Zen Elena 3rd Year M

Book card: The Excluded

Luigi Pirandello
Genre: classic novel

Biography of the author

Luigi Pirandello was born in 1867 in Girgenti into a bourgeois family.
He attended university in Rome and Bonn, obtaining his degree. In 1934, he was
awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature and died in Rome in 1936.

Character Analysis
Marta Ajala: she is a strong woman, aware of her worth and who believes
firmly in their own dreams. She is combative and determined: she wants to build from
if her destiny knows, in fact, she cannot bear to think that there are those to assist her
fortune or God. Despite the mother, Maria and Anna Veronica still have
faith in God, Marta only believes in her abilities. She is not afraid of
judgment of the people such as that of the martyr and of the same father.
He cares a lot for Maria and Agata and does everything to support them and not let them down.
worry. He does not share his feelings with anyone and does not want to make himself
to help neither to command, however sometimes it is forced to submit to the will
of others.
Maria Ajala: she is Marta's sister, a sensitive and wise girl. She is
definitely considered less than her sister, but she does not complain about it. She has a
passion for music and is very devoted to her father and to religion.
Agata Ajala: she is the mother of Marta and Maria. She is a sweet, sensitive woman and
very understanding, closely tied to religion and family, in fact places the
maximum confidence in the daughter. However, unlike the daughter, she is a woman
resigned, one who lets herself be influenced by the comments of others.

Francesco Ajala: He is the father of Marta and Maria. He has an impulsive character and
irritable, he is harsh and violent both verbally and physically. He falls often
in exaggerated reactions even for insignificant reasons, in fact has an extreme
attention to the little things.
Rocco Pentagora: he is Marta's husband. Influenced by his father, he has an excessive
distrust towards the wife and immediately jumps to conclusions, blaming her. It is
a man ignorant, stubborn, raised among prejudices, who tends to
violence. Only at the end will he find love for Marta, despite her
guilt.
Gregorio Alvignani: he is a lawyer and then also a deputy, in love with Marta,
but unrequited. He is a cultured, elegant character and more open than Rocco.
He feels true love for the girl, beyond the limits imposed by society.
Anna Veronica: she is an old friend of Agata and later of her daughters. She has suffered in
went through a situation similar to Marta's, but without rebelling. It brings a
black bike on her head and she is rejected by all her fellow villagers, among whom is the same one.
Francesco has three women as his only friends. She is also very religious.
Matteo Falcone, Attilio Nusco and Pompeo Emanuele Mormoni: they are the
professors of the College of Palermo who fall in love with Marta. The first is
described as monstrously ugly, gloomy and with a gruff manner, the second
small and shy, and the third big and confident.

Space and time

The story is initially set in the country of the Ajala family, then in
Palermo can be placed towards the end of the 19th century.

Themes
• Alienation from society
In Marta's case, it is precisely about exclusion from society, both physical and
psychological, of a person who is instead innocent. This is caused by
behavior of the society of the country, where everyone knows everyone, or at least
they believe it and as soon as they hear a voice, they spread it without worrying
of its truthfulness. This is mainly the factor that changes and hinders the
life of the protagonist.

• Lady
The inferiority of women compared to men caused by stereotypes is easily
identifiable in the events. For example, after the father's death and the flight of
Paolo, the three women seem to be drifting due to the absence of a
man. Despite this, the protagonist always proves to be very independent.
and she tries to take on the role of a guide, but unfortunately, she too will have to be, for example,
help Gregorio get his job back.

• Betrayal
The theme of adultery is addressed especially in the early chapters, from the point of
view of the Pentagora. Especially when the blame is on the woman, it is
considered serious and also exaggerated by Rocco's father, who persuades
the son so much that he loses confidence in his wife. The second example is the
reaction of Francesco, who after speaking with his son-in-law, is sure that the
the daughter is guilty and this even leads him to death.

Plot
Marta Ajala was a young girl married to Rocco Pentagora. A
one day her husband threw her out of the house, accusing her of cheating on him with an admirer
from the country, Gregorio Alvignani.. After discovering him, the young woman's father,
Francesco locked himself in his room and died during Marta's childbirth.
also ended with the death of the child. So, the wife Agata and the two daughters
they remained alone. Only the old friend of the women arrived to support them.
Agata, Anna Veronica, and Paolo Sistri, the girls' cousin, who however disappeared.
suddenly. The three were then forced to leave the house, but thanks to
with the help of Anna Veronica, they found a new one. For the family and for themselves
Marta began to study and became a teacher at the college of
country, but she was quickly replaced due to the rumors about her. The problem was solved
only with the intervention of Deputy Alvignani, who had Marta transferred to
Palermo, where he would have taught.
In the new city, Marta settled in well, but then she met Alvignani, and
believing she loved him, she became pregnant.
One evening, Marta was called by Rocco's mother who was on her deathbed, who
She lived alone. The girl therefore wrote to Rocco, who rushed to watch over her.
the death of his mother. Speaking with Marta, he asked her to come back with him,
accepting it despite there being a real betrayal.

Comment
I really liked this story, especially in the second part for the
plot. I found the characterizations of the characters interesting, especially
Marta and Gregorio's wells.

Style
The language is informal and colloquial, with many expressions from
Sicilian dialect, and the sentences are generally complex.
Reflective and descriptive sequences prevail. The descriptions of characters
the places, sometimes objective, sometimes subjective, are often long
enriched by rhetorical figures such as hyperbole, simile, or metaphor.
The narrator is an external omniscient one, while the focalization is external, but
often also internal and reflects the thoughts of the characters.