“The Interest shown by Professor Galiani naturally filled me with pride, but it had no great consequence; the school routine returned to normal. As a result, even the fact that, in my first year, I was a student with a small reputation for being clever soon seemed to me unimportant. In the end what did it prove? It proved how fruitful it had been to study with Lila and talk to her, to have her as a goad and support…, I began to expect new praise that would prove my autonomous virtuosity” (Ferrante 188).

In this portion of the text we are moving towards the childhood aspect of the storytelling. childhood is the one of the most important development stages in a person’s life. In post 1 I wrote about how it was relatable to real life that the characters wanted to pursue an education in hopes of a better life. In my chosen excerpt for this week’s readings I chose to focus on Lenu’s experience in school. it is obvious that she is trying to find her place as she refers to her “autonomous virtuosity”. She is seeking this sort of approval by a Professor and in doing so displays a desire for wanting to prove herself as more. This is just another example of how this story can be related back to the very real struggle of carving your own path and finding your identity.