The next similarity between the characters is what they have found out about the war, their disappointment and despair. Both of them realised that war is not at all as what they thought it would be. After Carlo and his friend Francesco had their first atrocity, they no longer felt excited by the war. “We felt no triumph. We felt exhausted and tainted” (p.74)- they’ve realised what they have done and are only disgusted by their actions. Carlo also says: “war is a wonderful thing. In movies and in books”(p. 122)- this quote shows that he no longer finds war glorious. The same change happens with Mandras as well. He experiences all the horrors of the war. “…The ice screams. It shrieks. […] It squeaks all night […] I would have died a thousand times…”(p. 155)- through Mandras’ description of war, the readers once again realise that war is horrible. It disintegrates a person. However none of the two characters left the army. They continued fighting as long as possible. And both of them were only able to go on living that way due to love. The reason to why Carlo stayed in the army was because he couldn’t leave the person he loved: “I only wanted to be in love with Francesco. I did not desert.” (p.119), and the same was happening with Mandras. He kept fighting only because he knew that he had to come back to Pelagia. “Every day, all the time, I was thinking of you, talking to you. I kept going because of you. I was not a coward because of you […] I even prayed to you”(p. 157). So as we can see from these two quotes love was a very important factor in the life of a soldier, it kept them alive.
And the last but not least factor that shows us that Carlo and Mandras are very similar and experienced similar situations, even though they fought on opposite sides, is the way they suffered. The description of their sufferings is so similar that at some points the readers feel as if the author is talking about the same person. Their bodies started to disintegrate, and both of the characters were slowly becoming mad. Both soldiers became unrecognisable. Carlo says a very important quote, which shows that in the end, all soldiers are exactly the same: “we had become anonymous.” (p.123). There is no difference between the men, they all look the same and feel the same. And the only thing that points out that the person might be an enemy is the uniform. Carlo says: “we grew immense beards, we were buried in storms of sleet, our bloodshot eyes sank deep into our heads […] our hands were torn as though by cats, and our fingers curled up into leaden clubs” (p. 123)- the soldiers became unrecognisable. And a similar description of Mandras is given to us when he comes back to Pelagia. Mandras “wore the unidentifiable and ragged remains of a shirt and trousers […] feet were bound with bandages that were both caked with old, congealed blood, and the brightest stains of fresh […] reek of rotting flesh, of suppurating wounds, of dung and urine.” And his hands also had “the horrendous cross-tracking of hard white scars […] there were no nails and no trace of cuticles.” (p.154-155). At first Pelagia didn’t even recognise that the man in front of her was Mandras, the man whom she loved before. From these descriptions of two characters, the readers realise that both of the fighting sides experienced exactly the same situations and that during the war there was no real difference between the soldiers, except for the countries that they were fighting for. The description of what they experienced is also very similar in both cases. The soldiers are turning mad due to all the suffering they see and feel. “It was as though a portion of my mind had disappeared, or as though my soul had diminished to a tiny point of grey light” (p. 134). The soldiers start to lose any human feelings; they no longer see the point of the happening. Both, Mandras and Carlo suffered a lot. “…Above the puttees the legs swell, and below the puttees the foot falls asleep. The legs turn lurid colours: shades of lilac, hints of purple, ebony black […] I am exhausted, bewildered by the cries of agony […] in the tents I hear the unearthly shrieks of amputation.” (p.137)- Carlo is describing what happens to the bodies of the soldiers and through what sufferings they pass. And a similar description of suffering is given by Mandras: “damaged lungs were filling with mucus; it could be tuberculosis, the onset of pneumonia […] I know I’ll never be warm […] sufferings are lessons […] I cant walk. I walked from Epirus. No boots […] I shat myself when a bomb fell next to me” (p.156). Mandras’ experience is just as horrifying as Carlo’s. And also, at the end they all became strangers. Carlo says: “Francesco was becoming a stranger” (p.134), and also when Mandras comes back, at first Pelagia thinks of him as of a stranger as well. “There was a stranger seated at the kitchen table, a most horrible and wild stranger…” (p.153). So once again, in the end all the men are very similar. They become strange and unrecognisable.
