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Anselmo is the first member of the Republican guerillas Robert Jordan meets. He is a thoughtful, highly principled older man who supports Jordan’s offensive on the bridge. Due to his Catholic faith, Anselmo is firmly opposed to killing fascists, though he has also chosen to leave behind Catholicism, since the fascists have laid claim to the religion. Nonetheless, Anselmo has nothing left to lose in his fight for the Republicans: his wife is dead, and fighting gives him something to live and strive for. Like Pilar, he is unfailingly optimistic about the new Republic that he believes the Republicans are helping to forge by fighting back against the fascists. Like Robert Jordan, he dies a hero and a martyr, having helped Jordan to blow up the bridge and launch one final attack on the invading fascists.
Anselmo / The Older Man Quotes in For Whom the Bell Tolls
The For Whom the Bell Tolls quotes below are all either spoken by Anselmo / The Older Man or refer to Anselmo / The Older Man. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 15
Quotes
No, he [Anselmo] thought, I am lonely. But so are all the soldiers and the wives of all the soldiers and all those who have lost families or parents. I have no wife, but I am glad that she died before the movement. She would not have understood it. I have no children and I never will have any children. I am lonely in the day when I am not working but when the dark comes it is a time of great loneliness. But one thing I have that no man nor any God can take from me and that is that I have worked well for the Republic. I have worked hard for the good that we will all share later. I have worked my best from the first of the movement and I have done nothing that I am ashamed of.
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Chapter 37
Quotes
If I die on this day it is a waste because I know a few things now. I wonder if you only learn them now because you are oversensitized because of the shortness of the time? There is no such thing as a shortness of time, though. You should have sense enough to know that too. I have been all my life in these hills since I have been here. Anselmo is my oldest friend. I know him better than I know Charles, than I know Chub, than I know Guy, than I know Mike, and I know them well. Agustin, with his vile mouth, is my brother, and I never had a brother. Maria is my true love and my wife. I never had a true love. I never had a wife. She is also my sister, and I never had a sister, and my daughter, and I never will have a daughter. I hate to leave a thing that is so good.
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Anselmo / The Older Man Quotes in For Whom the Bell Tolls
The For Whom the Bell Tolls quotes below are all either spoken by Anselmo / The Older Man or refer to Anselmo / The Older Man. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 15
Quotes
No, he [Anselmo] thought, I am lonely. But so are all the soldiers and the wives of all the soldiers and all those who have lost families or parents. I have no wife, but I am glad that she died before the movement. She would not have understood it. I have no children and I never will have any children. I am lonely in the day when I am not working but when the dark comes it is a time of great loneliness. But one thing I have that no man nor any God can take from me and that is that I have worked well for the Republic. I have worked hard for the good that we will all share later. I have worked my best from the first of the movement and I have done nothing that I am ashamed of.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 37
Quotes
If I die on this day it is a waste because I know a few things now. I wonder if you only learn them now because you are oversensitized because of the shortness of the time? There is no such thing as a shortness of time, though. You should have sense enough to know that too. I have been all my life in these hills since I have been here. Anselmo is my oldest friend. I know him better than I know Charles, than I know Chub, than I know Guy, than I know Mike, and I know them well. Agustin, with his vile mouth, is my brother, and I never had a brother. Maria is my true love and my wife. I never had a true love. I never had a wife. She is also my sister, and I never had a sister, and my daughter, and I never will have a daughter. I hate to leave a thing that is so good.
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