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Metaphor
Explanation and Analysis—Song of Savagery:
As Pino observes the chaotic and violent moments preceding Anna and Dolly's deaths by firing squad, he likens the traumatizing and horrific experience to a song. However, the song is not one of joy or freedom, but one that becomes a metaphor for the cacophony of brutality:
But his voice was drowned out by a song of savageness and bloodlust that built and swept through the courtyard of Castello Sforzesco, echoing around and off the condemned beings lined up against the wall. The crowd squeezed forward and pinned Pino from all sides. Helpless, sick, and disbelieving, he watched Anna being pushed into position beside Dolly.
In the passage above, a partisan firing squad prepares to execute Anna, Dolly, and many others on false accusations of sympathizing with the Nazi Party. During this profound moment of tension and horror, Sullivan returns to the theme of music, creating a metaphor for the overstimulating experience of bearing witness to the murder scene. Music appears throughout Beneath a Scarlet Sky as a consistent source of comfort for Pino. Pino often imagines the patterns of his life—as well as the people in it—as musical instruments, all part of the metaphorical orchestra in his mind's eye. However, in this climactic moment Sullivan utilizes music as a vehicle for horror, demonstrating how the sounds of the crowd and of the accused become a “song of savageness.” This so-called "song" is the opposite of comforting for Pino: it is traumatizing. The metaphor heightens the poignancy of the novel’s climax.
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