Beneath a Scarlet Sky

Throughout the novel, Pino believes in a black and white world where complicated ethics and emotions are divided into an either/or binary. One of those binaries is the idea that his actions are either courageous or cowardly, with little room for a gray area in between. For Pino, it would be an act of cowardice to flee Nazi occupied Italy for Switzerland and sit out the war, even if it saved his life. He is often anxious while spying on Leyers, not for his safety, but that he’s doing enough to warrant his family’s praise of his courageous actions. Before Mimo knows about Pino’s role as a spy, he calls Pino a coward for enrolling with the German army to avoid dying on the Russian front. Pino believes himself to be a coward for not saying or doing anything to stop Anna’s execution, even though he would likely have been executed as well as a collaborator. This feeling is so strong and so hopeless that Pino almost commits suicide as a result. Pino also believes that there is a clear line between right and wrong and good and evil. This causes him much cognitive dissonance when the Americans call Leyers a hero and a friend. Pino is unable to see past Leyers’ actions as a Nazi slave driver to any sort of redeeming information he may have provided to the Allies. For Pino, it’s all or nothing, and he ends up deciding that if no one else will grant Leyers justice, he’ll do it himself by killing the man. Pino considers himself a romantic, and as a romantic, he is convinced that he can or should be able to find a clear line between often-blurry distinctions.