Critical attention to language in For Whom the Bell Tolls usually focuses on the Spanish quality of the dialogue. Written in English, the novel imitates the vocabulary and sentence structure of Spanish, creating a highly stylized prose. Edward Fenimore has commented on the "Elizabethan" tone of the language, and concludes that it contributes to the epic quality of the work. In a similar vein, Earl Rovit maintains that the language distances the reader from the novel, and that this distance adds to the timelessness and universality of the characters and events being described. Hemingway's preoccupation with language is not merely stylistic, however, but it constitutes a major sub-theme in the novel: the limitations of language. As a political tool, as a means of communication, and as an art form, language again and again fails to describe reality adequately, even though many characters express idealistic views about the potential...