Robert Jordan

The main character of the story, a young American, and a well-trained dynamiter. He is a well-built man with blonde hair. Robert Jordan's main duty is to blow up the bridge during the attack on Segovia. Hence, he enters the band of the gypsy soldiers who fought for freedom in the hills of Sierra de Guadarrama. Joining the group, Robert Jordan meets the central characters of the story, including Pablo, Rafael, and Maria. Although the chances to survive are miserable, the band strives hard to keep its positions. The readers may see that Robert Jordan is also in a strong need to find a loyal woman. Eventually, he meets Maria, a woman saved by the band from the rough hands of Fascists. Robert Jordan almost immediately falls in love with her, and the connection between them is mutual. In the end, the hero also demonstrates his altruism, and despite his strong feelings, makes Maria leave him. Robert Jordan also treads on the toes of the initial leader Pablo.  However, despite Pablo's hostile behavior, Robert Jordan finds it hard to kill him. Being a wise soldier, the hero addresses the ethics of killing people. To be more precise, he demonstrates a dubious position, somewhere between Pablo's radicalism and Anselmo's rationalism. However, though Robert Jordan avoids any thoughts about killing, he is supposed to kill a lot of individuals acting according to his duties, and this fact makes the hero feel frustrated. The fact that also shows his uncertain position is Robert Jordan's relationship with his band. In fact, the hero changes his alliances during the story. Robert Jordan primarily views the war as an ongoing conflict between two imperfect sides. Even though he eventually decides to fight for the Nationalists, the hero strives not for the ideology but mainly for liberty.