The other “moral” issues that are raised in this novel are education and religion. Education is a very important factor in human’s life, and that is clearly shown in the novel. We first meet this idea in the first chapter, when Dr. Iannis is able to show his superiority over his patients by demonstrating his knowledge of medicine and medical terminology. His diction is very difficult, and therefore the people he is talking to don’t understand him. However they do realize that what he is saying is true, and thus believe and respect him. The second time that the author is demonstrating the issue with education is in the case with Mandras. Dr. Iannis thinks that Mandras is not good for his daughter due to his lack of education, and Mandras realises that. “Doctor Iannis doesn’t think Im good enough […] Im not in her class, I know that […] Mandras is a likeable lad, but there’s nothing to him” (p.80). He realises that Pelagia and her father are more superior then he because they are educated, and due to this fact he wants to go to war, to prove everyone that even though he is uneducated, he is still not worthless. Education also plays an important role in Carlo’s life as well. It is to books that he turns to in order to find out if there are more people of his kind. “Yes, I have read everything, looking for evidence that I exist, that I am a possibility. And you know where I found myself? […] In the writings of a Greek” (p.28)-it is also education and books that lead Carlo to the decision to join the army.
The other important question raised is about religion. The faith of people changes through out the book, however the change is different depending on the situation that the people are in. At the start the author tells us about the people of Cephallonia and their perspective towards religion. They very much believe in Greek culture and its Gods, and they also try to obey the orders set by the Church. For example, when in the third chapter Aenos picks up the priest, the people watching the show find it funny at first. “A few giggled, but then a guilty hush descended. There was a minute of embarrassed silence.”- However as soon as they realised what has just happened, the people felt guilty and embarrassed. They don’t like the priest, because he is greedy and drunk “the priest deserved it, didn’t he?” (p.23), but they do respect religion and its rules. We are also told that some citizens on the island have lost their beliefs, however by looking closely at some aspects of the book, we can still see that it’s not entirely true. For example in chapter 7, when Dr. Iannis enters the church, he realizes that he has no right to pass behind the screen without the permission of the priest, even though “he had long abandoned his religion in favour of a Machian variety of materialism, but he felt nonetheless that he could not break the prohibition” (p.48). The other example that is good in demonstrating that Dr. Iannis didn’t completely lose his faith in religion is at the All Saint’s Miracle celebration. When he sees how a person is being cured by belief in religion he starts to cry due to the overflow of emotions. “…He wiped the sweat from his face and the tears from his eyes. He was trembling in every part of his body…”(p.92). Both examples show us that even though Dr. Iannis thinks that he lost all his faith, in reality the belief in religion is still with him, deep inside his soul. To prove this idea another example could be used. When the Doctor finds out about the beginning of war, the first place that he thinks everyone must attend is the church: “Come on boys, we’re all going to the church. It’s a question of solidarity” (p.67). As we can see with the start of the war, the people of the island became more religious and turned to God in order to find support. Nevertheless we are also provided with a different development in faith and religion. And that is the change that took place in the men’s hearts, who were at war. Unlike the people who stayed at home, through out the war they lost their faith, and could no longer see any point in life. It is thought that religion cannot survive if a person doesn’t have a soul, however the souls of soldiers “diminished to a tiny point of grey light”. They no longer believed as they saw all the sufferings of the people, which in the end were useless. Instead of praying to God, they started praying to the people they loved, as they believed that unlike God their beloved ones wouldn’t forget them. “I had you instead of the Virgin, I even prayed to you.” (p.157). During the war, the soldiers completely lost their faith and hope. So as we can see the role of religion in people’s lives is also an important “moral” issue that is raised in the novel.
All of these factors tell us that there are several different moral schemes in the novel. And the development of each issue depends on the situation that the person is in, and not on the person himself, as in the end all the humans are very similar.
