Post by Calvin - Comparison of Carlo and Mandras

The author, De Bernieres has portrayed the two characters of Carlo and Mandras very differently with different attitudes of war and on their loved ones. But he also shows the similarities of how the war has affected both in a way.
Carlo’s attitude towards war was that he has joined the army to find love, he believed that by joining the army and the war he would ‘find someone to love’ and ‘be ennobled by this love’. Mandras however, has a different attitude in joining the war, he is eager to join as he wants to prove to Pelagia how much he loves her, and show how courageous he is, and that he is not just a ‘nobody fisherman’. So Mandras being very ambitious in my opinion, has joined the war to obtain that glory and respect he will get after the war ends. Both Mandras and Carlo have different attitudes towards the war, but this has also affected their attitudes towards their loved ones. The letters that Carlo writes are very emotional which represents his character being very reflective. The letters he wrote about the death of Francesco, was so detailed and clear that it allows the reader to even empathise with Carlo, ‘I gathered his tears on my fingers and drank them’ shows how emotional Carlo was and how strong their love was. Mandras on the other hand is not as emotional as Carlo, but he is very ambitious and wants to achieve honour and glory. When he returns from the war, he is expected to be treated with respect from Pelagia, but does not, his attitude towards her is now very harsh and the way he pressurize Pelagia to read him the letters she wrote. Making Pelagia’s initial love towards Mandras change to ‘pity and then to hate’.
De Bernieres has shown how the similarities of war have affected both Carlo and Mandras, but he has also shown the differences as to how much both were affected. It is shown that they both have lost their loved ones, however Carlo lost his love in the line of duty, where the death was a very emotional death, and how Francesco died right before his very eyes. He is affected by his attitude towards war. Whereas, Mandras lost Pelagia because of his over ambitiousness and his selfishness. The love that Pelagia once had has now changed into ‘hate’. So the both has lost their love but Carlo literally and Mandras metaphorically. The difference however is that Mandras loss to me is a bigger loss than Carlo’s loss. Though Francesco died in front of Carlo, they both knew the chances they had of being alive in the war, so they knew that one day, either or both will die. So the loss for Carlo was only momentarily. Mandras loss of Pelagia is bigger in a way that, in the earlier chapters, Pelagia was very much in love with Mandras and vice-versa, and also the attitude that Mandras had was very positive where it did not matter to him if he was dead or alive after the war. He believed that he would either die in honour and pride for his country and Pelagia, or be alive where he will always be remembered and honoured. However through the course of the war, the love Pelagia have for Mandras degrades. De Bernieres presents Carlo as a very emotional character and allows this character to write letters expressing his feelings which makes a reader have for empathy. However Mandras character is presented more on his ‘beauty’ being compared to ‘a man like adam’ showing how he is represented as a godly figure.