War by luigi pirandello

War Original title: Quando si comprende is a short story by Italian playwright and dramatist Luigi Pirandello first published in the short story collection Un Cavallo nella Luna in The plot starts with a mother and father stepping onto a train to leave Rome to visit their only son, who had previously left for deployment in the First World War.

Many of the passengers relate to this, and a woman tells them that her son, who had deployed at the start of war, came home injured two times only to be sent back. Another woman tells them that both of her sons are fighting. With the husband saying that if one of your sons dies, you still have the other one. But another passenger argues that having a remaining son means that the father would have to continue living through his grief and suffering.

He explains that his son has already died in the war, but that his son had sent a message to him saying that in his last moments he was satisfied to have died defending his country, and because of this he does not mourn his death.

War short story summary

The grieving mother too is moved by this and starts to think of how selfish her grieving is. But soon after, she becomes unfazed by his argument and asks him a seemingly silly question, "Then, is your son really dead? The story ends with the fat man through those words coming to the realization that his son was really dead, as he begins to weep uncontrollably to the shock of the other passengers.

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