“For Whom the Bell Tolls” is a novel by Ernest Hemingway, published in 1940. It’s a story about the Spanish Civil War, following an American named Robert Jordan as he joins the Republican forces. The title comes from John Donne‘s meditation on death, “No man is an island”. Donne’s words suggest that everyone is connected and that the death of one person affects all. The phrase “Ask not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee” emphasizes this interconnectedness and the idea that death is a universal experience.