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Bertozzo’s bomb, which starts as a replica and becomes a real weapon, represents the blurred line between reality and fiction in this play. When the bomb first appears, Bertozzo immediately slips, throws it in the air, and terrifies everyone—until he reassures them that it doesn’t have a detonator. Fo creates a sense of dramatic tension and comic relief by leaving it unclear whether the bomb is real. And he also leaves it unclear what the bomb means. Bertozzo claims to know exactly how the bomb was built, but nothing about who built it. Although Feletti gets him to admit that its creator was probably just like himself: a demolitions expert with military ties. Again, Fo uses the bomb to tease his audience: is it a true replica created for the investigation, an excuse for the government to frame its left-wing enemies for the attack, or a clue to the bombing’s actual perpetrator—someone in the Italian military, or even Bertozzo himself?
At the end of the play, the Maniac puts a detonator on Bertozzo’s replica bomb, turns it in into a real weapon, and, ironically enough, blows up the police station with it. One last time, the bomb’s power as a dramatic tool is that it appears to be fake when it’s real, and it appears to be real when it’s fake. Of course, this is the whole purpose of Fo’s play: he uses fiction to criticize the police’s very real negligence, abuses of power, and complicity in fascist terror. Indeed, Fo even uses the bomb to play a joke on himself: after a play that ends with a left-wing radical bombing a police station, what audience member would deny that the left could also carry out bombings like the attack at Piazza Fontana?
The (Replica) Bomb Quotes in Accidental Death of an Anarchist
The Accidental Death of an Anarchist quotes below all refer to the symbol of The (Replica) Bomb. 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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Act 2, Scene 1
Quotes
MANIAC: Oh Dio! Whichever way it goes, you see, you’ve got to decide. Goodnight.
Related Characters:
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Explanation and Analysis:
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The (Replica) Bomb Symbol Timeline in Accidental Death of an Anarchist
The timeline below shows where the symbol The (Replica) Bomb appears in Accidental Death of an Anarchist. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 2, Scene 1
...eye patch and carrying a metal box, which he explains is a replica of the bomb from the attack at the Agricultural Bank. Just as the Superintendent asks Bertozzo to leave...
(full context)
...expert. Feletti asks Bertozzo if the replica can help the police understand who made the bomb, but he says that the necessary information usually gets destroyed when a bomb goes off....
(full context)
The Maniac confidently walks over to the bomb, picks it up, takes off its lid, and points to the tangle of wires inside....
(full context)
...the Maniac’s bag instead and gives them to the Superintendent. The Maniac plays with the bomb and complains that, instead of a revolution, European workers got corrupt governments and false promises...
(full context)
...tells Bertozzo to shoot the Maniac, but before he can, the Maniac pulls out the bomb. The Superintendent remembers that there’s no detonator, but Bertozzo sees that the Maniac has added...
(full context)
...left-wing politics, the policemen complain that they only have a couple minutes left before the bomb goes off.
(full context)
...back on, and the policemen are again locked to the window, with seconds before the bomb explodes. Feletti runs to them and unlocks their handcuffs; they thank her and run to...
(full context)
