The common themes in this week’s posts were about Elena’s deepening crisis. It seems safe to say that no one is on Elena’s side anymore. Elena is making one bad decision after another and can’t seem to take responsibility for her actions.

Ariana talks about Elena not taking responsibility for her actions and constantly blaming Lila for everything wrong in her life. Paul’s thoughts are similar to Ariana’s. Paul says that Elena is in a toxic relationship but she is unwilling to admit it to herself. She is hiding behind the idea of “exciting” change which she convinces herself is part of being an intellectual. Paul remarks that it is easy for Elena to be blinded by love because she has been in love with Nino ever since she was a child. Irini talks about Elena’s struggle between being a mother, feminist lecturer, and a lover. Kelsey also refers to Elena’s struggle between being a mother and being a writer. And how at different times in the book each one takes more importance. Jackie writes about the impact that men have had on Elena’s education. And although her role model used to he Lila, it is not men like Pietro, Franco, and Nino.

Julie brings up a new subject about code-switching in the novel between dialect and proper Italian. Julie mentions how Elena’s primary dialect is proper Italian while Lila chooses to use dialect. But each will code-switch in different scenarios. Elena when she is mad will speak in Dialect; Lila when she wants to prove her intelligence will speak in proper Italian. Julie ends by discussing times where the characters and code-switched mid conversation, like when Elena turns to Dialect on the phone with Elianora.

Some thoughts of my own. In regards to Jackie, I mentioned in class about how Elena is finally forming her own ideas about feminism, but in this portion of the novel she consistently refers to the book as something that she wrote for Nino. I question what that feminism can mean if it is expressed in writing for a man. 

I agree with Paul; it is obvious to everyone around Elena that she has always loved Nino. Antonio tells Elena that it was unfair of her to tell him that she did not like Nino. Elena made Antonio feel like he was crazy, but Elena was just lying to him. Also Elena’s mother-in-law told her that she should not have married Pietro if she loved someone else [Nino]. Elena tries to tell her it’s not true, but they both know it is.

I am excited for the continued class discussion on all these wonderful topics and more.