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“War”, written by Luigi Pirandello, is a short story focusing on the tragic repercussions that World War I had on thousands of families. Pirandello titled this story “War”, but the events he describes take place away from the war. This setting sure has its unique purpose, and it served well in this case, because the feelings of those who were not in the frontline were actually what the author wanted readers to focus on.
Is set on a train, this story involves four different families who discover the cruel reality of losing a loved one by listening to a traveling companion's own grief about the war and the effect it has on him. The train was traveling away from Rome † away from the capital of Italy, which was filled with news about war. The four families were trying to stay away from war, but, even on this train, everything was said is about war, about the possibility of losing their own sons. So to say, this war has always been able to catch up to them, in sight, and in mind. None of them had lost their sons, at least not yet. But when fate made them come together, and having conversasions with each other, their anxiety was multiplied. Because of past denial, each character discovered that they were unstable beings when forced to recognize death. Each traveler was enlightened after an accompanying passenger shared his personal testimony, shattering all previous views regarding the loss of a son for the benefit of the country. One of them did say in a distressful way, “Our children do not belong to us, they belong to the Coutry…” But was that the Country, or the King of Italy should their sons devote, and even sarcificed their life to? That was a question that none of those who presented in that train could answer. And it was simply because they were living in a time of war, in a time when unencouraging words only led to further grief and anxiety.
Was set to be on the same train with these four families is an old fat man, who already lost his son in...