Do you trust me?

I loved the slow, carefully plotted beginning of For Whom the Bell Tolls. As a reader, we are meeting Robert Jordan for the first time and it mirrors the process he must go through as he assesses the members of the small group of guerilla fighters he is joining in Spain.

Even on the first, short page we discover a lot about him as he gathers information about the bridge he is sent to blow up behind Facist lines.

Working and talking with the old man, Anselmo, we learn Jordan’s been to Spain and this area before. He is organized, observant and careful. He has the right maps and “glasses” to scope out the area around the bridge.

Anselmo, is also sizing up Jordan. Who is this guy the command has sent for such an important mission behind enemy lines?

“You had to trust the people you worked with completely or not at all, and you had to make decisions about the trusting.” Jordan thinks.

When he is briefed by his commander General Golz he is told the bridge must be blown up at a precise time before the attack begins. Not too soon before and not too late after. He has done other jobs like this for Golz before so he is comfortable with Jordan’s skills and professionalism. He trusts him.

When Jordan meets Pablo, the leader of the guerilla gang, he does not like or trust him. This is a good assessment. But Pablo is thinking the same thing. Who is this guy? Is he trying to take authority from me? He asks for Jordan’s identity papers. He is not happy with the idea of blowing up the nearby bridge because it will destroy their cover. After the bridge is destroyed they will be hunted down by the nearby troops.

Jordan is constantly being watched and tested by Pablo. Does this “Ingles” know anything practical… like horses? He quickly and skillfully inspects the small herd Pablo and his men have “collected”. “The sorrel is lame in the off hind foot…the hoof is spilt”. Jordan observes. Is there nothing this young man cannot do?

Unfortunately he is in a position where he cannot choose who he works with. He must make the best of what he has been given. He must work to earn their trust so they will do what he asks them to do. Does this include killing their “unreliable” leader, Pablo?