For Whom the Bell Tolls: Novel Summary: Chapter 25

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Chapter 25

Summary
"We must help El Sordo's men," Primitivo insists. "We have to aid them . . . we cannot leave them alone in this. They are our comrades." But Jordan insists that aid is useless and they "will be lost," too, having never blown up the bridge (296). Men die in war, he reiterates, as planes fly above them, and Primitivo must accept the fact.
When Pilar arrives she backs up Jordan. "So, it has come to Sordo," she says calmly as from one who has seen much death in war (298). Pilar says that Pablo was forty minutes ahead of the cavalry and that all is ready for the mission. If planes should appear, he tells her, protect Maria. She will send Maria to him with the documentation.
Analysis
Planes fly above like birds closing in on their prey. Now the hunters are the hunted. Pilar is hardly surprised by all this; it is as if she had premonitions of what was about to occur. Jordan, who has for a while been questioning men's behavior in war, the reasons and the outcomes, has begun to waver even more in his dedication to the Cause. His concern for Maria's safety has made him vulnerable.