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But Robert Jordan and Maria aren\'t even trying to cover their traces
on this second night since Jordan arrived at the scene of his
assignment. Maria simply leaves the cave and goes outside to
Jordan\'s robe-sleeping bag, even though the others are still awake.
Jordan has prepared a bed of pine boughs under the robe. Again
they make love.
It\'s not the same as it was that afternoon- no earthquakes, no
stirrings that shake the center of their beings. Yet Maria says she
loved it more. \"One does not need to die,\" she tells Jordan. He
doesn\'t seem to have regrets either.
Is there something to learn here about the nature of human
experience? Is it that we need only one intense experience to give
meaning to all similar ones?
Jordan feels that Maria\'s body next to his is an alliance against
death. What is the significance of this phrase? How can they
together defeat death? Think in terms of the meaning, quality, and
value of experience as Hemingway sees it, regardless of the calendar
years (or even clock hours) a particular experience may comprise.
And yet, does this brave theory make Jordan any more willing to
relinquish Maria, because they\'ve shared an intense, \"worth a
lifetime\" experience? He holds her \"as though she were all of life and
it was being taken from him.\" But he makes sure his pistol is handy.
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