Giovanni Drogo is ordered to leave the Military School for Fort Bastiani, situated on the northern frontier. Beyond the frontier there extends an immense plain, the Tartar Steppe, from which for centuries there has been no sign of life. So the military garrison seems useless because there are no visible, or even probable, enemies. But there is an illusion of real and constant danger, which might cause a war, and give officers and enlisted men the opportunity to show their valor. Because of this, they all live in a permanent state of anticipation, which is at the same time hope -the hope of one day being able to justify life.
Antonio CANDIDO, Howard S. BECKER, Four Waitings, Sociological Theory, Vol. 10, No. 1, 1992.
Antonio CANDIDO, Howard S. BECKER, Four Waitings, Sociological Theory, Vol. 10, No. 1, 1992.
