|
-
The buildup to the final action is interrupted in Chapter 30,
which is devoted primarily to Robert Jordan\'s personal history.
Andres has been gone three hours. Now we learn why Jordan has sent
the message to Golz: Anselmo had brought information about a massive
buildup of enemy equipment that was not supposed to be in the area
at all.
Jordan greatly admires his grandfather, an excellent soldier who had
fought in the U.S. Civil War. In fact, the grandfather is his
masculine \"father image.\" His own father committed suicide with the
officer\'s pistol that belonged to Jordan\'s grandfather. Thus the
weapon went, in Jordan\'s opinion, from noble to cowardly use.
Afterwards, Jordan dropped it in a deep lake.
Jordan sees his father as a coward, first for being henpecked by
Jordan\'s mother, but primarily for having committed suicide. In his
thoughts he refers to his father as \"that one\" and \"that other one
that misused the gun.\"
Remember that Hemingway\'s own father committed suicide with a
firearm. His father was suffering from both physical and financial
problems, and at the time Hemingway did not display any condemnation
or disgust at his father\'s action (although later he spoke of his
father\'s \"cowardice\" as \"the worst luck any man could have\").
In an earthy reflection that might have come from one of the Spanish
peasants he\'s working with, Jordan speculates that \"the good juice\"
came through to him only after passing through his father. Then he
cautions himself to count on good juice only if he\'s proved it by
the end of tomorrow.
Even Jordan can see some irony in his situation. He admires his
grandfather, who was so conservative that he never associated with
Democrats- yet Jordan himself has been offered a chance to study at
the Lenin Institute in Moscow!
|
