Brief Biography

 Born June 28, 1867, Agrigento, Sicily, Italy

 An Italian playwright, novelist, and short-story writer, winner of the 1934 Nobel
Prize for Literature.

 Became an innovator in modern drama because of his creation the “theatre within
theatre” in the play Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore (1921; Six Characters in
Search of an Author)

 His father is a sulfur merchant, who wanted him to enter commerce but Pirandello
was not interested in business; he wanted to study.

 He first went to Palermo, the capital of Sicily, and, in 1887, to the University of
Rome. After a quarrel with the professor of classics there, he went in 1888 to the
University of Bonn, Ger., where in 1891 he gained his doctorate in philology for a
thesis on the dialect of Agrigento.

 In year 1894, he got married to a daughter of a wealthy sulfur merchant named

Antonietta Portulano, through arranged marriage by his father. This marriage gave
him financial independence, allowing him to live in Rome and to write.

 Examples of his notable literary works are The Late Mattia Pascal(1904), Six
Characters in Search of an Author (1921), Henry IV()1922, One, No One and One
Hundred Thousand(1926).

 After the dissolution, because of financial losses, of the Teatro d’Arte in 1928,
Pirandello spent his remaining years in frequent and extensive travel. In his will he
requested that there should be no public ceremony marking his death—only “a
hearse of the poor, the horse and the coachman.”

 Pirandello died on December 10, 1936, Rome

Setting of the Story

 War is set in a train carriage in Italy during WW1. While their nation is at war with
the Central Powers, the passengers are at war with their own feelings.

Summary of War
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 large and in deep
mourning. Some of the passengers help her in and make room for her.

The husband inquires if she’s all right, but she doesn’t answer. He explains to the
others that their only son is being sent to war in three days and they’re going to see
him off.

A passenger says he has two sons and three nephews at the front, prompting the
husband to stress that they’re risking their only son. This sets off a passionate
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.

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, says to 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.

Characters of the Story

Five people who spent their night after travelling from Rome until 2 new entrants
arrive when they stopped at a Fabriano station. There are seven passengers inside
the “Stuffy and smoky second class train carriage” But because they have no names
and only five of them have speak and interact throughout the story, these characters
according to their speeches are as follows:

1.The thin and weakly husband. looking shy and uneasy and who is the spoke person
giving the backstory of the bulky woman.

2.A man whose son has been in the front since the first day of the war and having
wounded twice and still set back twice.

3.A man with two sons and three nephews at the front who speaks the nature of
parental love and explains how parental love is not like bread that can not be broken
to pieces

4.The man wearing a light fawn coat. A red faced with bloody shot eyes who cried
who cried “Nonsense” and serves as instigator of the intense verbal debate about his
son who died a hero.

5.The bulky woman in black in mourning who remained bundled in a corner under her
coat. She has an epiphany while listening and realizes that she had not risen up to the
same heights of those who had resigned themselves of the departure of their sons
even to their death.
 Plot/Synopsis

"War" is set on a train headed for Sulmona from Rome. When a married couple
boards the train, it is discovered the husband is consoling the wife because their son
has been called into war. Others on the train reveal they are in similar situations, and
one man, whose son has passed in the war, explains the parents should be proud
their sons are dying in honor. But, at the story’s end, the wife asks the man if his son
really is dead, and the man’s tone changes, as if his son's death suddenly becomes
real to him.

Themes of the Story

1.Patriotism. As one of the passengers says young people naturally put love of
country above all else, and are happy to die in battle and speaks of his son as a hero
who died for the King and Country

2.Intellectualizing Emotions. Dealing with grief by intellectualizing like one man over
the death of his son claiming that young people wouldn’t want their parents to cry over
them “because if they die, they die inflamed and happy.”

3.Naturalism. Common theme for man versus nature or man versus himself, because
some people create illusion of the world in their mind in order to cope with the pain
that they feel and to avoid the cruel reality that they’re living in

Moral and Lessons of the Story

1.We’ll never know the love of a parent till we become parents ourselves because the
depth of love parents have for their children can never be measured.

2.Losing love one’s is never easy especially for parents to loose someone whom they
have been caring most of their life. But, with the help of family, friends or even others
we don’t know, the pain becomes bearable and endure with their support to overcome
through this painful experience in life

3.There are no winners in war, everyone is a victim especially the ones who are left
behind.

REFERENCE

https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/short-story-war-who-protagonist-who-antagonist-477674

https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-characters-themes-conflicts-war-pirandello-51535

https://mscurlettsclassroom.weebly.com/uploads/1/5/0/1/15012184/war_by_luigi_pirandello.pdf

https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-summary-story-war-by-luigi-pirandello-77091

https://owlcation.com/humanities/War-by-Luigi-Pirandello

https://mscurlettsclassroom.weebly.com/uploads/1/5/0/1/15012184/war_by_luigi_pirandello.pdf
 FINALS PROJECT: LUIGI PIRANDELLO'S “WAR”

Submitted to: Mercado, Catherine Jane T.

