Reflections of Life and Experiences in Pirandello War essays

Reflections of Life and Experiences in Pirandello War essays Luigi Pirandello's short story, War, clearly reflects Pirandello's life and experiences. Pirandello's Italian birth and student life in Rome is reflected in War, which is set in Italy, and refers to the protagonist's son, who has lived as a student in Rome. War also reveals a great deal about Pirandello's understanding of patriotism, as his characters make pointed references to the honor of fighting for one's country. Pirandello's feelings about the destructiveness of war are revealed in the theme of the short story, War, as he reveals that patriotism cannot hope to justify the horrible waste and sadness over the loss of a child. His personal experience with madness and mental illness are seen in the tone and characterization in the story. Further, Pirandello's masterful understanding of dialect is paradoxically revealed through his use of stilted 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 aesthetics and stylistics at the Real Istituto di Magistere Femminile at Rome. The setting in his story takes place in a train carriage, after passengers had spent the night in the small Italian town of Fabriano. The story takes place as passengers return to the train to continue their journey from Rome, "by the small old-fashioned local joining the main line with Sulmona" (229). Pirandello notes that the story's protagonist, a "bulky woman in deep mourning" (230) and her husband had left their home at Sulmona to join their twenty-year old son at Rome, where he was a student. It is interesting to note that the son was a student in Rom, as was Pirandello in War also reflects Pirandello's experiences with patriotism within Italy during his lifetime. Born in 1867, Pirandello lived through WWI before he died in 1936. The characte...