The minor character that interests me most is Gino. Not much is told about him besides him being the son of the pharmacist and a facist. It is strange how Lenù and Lila have very little relationship with him, especially in comparison to other minor characters. Even if the two do not have consistently good relationships with the other characters, such as with the Solaras, they are still mentioned, and details are known about them.
Gino is spoken of when Lenù is in high school, but afterwards, we don’t know much about his life. We know very little about how he came to become a facist. When Gino is mentioned it is in negative lights. There is a very negative scene when Lila sees Gino at the factory. They both verbally insult each other, before Gino tells her “… yesterday afternoon I asked that cuckold your husband for permission to beat you up and he said yes.” (page 148, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay).
When Lenù is given the news of Gino’s murder, Lenù first thinks “that she was giving me that news because the son of the pharmacist was part of our early adolescence and, fascist or not, certainly that event would upset me. But the reason was not to share with me the horror of that violent death.” (page 293, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay) This shows that even when he has been murdered, Gino is not the main topic. Elena has much more sympathy for Gino’s parents after his death that for him, recalling how kind they are.
Even after his death Elena writes how the murderer shot at his “thug’s body” (page 313, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay). The difference between how the personalities of other minor characters, such as Gigliola, Carmem, are shown much more deeply than Gino’s despite them all having grown up together.
Hi Katherine
Thank you for your post. Now I’m going to say something very controversial, not all fascist were thugs. It’s hard to believe otherwise because if there is any literature of fascist being honorable patriots and family men, I’ve not read them. The word fascist was rooted in Italian nationalism and ruled Italy for 22 years. It is in literature today a word that brings immediate negative impressions so that it leaves no space for one to ask why and how come. We can see it in today’s political environment and we have to ask ourselves why its come to this and also that not all people who believe a certain way are ignorant, stupid and corrupt . The same is true with fascism.
Thanks Katherine. You are right, there are characters that receive less sympathy than others.
Paul, honorable patriots and family men can be the worst criminal. There is a difference between activists and supporters of a criminal ideology. But this doesn’t justify complacency or indifference. Some people might have been deceived by Fascism, and therefore be in good faith, but other than that we can’t justify fascisms – old and new.
There was the scene when Gino asked Elena to show her breasts, and she got 10 lire out of it (My Brilliant Friend, 96-7).
In being a fascist, perhaps he’s a type, or a stereotype, as Ferrante talks about in the interview: “Stereotypes calm us. But…stereotypes can lose their boundaries…. In the Neapolitan Quartet…there is a careful calibration of stereotype and dissolving boundaries” (365).
Julie. With history we have the wonderful ability of hindsite. Imagine a vet coming back from WW1 in Italy, a war with 600,000 dead, 300,000 injured and 250, 000 permanently for life. You come back to be ridiculed, mocked and disrespected for your service. The country you fought for is as dysfunsional as it was before the war, nothing has changed. Someone or something gives you hope and you gravitate towards it. I see no comparison between WW1 vets and the beginning of the fascist movement and Charlottesville. Maybe at the time the fight between the communist and fascist. For sure I make no excuses for as the fascist movement as it evolved in the 20 years in power.