World Literature (HUM 200-3) MWF, 5-6:00PM

Submitted by: Group 4

Consul, Anita
Erro, Janedaryl Turla
Escalicas, Mccoy
Lagrimas, Felino Miguel Jr. G

THERE ARE FIVE PEOPLE WHO SPENT THEIR NIGHT AFTER TRAVELLING FROM (PLACE) UNTIL 2 NEW ENTRANTS ARRIVE. THE TOTAL OF SEVEN PEOPLE (SYNONYM)
INSIDE THE “STUFFY AND SMOKY SECOND CLASS TRAIN CARRIAGE”

BUT BECAUSE THERE ARE ONLY FIVE OF THEM WHO SPEAK AND INTERACT THROUGHOUT THE STORY, THESE CHARACTERS ACCORDING TO THEIR ORDER OF
APPEARACE? THEIR SPEECHES (SYNONYM) ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1. THIN AND WEAKLY HUSBAND, LOOKING SHY AND UNEASY AND WHO IS THE SPOKE PERSON GIVING THE BACKSTORY OF THE BULKY WOMAN(ARE THEY RELATED
WITH THE BULKY WOMAN IN BLACK?)

2. A MAN WHOSE SON HAS BEEN IN THE FRONT SINCE THE FIRST DAY OF THE WAR AND HAVING WOUNDED TWICE AND STILL SET BACK TWICE

3. A MAN WITH TWO SONS AND THREE NEPHEWS AT THE FRONT WHO SPEAKS THE NATURE OF PARENTAL LOVE “PARENTAL LOVE IS NOT LIKE BREAD THAT CAN BE
BROKEN TO PIECES

*ANG PAGMAMAHAL NANG MAGULANG AY DI PARANG PITCHEL NANG TUBIG NA PWEDE MONG HATIIN SA BAWAT MYEMBRO NANG PAMILYA SA HAPAGKAIN, ITOY
PARANG MASAMANG HANGIN SA LOOB NANG ELEVATOR NA KUNG SAAN PAREHAS NANG NAKASAKAY AY MAKAKA AMOY NANG MABAGSIK…..CGE TAMA NA.

4. THE MAN WHO CRIED NONSENS. A RED FACED WITH BLOODYSHOOT EYES WHO SERVES AS INSTIGATOR OF THE INTENSE VERBAL DEBATE ABOUT HIS SON WHO DIED
A HERO. WAS NOT MOURNING AT FIRST? CONTINUES TO WEAR A LIGHT FAWN COAT
*THIS PERSON IS THE TYPICAL TYPE MEN WHO ARE AT RISK OF CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES,

ITS NATURAL FOR PEOPLE? TO CRY BECAUSE ITS PART MOURNING.

AND THOUGH THIS GUY SEEMS TO BE PROUD OF HIS SON, HE IS ALSO DEFINITELY (SYNONYM) IN GRIEF AND DENIAL OF HIS SONS LOSS

ITS ONE OF THE (NOUN) OF MOURNING, WHERE ONE SHOULD NOT BE BYPASS BECAUSE TO COMPLETE THE CYCLE YOU NEED TO GO THROUGH THE PROCESS OR ELSE
YOU GET COMPLICATIONS LATER IN LIFE. YOU CANT MODIFY IT BECAUSE ITS PART OF THE FABRIC OF OUR BEING HUMAN. ITS HUMAN NATURE

IT IS INEVITABLE

ITS A BOND AND WHEN IT GETS (PUTOL), IT MAY TAKE FOREVER TO FIX BUT ONEWAY OR ANOTHER IT WILL GET FIXED BUT NOT AS

5. THE BULKY WOMAN IN BLACK IN MOURNING WHO REMAINED BUNDLED IN A CORNER UNDER HER COAT. SHE HAS AN EPIPHANY WHILE LISTENING AND REALIZES THAT
SHE HAD NOT RISEN UP TO THE SAME HEIGHTS OF THOSE WHO HAD RESIGNED THEMSELVES OF THE DEPARTURE OF THEIR SONS EVEN TO THEIR DEATH

JUSTIFICATION BEHIND WAR DO NOT ALLEVIATE ANY OF THE PARENTS PAIN LOOSING THEIR LOVE ONES

PASSENGERS INSIDE THE TRAIN ARE MORE INTERESTED IN DISPLAYING HOW THEIR PAIN IS WORSE THAN ANYONE ELSE

1. PARENTS DO NOT DIVIDE THE LOVE THEY GIVE TO THEIR KIDS

WE NEVER KNOW THE LOVE OF A PARENT TILL WE BECOME PARENTS OURSELVES BECAUSE THE DEPTH OF LOVE PARENTS HAVE FOR THEIR CHILDREN CAN NEVER
BE MEASURED.

LOSING LOVE ONE’S IS NEVER EASY ESPECIALLY FOR PARENTS TO LOOSE SOMEONE WHOM THEY HAVE BEEN CARING MOST OF THEIR LIFE. BUT, WITH THE HELP OF
FAMILY, FRIENDS OR EVEN OTHERS WE DON’T KNOW, THE PAIN BECOMES BEARABLE AND ENDURE WITH THEIR SUPPORT TO OVERCOME THIS PAINFUL EXPERIENCE IN
LIFE

THERE ARE NO WINNERS IN WAR, IT KILLS YOUNG AND CREATES A LEGACY OF PAIN AND HURT IN THOSE WHO SURVIVE

1. THERE ARE NO WINNERS IN WAR, EVERYONE IS A VICTIM ESPECIALLY THE ONES WHO ARE LEFT BEHIND.

REFERENCE

HTTPS://WWW.ENOTES.COM/HOMEWORK-HELP/SHORT-STORY-WAR-WHO-PROTAGONIST-WHO-ANTAGONIST-477674

HTTPS://WWW.ENOTES.COM/HOMEWORK-HELP/WHAT-CHARACTERS-THEMES-CONFLICTS-WAR-PIRANDELLO-51535

HTTPS://MSCURLETTSCLASSROOM.WEEBLY.COM/UPLOADS/1/5/0/1/15012184/WAR_BY_LUIGI_PIRANDELLO.PDF