For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway

This story takes place during the Spanish Civil War, Fascists against Communists. Black and White or Good against Evil, the threadbare dichotomy, appears. That part of it is an old story.

We get a chance to examine what the motivation would be for acting to accomplishing something, even during the throes of death. But I don't think it is for a "Cause." That bug-a-boo of a word has no currency here.

For Whom the Bell Tolls is a story which occurs in a world of mountain climbing guerrilla warriors, snow, and melting snow, and birds flying with signals on their wings.

The protagonist wears rope-soled shoes for climbing the rocky side of mountains and meets illiterate characters, but their is nothing exceptional about that part of it.

Robert Jordan blows up bridges to fight the fascists. The reader and Robert Jordan find themselves questioning the competence of the very powerful person who delivers the orders to be followed without question (a downfall of militarization here.)

So, maybe they aren't really guerrilla fighters to the extent that they follow orders without question. You would think of guerrillas as being a bit more independent when it comes to thinking, hence the danger of guerrillas.

The Stranger by Albert Camus

I am working on reading this book both in English (my first language) and Spanish (one I am hoping to acquire.) The story won the Nobel Prize in Literature. I am pretty sure it was written in French, originally.

This is a story filled with much detail, the kind not usually found in a novel. The protagonist is informed that his mother has died. He goes to the funeral, but, does not wish to view the body. The reason for this is never given. Does he cry at the funeral, or, feel any grief?

Monsieur Mersault's mother had been placed in a home in Marengo. The author mentions Algiers. Descriptions of what is the end result of violent revenge are included. A murder is committed and the protagonist is unable to plainly state the truth in his own defense.

The book guides us to a point where the truth is made to look as ridiculous as a clown. It is not so much the absence of truth as the inability to recognize it when it is presented. It is rejected without a thought. The truth is murdered and the body well concealed.

Camus explores the absurdity that is stirred as a result of existential questions. Is there an afterlife? The protagonist confronts his own mortality. Each individual must reach his or her own conclusion.