The jar of Pirandello: an allegorical portrait of society

The Jar of Luigi Pirandello(1867-1936), is an allegorical representation of Italian society in 1906, the story is a fight of a rich owner of lands and an artisan that have to repair a jar; the craftsman that eaten while he is repairing the jar, and when he has finished the reparation, he could not exit from jar because he bump doesn’t it, whereby he must destroyed the jar to exit. It is a very simple history and very much scant amusing, but it is become interesting if we consider the allusion or allegorical meaningful that is behind; the Italian and European society was grasped by the high moral and conformity custom, that promoted the elegance and respectability; hence an empty society without ideal and other, because the elegance, the behavior, the conformism were all; thereupon Pirandello through The jar described allegorically the Italian society in 1906, how? This is question, because so what a destroyed jar to a human society and its customs? Apparently nothing but if we consider the story it is has inherence, how? Simple the jar of this comedy is the prison that the society has created, formal rules and customs that are the correspondent of jar in the comedy, in fact the rich owner of lands is the society, the conformist society and the craftsman is the common people that hasn’t these postures, in fact the artisan is poor and humpbacked, it is a rebellion to the respectability, because the esthetic appearance is very secondary; expressed so it is normal, but allegorical meaningful is that the artisan though to essence, this is the exit from jar, instead the owner though the form, this is the reparation of jar, because formally the jar must be perfect alone formally, because it is important; alone formal rightly. The broken jar is divided for two sides, and it is allusion to two societies, therefore the formal society of Belle époque and the pragmatic and poor society of artisan, without polemical intention but, in conformity of custom of Pirandello, a description more or less explicit of society, its uses and customs, and the artisan’s reparation of jar is other allegory to the society, this is the poor people that guarantees the survive of this classist society, that despises the common people, but thank for this poor and humpback class the society of Belle époque lives. We know that this comedy has been written in 1906, but the behaviors are similar and almost equal, or superimposable today to customs of our societies, that has refuse very strong of poverty and minor social classes, whereby Pirandello described the social behaviors of his time but he involuntary describes also our.

Alessandro Lusana