Yes, "The Train Has Whistled" (Italian: "Il treno ha fischiato") is a short story by Luigi Pirandello, first published in 1914. It tells the story of Belluca, an unhappy accountant trapped in a joyless life. One night, he suddenly hears the distant whistle of a train, which awakens his imagination and recalls a life full of possibilities beyond his current misery. The train whistle symbolizes a moment of existential awakening, contrasting the constraints of his daily life with the vast, liberating world beyond. This moment of transformation leads to Belluca expressing behavior seen as madness by others, a recurring theme in Pirandello's works where apparent madness can symbolize a deeper truth or insight.
In the story, Belluca tells his boss that "the train has whistled," which confuses and angers his coworkers, who dismiss his words as delirium. The train whistle serves as a metaphor for a sudden opening of consciousness and a longing to escape the oppressive conditions of his life, a profound and symbolic event in the narrative.pirandellointranslation+5
- https://www.pirandellointranslation.org/the-train-has-whistled
- https://paralleltexts.blog/2024/12/31/luigi-pirandello-il-treno-ha-fischiato-the-train-has-whistled/
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- https://www.pirandellointranslation.org/night
The story "The Train Has Whistled" ends with Belluca, the protagonist, experiencing a profound existential transformation triggered by the distant whistle of a train he hears one night. This whistle awakens his imagination and breaks the dull misery of his life as an unhappy accountant. When he recounts this experience at work, his coworkers and boss ridicule and beat him. However, Belluca surprisingly fights back, declaring that after hearing the train whistle, he can no longer tolerate the way he has been treated or his oppressive life.
His coworkers and boss then forcibly take him to a mental hospital where he continues to talk about the train and its whistle. In the hospital, Belluca's speech becomes poetic and imaginative, describing dreams and visions of far-off places and a vibrant world he had forgotten existed. The train whistle symbolizes a sudden awakening from his numb, joyless existence to the realization that life and freedom still exist beyond his suffering. Despite the physical and social confinement, Belluca's spirit is momentarily liberated, full of hope and the vastness of the world beyond his immediate misery.
Thus, the ending highlights a tragic but vivid moment of mental and emotional escape, where Belluca reconnects with a lost vitality and the promise of a larger life, even though confined physically and marginalized by society.pirandellointranslation+3
- https://www.pirandellointranslation.org/the-train-has-whistled
- https://paralleltexts.blog/2024/12/31/luigi-pirandello-il-treno-ha-fischiato-the-train-has-whistled/
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- https://telegrafi.com/en/the-train-whistled/
- https://www.pirandelloweb.com/1901-with-other-eyes-short-story/
- https://www.fondazionepirelli.org/en/corporate-culture/stories-of-work-factories-and-offices/
- https://www.pirandellointranslation.org/a-single-day
The final scene of "The Train Has Whistled" is deeply symbolic and centers on Belluca's mental and emotional state after his forced confinement in a mental hospital following his outburst at work. In this scene, Belluca continues to speak about the train whistle he heard—a symbol of awakening and escape from his dull, joyless existence.
Symbolically, the train whistle represents the call of freedom, imagination, and the vastness of life beyond Belluca's oppressive daily routine. It awakens in him a sense of hope and a vision of a larger, more vibrant world. His poetic and visionary speech in the hospital contrasts the physical confinement of his body with the liberation of his mind and spirit. This duality highlights Pirandello's exploration of reality versus perception: though Belluca is trapped socially and physically, his inner world opens up, revealing a profound, if tragic, moment of existential clarity.
The final scene underscores the tension between oppression and liberation, madness and insight. Belluca’s apparent madness can be read as a powerful metaphor for the human desire to break free from life's constraints and to reconnect with a more meaningful existence. The train whistle, distant and elusive, is both a literal and figurative call to awakening, making the ending poignantly ambiguous—does Belluca find true freedom or is he forever lost in his fantasies? This ambivalence is a hallmark of Pirandello’s work, inviting readers to ponder the nature of sanity, freedom, and the human condition.pirandellointranslation+3
- https://www.pirandellointranslation.org/the-train-has-whistled
- https://paralleltexts.blog/2024/12/31/luigi-pirandello-il-treno-ha-fischiato-the-train-has-whistled/
- http://literatureandtranslation.blogspot.com/2014/01/il-treno-ha-fischiato-una-novella-di.html
- https://telegrafi.com/en/the-train-whistled/
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