Lines and Life

There's always something that sticks to a person's mind. Why do we keep watching that junk on T.V. called "reality t.v." when it has no point? Why do we not put down that Harry Potter book when our parents call us to dinner? Why do we want to go back to Hawaii for another vacation? It's because something in there stuck to our brains that had meaning. Oh no! Snooki got into a fight! Harry was brutally injured! Hawaii was just marvelous!! Face it, our minds don't let us stop, no matter how hard we try. I once watched an entire marathon of "I Love New York" with my friend because every last episode had some line that drew my attention!!

"War" had the same effect with its line. Pirandello has two specific lines in this piece that really drew my attention to it. The first one is one of the last lines. It's always like that, isn't it? The closing HAS to be so special it just sticks with us. I quote him,

"For some time he tried to answer, but the words failed him. He looked and looked at her, almost as if only then-at that silly, incongruous question-he had suddenly realized at last that his son was really dead-gone for ever-for ever."

I like this line a lot because of the way Pirandello wrote it. Just like Edgar Allan Poe, he repeated himself a couple of times for a bigger effect. His son was gone for ever, FOR EVER! It makes you think, oh my god, his son really is gone for ever...FOR EVER! Not only this, but this line has a very big meaning. It's the line that breaks the reader, and the fat traveler, into reality. It shatters the pink, pretty glass and has you realize what life really is. When the man was explaining about children and war, he made it seem like he was truly over grieving his dead son. He shined this light upon all the other parents that they shouldn't be sad as their children died happily, maybe even peacefully by their side. But the question that the lady asked really was the knife that shattered the glass. As it makes the man see that death isn't something you'll ever get over, it makes the reader see that you can never really talk yourself out of what you really feel, deep down inside. This line is also meaningful because it makes everyone cherish what they've got. Even if some of their children are at war, and probably not coming back for a VERY long time, it makes them cherish that they are still alive, since the man's son is not. They see the pain he has held in for the past while, even though he denied it even saying he does not "wear mourning."

Another line also has a very special meaning in this source. It is said by the "fat traveler." He says something important:

"Now, if one dies young and happy, without having the ugly sides of life, the boredom of it, the pettiness, the bitterness of disillusion. . .what more can we ask for him?"

This line has meaning because in a way, it shows the upsides of death. Other primary sources that I have read about World War I deal with dying and gore and blood. This one sheds a new light on death...that 'every cloud has a silver lining.' Not everyone agrees. But apparently, this traveler does...before his breakdown, at least. He is saying that is someone dies young and happy, they are safe from experiencing anything bad that could have happened in life. This is meaningful in the text because all of the other parents are only thinking about that bad in their children dying, or being close to dying. After this line, they all think about what their sons may have had to go through if they had not gone to war. It gets even the reader thinking. I personally think that a person should experience that ups AND downs of life, not be so naive about everything...because with the bad comes the good. Here it is again: every cloud has a silver lining.

What are some meaningful lines or things you have heard from the media, books, or other things? Share!