Natalia Ginzburg's The Son of Man

Natalia Ginzburg's The Son of Man

In “The Son of Man,” Natalia Ginzburg asserts that while the war did irreparable psychological damage to its survivors, it also gave the young generation enough strength to confront the stark reality of the precarious nature of human existence. Passionately but concisely, through the use of repetitive imagery, fatalistic tone and lack of classic organization, Ginzburg shows how the war changed the world around Man and how Man changed his perception of the world.

People cannot choose the time to live and die. Ginzburg had to live through the horrors of war: destroyed houses, air raids, arrests, and death. She shows how the war not only deprives people of their belongings, but also distorts the primary meaning of things and concepts. The world “police” no longer bears the meaning of protection and help but rather that of fear and suspicion. All pretty things that decorate a house, as well as the house itself, come to be viewed simply as raw material that will eventually turn to dust. Children of the war had seen too much terror and suffering in real life; therefore, Ginzburg asserts that this makes it impossible to raise children telling them fairy tales as the previous generations did. The only advantage the Ginzburg’s generation got from the war is the ability to see and speak the truth. As the generation of men they have no illusion they will find some peace or certainty in life, but they have found “strength” and “toughness” to “face whatever reality may confront” them and they are “glad of their destiny”.

Ginzburg speaks on behalf of her generation appealing to everyone who is willing to listen. Her voice is full of passion and conviction. Appealing to a reader, she neither tells a ...

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...part is reserved for Ginzburg’s generation: she calls it the “generation of men” as opposed to the previous generation of “foxes and wolves.” She uses this image comparison to show that the gap between two generations is insurmountable (lifestyle of men is very different from that of animals) and even though the war deprives her generation of any certainty, safety and rest it forces it “to seek out new strength.” Thus, her generation gets a higher status, the status of men, and a new world, the world of the unadorned truth.

Ginzburg insists that time cannot heal the wounds of war and that her generation, tied to war by its suffering and by its destiny, uncompromisingly carries the truth. She effectively uses all her rhetorical tools: repetitive imagery, fatalistic tone, and purposeful lack of organization, to show how war makes people lose their world forever.