by Luigi Pirandello
When he received the Nobel
Prize in Literature in 1934, Luigi Pirandello spoke of “the assimilation of
bitter disillusions, painful experiences, frightful wounds, and all the
mistakes of innocence”. His writing often deals with death and madness. In this
particular story, war is the cause of human tragedy.
The fat man with gray eyes
lost his son to the war. Another passenger had suggested that “if the son dies
the father can die too and put an end to his distress.” The fat man, however,
does not choose death. Instead, he chooses the memory of his son and the dream
of the Country. Consequently, the memory and the dream are more real to him
than anything else.
“If the Country exists, if
Country is a natural necessity, like bread, of which each of us must eat in
order not to die of hunger, somebody must go to defend it.” However, national
identity is not bread, it is a social construct and the defense of it a social
responsibility that we impose upon ourselves.
According to the man, dying
for the Country will save you from “the ugly sides of life, the boredom of it,
the pettiness, the bitterness of disillusion”. His underlying assumption is
that life is spiritual death and emptiness. For him, national identity is
another mask to hide behind.
Both the man and the woman
are in hiding. The man tries to “cover his mouth with his hand as to hide the
two missing front teeth.” The woman “pulled up her collar again to her eyes, so
as to hide her face.” We observe the deliberate rejection of reality as
something too painful to bear.
Another theme is isolation.
The woman feels “certain that all those explanations would not have aroused
even a shadow of sympathy from those people who – most likely – were in the
same plight as herself.” One would think that, when the world is full of
parents who lost their children, there would be greater acceptance of sorrow.
Yet, if the woman does not “rise up to the same height of those fathers and
mothers willing to resign themselves,” she will not be understood.
One question remains: when
the real world is at war, do we have the right to prefer a world of illusions,
to feign insanity?
383 words including
quotes