For Whom the Bell Tolls Lesson Plan

Why do all the characters keep talking about Pilar’s “ugly” face? How does Pilar seem to think about her looks? How do her looks relate to the novel’s themes?

Everyone seems to agree that Pilar is ugly, but no one is upset about it. While she says that she can’t ever be with a handsome man, it’s clear that she has many loves in her life. The novel seems to associate her ugliness with a type of non-femininity, which makes her neither male nor female, but something other. This otherness allows her to be committed to the fight without losing her humanity, something that plagues all of the other characters.

What is the effect of the story that Pilar tells about the...