Pine Imagery: A Constant in a World of Change Ernest Hemingway 11th Grade

In the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, published in 1940, an array of concepts and ideas is introduced. Hemingway places images of nature within the text to contrast the destruction that is war, and to create a visible contradiction. Pine imagery, specifically, plays an integral role in the novel, functioning as a steadfast symbol in a world that spins with many changes in a span of just a few days. It becomes a control variable, the base that all in the text relies on. Furthermore, pine trees are objects that Hemingway utilizes to exhibit the role of mother nature. Within the work, pine serves as a constant shelter, base of relationship, and stimulant of Jordan becoming one with nature in a perpetual environment that is brought by discontinuity throughout the text.

Throughout Robert Jordan’s journey, pine imagery is used as a form of shelter from the war. This arises when Anselmo, a peaceful character, looks out over the road counting enemy vehicles. Anselmo “did not start up the hillside but stayed leaning against the sheltered side of the pine tree” (192). This passage explicitly states that the pine is giving shelter. By Anselmo standing under this pine tree, he is removed from the war therefore safe from...