Tozzi's realism, or Verismo, seeks to portray events as they actually occur. This fuels the internal conflict of the main character, Pietro, who relies on internal visions in order to perceive reality. Pietro's visions both isolate and detach him from reality, juxtaposing Tozzi's style with his characters' development. This ineptitude to concentrate on reality makes Pietro a victim of metaphysical angst. He struggles against the reality that governs the life of the other characters: to Pietro, "they all seemed to be acting like figures in a dream..." (18). There is a weightlessness that Tozzi assigns to Pietro that the other characters lack: Pietro "wonders why the things and the people about him always had to seem heavy..." (19). These characters are grounded in a reality that Pietro distorts and internalizes. Just as Pietro has trouble seeing and hearing others express themselves, he also has trouble expressing hiself. This lack of connection at first becomes evident when Pietro stabs Ghisola in order to communicate to her that he may love her. Evetually Pietro's visions drive him develop an inner life--an inner life that leads Pietro to feel inferior to others:
That inner life of his that always got on top! How it drove him to despair, not being able to savour til afterwards, in his own private silence, all he'd experienced but hadn't said! It was why he considered himself inferior the others. He only talked well to Ghisola in his imagination... (45)
Pietro's wishes to perceive reality by feeling it. For this reason, it is as if he is viewing t he world with his eyes shut: his life is dictated by internal visions rather than direct and outward perceptions. This is why he believes Ghisola to be pure and innocent until the end.
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