One of the main issues that the Characters and The Manager deal with is the balance between reality and fiction in actual or staged life. The Father doubts the reality of the Manager’s identity claiming that a character has a “life of his own, marked with his especial characteristics; for which reason he is always “somebody””, while a human like the Manager is a mere “nobody”, whose personality is always exposed to changes.
Another twist in the reality of the Father is the way he is perceived by the Step Daughter. The Step Daughter sees him as a perverted man that tries to destroy the unity of her family. Although the Father states that his intentions were always good, the Daughter doubts him and accuses him of the drama in their lives. In return, the Father blames the Step Daughter for the fact that the author has refused to give the characters life.
Their continuous fight shatters the balance of reality that usually characterizes a play.
The Father is also Pirandello’s way to prove that the stage is inefficient in reproducing the “reality”. The Father argues with the Manager about the setting of the stage that does not correspond with the real setting of their drama. He is also irritated by the poor performance of the Actors that alter his identity, and therefore the way the audience will perceive him.
The Father seems to bend all the rules of a common character by stepping out of his role in order to philosophize. This frequent deviation from the plot annoys the Manager: “will you at least finish with this philosophizing an let us try and shape this comedy”. Because of his roughly done personality the Father is considered to be an alter ego of the author.
Pirandello tries to cross the boundaries of what seems to be accepted as a form of art. He uses his Characters not only to transmit the plot to the audience, but also to introduce the idea of “theater in the mirror”. The Father is most of the time narrating the tragedy of his family, instead of actually playing it. He is usually criticizing the Manager and his way of directing the play.
Ultimately, the Father is the Character that seems to take the author’s place in developing the plot of the tragedy. However, all his struggles of putting this play on the stage in a realistic way fail: The Manager is untouched by the Character’s drama, and considers the time spent with them a waste of time. Pirandello considers the Father the “most eager to live” and the “most alive” because he “naturally [comes] forward and [directs] and [drags] along the almost dead weight of the others”. With a last cry, he still insists on his reality “Pretence? Reality, sir reality!”
