War by Luigi Pirandello: The Essay

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The need for effective resistance, and a banding together of citizens against states that engage in armed conflict is one of the dominant themes of "War."

Pirandello's use of an omniscient, observing and dispassionate narrative voice enables him to switch focus, midway through the very short story, and turn the reader's attention to a large, overweight man who makes a somewhat incoherent argument for the importance of sacrificing one's children for the Country. He says that sons and daughters do not belong to their parents, but to their Country, and it is natural and fitting "decent" boys would consider their love for their country greater than their love for their parents. Similarly, he notes that every parent would take his or her boy's place on the front lines, again out of love for the Country. 'Country' for citizens is as necessary as bread, the man says (Pirandello 107).

However, while the passengers nod at the man's fine rhetoric, the reader is quickly alerted to the fact that Pirandello, despite his pretence of third-person objectivity, does not believe in what the speaker is saying.

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The abstract use of the word 'Country' sounds deliberately vague, and clearly the man is speaking platitudes, not his real feelings. The real feelings are the raw hurt, anger, and confusion evidenced in the grief of the old mother and the fighting passengers on the train. The story ends with the man weeping that his son is dead, despite the fact that he has been saying all of the 'correct' things about the glory of sacrificing his child for a higher cause. Initially, the mother feels guilty that she cannot feel proud about the likely death of her child, but her innocent question: "is your son really dead," marks the climax of the short story and prompts its final revelation (Pirandello 108). The "fat, red-faced man" cannot hide behind propaganda and words any longer, and the reality of the foolish sacrifice of his son hits him like a blow, and he weeps (Pirandello 108).….....

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