Rationalising Death in War Essay

Think Topic: why does the fat man rationalize his sons death?

Have you ever gotten life changing news that was so shocking to the point where you thought could not be real? In the war story by Luigi Pirandello, some people lost their sons and some afraid of losing theirs. The mixed and burning emotions among the travelers were battling of which whos mostly in pain. There were two men dispute the value of their sons who are, as they speak, out in combat. One father states, I have two sons and three nephews at the front. The other replies, Maybe, but in our case it is our only son. The bickering between them seems to last an eternity but finally ends with the question, Which of the two positions is the worse?

This simple yet complex question defines part of the story. The dispute was somewhat childish as no value can ever be put on whether it will be harder for one person to lose a son over another. Both positions are bad because both fathers are at a loss. However, it is how one deals with death that can be differentiated.

Another man the fat man in this story interrupts their conversation by repeatedly saying nonsense and continues with shouldnt we consider the feelings of our children when they are twenty? My son, before dying, sent me a message saying that he was dying satisfied at having ended his life in the best way he could have wished. That is whyI do not even wear mourning.

Going by these details we get the impression that this man sees his sons death as heroic and that it is better to die in war than not. But losing his son as a hero could stand in front of his death pain to not feel it? Lets see. The father responses to his sons death as hes still alive, No pain just honor. Meanwhile the woman who her son is leaving for the war was sitting and listening to what the fat man (the father) was saying. She felt shes in nowhere where anyone could share her feeling and support her. Among her deep sorrow she was content about that courageous father and how he absorbed his sons death, and as how everyone was stunned by him she was able to rise herself up. All the sudden she went to the fat man and asked him then is your son really dead? he looked at her speechless, failing to answer, the words had gone. And thats when it hit him that his son was gone for real and forever and not coming back. Wow! It took him a question to realize his lost of his son.

So that leads us to one thing, that he was just rationalizing his sons death because it was beyond his reality, its like it was hard to believe so he looked at it from different perspective where he sees positivities. The fact of his sons death as heroic was just a pain killer he used to not to feel the horrible pain of losing your child in a terrible war.