All About War

The fat man is a character in the short story, War, by Luigi Pirandello. Within the story, he does not even have a name; he is simply known as "the fat man." The story is a conversation among travellers in a carriage during wartime in the early 1900s, and since the country (Italy) is currently involved in a war, the topic of conversation among the passengers naturally turns to war. The specific question among the travellers is "Who suffers most in war?" Is it the young soldier who goes off to fight for his country and, perhaps, dies? Is it the parents who lose a son? Or is it the parents who lose an only son? The arguments for each opinion are well-stated and supported in this short story.

If you would like to offer your own opinion about who suffers most in war, please read the short story, War, and the accompanying biographical information about the author (because I believe the short story should be read within the historical context within which it was written). Both are available HERE. After that, take the short quiz HERE.

Then, please write your own response to the short story. While the general question is "Who suffers most?" in war, your response may focus on a specific character or any idea. Whatever your topic, please state your opinion and support it in 250 words or less. (My own response directly below, I Hate the Fat Man, is 227 words.) If you are an ESL/EFL writer, and if your response is 250 words or less and you would like me to "edit" your essay, please send it HERE, and I will "edit" it and send it back for possible changes before publication on this site.

I Hate the Fat Man by Erlyn Baack—July 11, 2008

I don't have any idea whether a person's physical and psychological characteristics match in real life to the extent they do in literature, but they match perfectly in the case of the fat man in the short story, War, by Luigi Pirandello. The purpose of this paper is to examine those characteristics.

From his physical description, the fat man is a mess. His body is fat; his breath is short; his lip is trembling; his teeth are missing; his face is red, contracted, and distorted; and his eyes are gray, watery, bloodshot and bulging. In the end, the fat man spins out of control into sobs.

From his psychological description, the fat man was young once, and he thought of "other things, like girls, cigarettes, illusions, new ties, and Country." Now that he is no longer young, he has seen the "ugly sides of life, the boredom, the pettiness, the bitterness, the disillusion." This man is so out of control, he fakes the reality of his own son's death, all in the name of Country.

And what about the son's death in the name of Country? It was a happy death, a death without regret, the death of a hero, the death of a decent boy.

Probably, although we don't know for sure, the fat man is and will remain a decent man, a herd man.

Quick Quiz

Do you agree with the fat man "...that we give life to our children NOT for our own benefit but for the benefit of the Country?" "...that our children, in fact belong to the Country?" "...that the love of Country among DECENT boys is even greater than the love for parents?" "...that if DECENT boys die in glorious battle, they die satisfied at having ended their lives in the best way they could have wished?" "...that parents should be willing to resign themselves, without crying, even to the death of their sons in battle, all in the name of Country?"

Send your comment for inclusion below.

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