Blog Post 1

In the first chapter of the “Childhood” section of My Brilliant Friend, the narrator recounts the encounter which solidified a friendship between her and Lila. “At the fourth flight, Lila did something unexpected. She stopped to wait for me, and when I reached her she gave me her hand. This gesture changed everything between us forever.” (page 29)

Lila and Elena are both on the verge of something terrifying; the feared Don Achille. In their world which only extends to the edges of their neigbourhood, this is the most dangerous figure in their life. Having been warned to stay away constantly, they see him as a monster. 

Lila is the one who suggested seeing Don Achille and encourages Lenu to join, yet it should be asked why she has not gone to Don Achille on her own before. Her desire to knock on the door does not seem likely solely to retrieve the dolls back, but to confront this fear. Likely, with Lenu, it is the first time she has felt brave enough. Both are too afraid to confront him alone. While Lila acts as though she is fearless and is the one to suggest knocking on the door: “She thought what we were doing was just and necessary; I.. was there only because she was” (page 29), her offering her hand shows a flaw in her bravado. She offers her hand because she cannot do it alone.

The intenseness of this scene comes not only from what is happening in this passage, but also from what occurs afterwards. This  scene changes not only “everything between us forever” (page 29) as the narrator writes, but both of their lives. If their friendship had not been created in this moment of fear, their dynamic may have been different.

The chapter ends without revealing what happens with Don Achilles immediately, perhaps because whether or not the interaction had gone well or horribly, it does not matter or change the friendship that had just been forged on the stairwell.