫Reserved

thinks about tone in this novel as being gunfire when Paul is on the front lines and violin playing when he's off. The predominant vibe is sparseness, though. The author doesn't waste too many words and, in many cases, he skips weeks of pages with a single detail that moves the timeline dramatically forward in a phrase. He doesn't get too emotional over any one friend's death. He continues to drive the story forward in a way that makes it very hard for us to stop reading. There's a movement and a rhythm to the sentence structures of this novel.

While we compares ,

⚫ the writing style of "For Whom The Bell Tolls" we find that 

⚫Clipped, 

⚫Cutting, ⚫Concise

Hemingway's writing leaves quite a bit up to the mind of the reader. And what Hemingway actually says isn't always what you'd think he'd say if he just wanted to be straightforward. 

Thus , we can also say that we don't find any similarities in writing styles of  both the novels.

⚫ Characteristics:

In the novel For Whom The Bell Tolls as a chief Character 

Robert Jordan

Is An American volunteer for the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War and the protagonist of For Whom the Bell Tolls. Robert Jordan is pragmatic, very good at what he does, and never lets his emotions interfere with his work. 

While,

In The novel All Quiet On The Western Front

Paul Bäumer

A young German soldier fighting in the trenches during World War I. Paul is the protagonist and narrator of the novel. He is, at heart, a kind, compas-sionate, and sensitive young man, but the brutal expe-rience of warfare teaches him to detach himself from his feelings. 

We find some similarities between the chief characteristics in both the novels.

Central themes of the novels;

⚫ All Quiet On The Western Front:

Themes:

The Horror of War. The overriding theme of All Quiet on the Western Front is the terrible brutality of war, which informs every scene in the novel. …

The Effect of War on the Soldier. …

Nationalism and Political Power.

  

The main themes of All Quiet on the Western Front include individual vs. machine, friendship, and alienation and loneliness. Individual vs. machine: Paul initially glorifies war but becomes horrified by the impersonal technological forces behind modern warfare. 

⚫ For Whom The Bell Tolls :

 

Themes:

The Loss of Innocence in War. Each of the characters in For Whom the Bell Tolls loses his or her psychological or physical innocence to the war. …

The Value of Human Life. …

Romantic 

Love as Salvation…

  

In 'For Whom the Bell tolls,' John Donne explores themes of life, death, and the human condition. He suggests that no man is an “island.” Donne addresses humanity, asking everyone to reconsider how they perceive themselves and their relationship to everyone else. 

Thus, we can say that also the themes are not as well as the same in both the novels but , but at some points we found some similarities but it's not to be considered many more .

⚫ Characters

5440

⚫ Words

919

⚫ Sentences

72

⚫ Paragraphs

49