I am beginning to wonder whether Lila is truly the brilliant friend in this book. Granted, she does fit the description of being clever and talented, but these factors don’t make you truly brilliant. Elena has emphasized about Lila’s hidden potential and how intimidating her intellect can bring. Although Elena sees this as a competition, Lila seems to be in her own league apart from Elena. Now what does it mean to be brilliant. I believe that positive actions are required for a person to be qualified as brilliant. These actions make the person virtuous. This is what being brilliant truly means, and so far, I don’t recall a moment where Lila empathize or sacrifice her time for others.    

In fact, in section 16 in Adolescence Elena indicates that Lila is like the living embodiment of chaos. According to her, “it slowly became clear to me not only to me, who had been observing her since elementary school, but to everyone, that an essence not only seductive but dangerous emanated from Lila.”(Ferrante 143). Maybe as I continue reading this book, events will shed light about the brilliancy about Lila or maybe I’m being presumptuous and the actual brilliant person won’t come into play until later in the book