Reflections of Life and Experiences in Pirandello War
Luigi Pirandello's short story, War, clearly reflects Pirandello'slife and experiences. Pirandello's Italian birth and student life in Romeis reflected in War, which is set in Italy, and refers to the protagonist'sson, who has lived as a student in Rome. War also reveals a great dealabout Pirandello's understanding of patriotism, as his characters makepointed references to the honor of fighting for one's country.Pirandello's feelings about the destructiveness of war are revealed in thetheme of the short story, War, as he reveals that patriotism cannot hope tojustify the horrible waste and sadness over the loss of a child. Hispersonal experience with madness and mental illness are seen in the toneand characterization in the story. Further, Pirandello's masterfulunderstanding of dialect is paradoxically revealed through his use ofstilted English to reveal the emotionless and overly rational character of Pirandello's Italian background is clearly reflected in War.Pirandello studies philology in Rome, and was later professor of aestheticsand stylistics at the Real Istituto di Magistere Femminile at Rome. Thesetting in his story takes place in a train carriage, aft
is your son really dead'" (232),the old man breaks down in "harrowing, heart-rending, uncontrollable tears"(232). It is interesting that within his short story,War, none of the characters seem to speak with any sort of Italian accent. If the passenger had used more colloquial language and spoken inlanguage peppered with rich dialect, his words may have seemed moreemotional and full of feeling. Pirandello's understanding of dialect is reflected within theemotionless words of one of the passengers on the train. Overall, Pirandello's War reveals a greatdeal about its author through an analysis of the story's literary elements. As such, War's theme clearly shows the influence ofPirandello's life and experiences. The tone and style of the story reflects madness, asPirandello writes of evocatively of a woman in deep morning who enters acramped and stuffy carriage. As such, Pirandello's failure to use dialectwithin War may thus reflect Pirandello's understanding of how dialect canhumanize a character, and bring emotion to dialog. The protagonistis stunned at the patriotism of the fat man, especially in his descriptionof "the way his son had fallen as a hero, for his King and his Country,happy and without regrets" (232). After the birth of theirthird child, and the loss of their family's money by natural disaster,Pirandello's young wife Antonietta suffered a nervous breakdown(Moonstruck). The woman is madeto feel selfish and as an outsider as the men speak of patriotism and loss,but it is ultimately the other passengers who are revealed to be deceitful,and suffering a type of madness as they attempt to deny the depth of thereality of their loss. As the conversations progress, theprotagonist struggles to contain her feelings of alienation and deep sorrowin the face of the rationalizations of the passengers. Finally, his life and experiences in Italy are reflected in the story'ssetting, and his understanding of madness is seen in the tone andcharacterization in the story. Born in 1867, Pirandello lived through WWIbefore he died in 1936. " The passenger'smeaning should be emotional, but the use of stilted language somehowrenders his words free of emotion and flat.
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