Luigi Pirandello's short story, War, clearly reflects Pirandello's
             life and experiences. Pirandello's Italian birth and student life in Rome
             is reflected in War, which is set in Italy, and refers to the protagonist's
             son, who has lived as a student in Rome. War also reveals a great deal
             about Pirandello's understanding of patriotism, as his characters make
             pointed references to the honor of fighting for one's country.
             Pirandello's feelings about the destructiveness of war are revealed in the
             theme of the short story, War, as he reveals that patriotism cannot hope to
             justify the horrible waste and sadness over the loss of a child. His
             personal experience with madness and mental illness are seen in the tone
             and characterization in the story. Further, Pirandello's masterful
             understanding of dialect is paradoxically revealed through his use of
             stilted English to reveal the emotionless and overly rational character of
             Pirandello's Italian background is clearly reflected in War.
             Pirandello studies philology in Rome, and was later professor of aesthetics
             and stylistics at the Real Istituto di Magistere Femminile at Rome. The
             setting in his story takes place in a train carriage, after passengers had
             spent the night in the small Italian town of Fabriano. The story takes
             place as passengers return to the train to continue their journey from
             Rome, "by the small old-fashioned local joining the main line with Sulmona"
             (229). Pirandello notes that the story's protagonist, a "bulky woman in
             deep mourning" (230) and her husband had left their home at Sulmona to join
             their twenty-year old son at Rome, where he was a student. It is
             interesting to note that the son was a student in Rom, as was Pirandello in
             War also reflects Pirandello's experiences with patriotism within
             Italy during his lifetime. Born in 1867, Pirandello lived through WWI
             before he died in 1936. The characte...