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1-Page Summary of The Wall
Overview
The story opens with Pablo Ibbieta attending his own trial. He has been captured by the Falangists and is being tried as an opponent of the war and a war criminal along with several of his compatriots. When Pablo goes on trial, he claims that he does not know where Ramon Gris is.
While awaiting his sentence, Pablo shares a cell with two other men. One of the men is Tom, who fought for the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War; and Juan, whose only crime was having an anarchist brother. Both Tom and Pablo believe that they will be executed but are told that Juan will be set free. However, all three prisoners are told that they will be executed in the morning. Juan stops protesting his innocence; shocked to silence by this news he just sits down and turns gray (starts to look ill). Tom tries to comfort him but is rebuffed (ignored). Instead of trying to think about death or avoid it as much as possible like Tom does, Pablo realizes that he should accept death so he can spend what time remains preparing himself for it mentally rather than fighting against it emotionally.
A Belgian doctor and two guards come to the cell where Pablo is held. They are there to wait with him until morning. The doctor asks if he feels cold, but Pablo realizes that he does not feel cold at all. He touches his hair and shirt, which are both damp with sweat.
Pablo hardly thinks about Juan’s execution anymore. He feels irritated with Tom’s constant talking, and accidentally urinates on himself.
Pablo is trying to think about anything but death. He thinks of his past, but it doesn’t seem important anymore. The doctor offers to give a message to the men’s loved ones. Nevertheless, he feels utterly alone and disconnected from the world around him as he prepares for his execution.
When the time for executions arrives, Juan starts to cry and shout. He doesn’t want to die. Tom points out that daylight is almost breaking, so they can see their deaths coming soon enough. The soldiers take them away from the cell and leave Pablo in there alone for an hour before he finally hears shots being fired outside his cell. Pablo wants to scream but decides not to because it will be “unmanly” of him and instead tries to remain calm despite what’s happening around him in order to save face as a man.
Finally, the soldiers take him to a room. They try intimidating him but he finds it amusing and ridiculous. The officers question him about Ramon Gris again but Pablo doesn’t tell them anything.
Later, he decides to lie to them and tell them that Ramon is hiding in the cemetery. Thirty minutes later, one of the officers comes back. He tells Pablo that he’s going to be tried by a regular court rather than a military tribunal because his crime does not merit execution. Pablo doesn’t understand why he isn’t being executed right away because this was what they told him would happen if he didn’t confess. He spends the rest of the day with his fellow prisoners until it is time for dinner at 5:00pm
That night, Pablo sees a baker he knows. The baker tells him that the Falangists captured Ramon. Apparently, Ramon left his safehouse due to an argument and went to hide in the cemetery. The Falangists found him in the gravediggers’ shack just as Pablo said they would. Pablo passes out from laughing so hard at how well his plan worked.
Pablo wakes up on the ground and starts laughing again because he is happy with himself for getting rid of Ramon once and for all.
Section 0 Summary (Summary)
The story is told by a prisoner of war, Pablo Ibbieta. He describes how he was sentenced in a room with other prisoners. They were questioned about their names and occupations. Sometimes they were asked if they had been involved in the sabotage of munitions or for their whereabouts during the attack. The men didn’t seem to be paying attention; they just wrote notes on the table in front of them as they listened to answers given by prisoners.
