War - Luigi Pirandello (Issues that Matter)

 War- Luigi Pirandello

Luigi Pirandello:

Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature for "his almost magical power to turn psychological analysis into good theatre". He was an Italian nationalist and supported Fascism in a moderate way, giving his Nobel Prize medal to the Fascist government to be melted down for the Abyssinia Campaign. As Italy entered the First World War, Pirandello's son Stefano volunteered for service and was taken prisoner by the Austro-Hungarians. It could be seen that "War" would have had its influence from this personal incident of his. His major works include Six characters in Search of an Author, The Pleasure of Honesty, The Late Mattia Pascal, The Trap, Loves without Love, The Outcast and so on. 

Plot summary:

A husband and wife board a small train carriage at dawn in Italy, joining the five people who have already spent the night in it. The woman is bulky and is in deep mourning. Some of the passengers help her in and make room for her. The husband asks if she’s all right, but she doesn’t answer. He feels it necessary to explain to the others that their only son is being sent to war in three days and they’re going to see him off.

Hearing this, one of the passengers say that his son has been at the front from the first day. Another passenger says that his two sons and three nephews are at the front, in an attempt to emphasize that his grief is greater than that of the couple's. This sparks an ardent discussion about who is sacrificing the most. The husband says a man who loses one son has another left to comfort him, but the passenger responds that such a man has an obligation to live for his other son, and thus can’t end his misery at his own hand.

Yet another passenger, an old man, breaks in with a speech. He asserts that their children don’t belong to them. They have interests of their own, including a love for their country, and they gladly fight for it. They don’t want tears because if they die, they die happy. And dying young and happy is all anyone could want as it spares them of the boredom and disillusionment of life. Why, he doesn’t even mourn the death of his own son. He stops there, his lip trembling, his eyes watery.

The other passengers agree with him. The wife, inconsolable until now, finds strength in his words. She listens closely as the old man gives the details of how his son died heroically for King and Country, without regrets. All the other passengers congratulate the man for his stoicism and bravery.

The wife, as if waking from a dream, asks the man, “Then… is your son really dead?”

The old man looks at her, tries to answer, but can’t. He seems to realize for the first time that his son is gone forever. He weeps uncontrollably.

Title:

The title "War" can be looked at two levels: One is the physical war, the World War I. At a metaphorical level, the 'war' can also refer to the internal war of the passengers with their own feelings. 

The impact of war is seen not only on those at the war front, but also on those who are left behind. 

There is no mention of the actual fight, but the presence of war is over powers the entire story.

Setting:

The story happens in a stuffy and smoky second-class carriage of the night express from Rome to Sulmona, at the Fabriano station, Italy. The historical time is that of World War I. Italy entered the war in 1915. 

Characters:

• The couple – attention and sympathy seeking -  Husband - a tiny man, thin and weakly, his face death-white, his eyes small and bright and looking shy and uneasy
• wife -  a bulky woman in deep mourning was hoisted in-almost like a shapeless bundle.
• Their Son - a boy of twenty – their only son -  Sulmona to follow him to Rome - as a student, then to volunteer for war in six months’ time – but now to leave in three days' time. He is not physically present in the story.
• Passenger 1: son at the war front from day 1
• Passenger 2: 2 sons and 3 nephews at the front – “Paternal love is not like bread that can be broken into pieces and split amongst the children in equal shares. A father gives all his love to each one of his children without discrimination, whether it be one or ten, and if I am suffering now for my two sons, I am not suffering half for each of them but double. ”
• Each passenger trying to prove that their grief or loss is of greater intensity.
• Passenger 3: a fat, red-faced man with bloodshot eyes of the palest gray. – “his bulging eyes seemed to spurt inner violence of an uncontrolled vitality which his weakened body could hardly contain.” His son – dead – tries to normalize his loss by intellectualizing his son’s sacrifice. Enlightens the fellow travelers with regard to sending their sons for the war. He says, when children become twenty they have to follow their interests. They actually never belong to us. They belong to the country though. "If country is a natural necessity like bread of which of us must eat in order to die of hunger, somebody must go to defend it" They die at their younger age for defending their country. He too had a son and while dying he wrote to his father saying, He was dying satisfied at having ended his  life in the best way he could have wished. "

Themes:

1. Patriotism: 

       All the characters exhibit strong patriotic feelings. No one even suggests that their sons shouldn’t have to fight in the war. Instead they say that they would gladly take the place of their children at the war front. The old man explains that the young people love their country more than they love their parents. Young people naturally put love of country above all else, and are happy to die in battle.

The old man even also speaks of his son as a hero who died for King and Country. Everyone listens raptly and congratulates him.

2. Parental Love:

      The story mainly deals with the grief parents experience while sending their children to harsh an uncertain situations.

“Paternal love is not like bread that can be broken into pieces and split amongst the children in equal shares. A father gives all his love to each one of his children without discrimination, whether it be one or ten..."

3. Intellectualizing Emotions:

     The old man uses the defence mechanism of intellectualizing his emotions regarding the death of his son. the following are the ways in which he intellectualizes his emotions:

        a. Young people wouldn’t want their parents to cry over them “because if they die, they die                         inflamed and happy.” 

        b. Dying young prevents their children from seeing “the ugly sides of life” 

        c.  He takes pride in his son's duty, sacrifice, and love towards his Country—his son was a hero.

4. The passengers' attempts to cope with the reality:

The fat man gets in terms with the reality of his son's death by intellectualizing emotions. the woman, who remained inconsolable by anyone, gains consolation from the experience of her fellow traveler.

The other passengers cope with the reality of their sons being at the war front by speaking about it.

For a lecture on the story, click on the linkhttps://youtu.be/7c6YuQesUu0

Prepared by,

Betty Elsa Jacob

Assistant Professor

Dept of English

CMS College, Kottayam