Elena and Lila from the T.V. show “My Brilliant Friend” based on the first novel of The Neapolitan Quartet of the same name
The Neapolitan Novels have finally come to a close and it is quite saddening to have to be separated from the story of Elena and Lila. Elena concludes this quartet with the final words that many have been anticipating and fearing: “…now that Lila has let herself be seen so plainly, I must resign myself to not seeing her anymore.” (473 Ferrante) In a friendship where two women have been bound so closely to each other in every aspect of their lives from early childhood late into adulthood, it seems almost impossible and suspicious that they will not reunite at least once more, later on in their lives. Even when Elena had attempted to avoid the inevitable influences of Lila, physically and mentally, the latter always found a way to push herself back in. Whether Elena felt grateful or numb to her perseverance, it is evident that Elena has been just as stubborn, herself. Lila has endured numerous unimaginable traumas and perhaps, for this reason, she begins a journey of erasing herself completely, so that she would not have to, one day, recall or read the memories of her ugly past. Perhaps, this is why Lila may feel as if she has been betrayed, for when Elena releases the book on their story of friendship, even after Lila severely denies wanting to have any of it written down, she must feel exposed to the world, knowing that the ugliness and violence of her life will become available in the hands of strangers across the world. But if Lila were a real person, at this very moment, I would like her to know that she need not be afraid of being exposed to the world because, as a reader, I have come to admire her in certain ways, despite her flaws, and I believe that although Lila has said that she is incapable of truly loving anyone, Elena is a person that her heart will always be bound to no matter what.
Throughout the Neapolitan Novels Lila experiences episodes,
she calls dissolving boundaries. Figures and people spill over their outlines
and become shapeless and Lila experiences this in 1958 on New Year’s Eve when
her brother Rino and his friends battle with fireworks to show up the Solaras. The
dissolving of boundaries is attached to a loss of control. This sensation terrifies
Lila and she expresses, “All my life I’ve done nothing, Lenù, but hold back
moments like those” (TSLC, 177). But, when an earthquake hits the neighborhood,
Lila is enveloped in a situation far beyond her control as she feels her own
boundaries and the boundaries of the neighborhood dissolve.
When the earthquake hits, Lila has no control over anything,
and it terrifies her. Earlier in the novels whenever things would scare Lila,
she would use the men in her life to hide behind: Marcello, Stefano, Michele, Nino,
and Enzo. When she fears one man she moves to the next and in this cycle, she has
control. Lila has this natural control over men. Lila used men as a tool to
avoid the episodes of dissolving boundaries but when the earthquake hits, she
has no one to hide behind because it’s all around her. The fear and sensation
of smarginatura engulfs Lila and she is left as helpless as ever.
This week the posts varied by three categories: focusing on the earthquake, highlighting other aspects of The Story of the Lost Child, or commenting on Lucamente’s article.
Most of the students chose to react to the effects of the earthquake. Ariana focuses on what the earthquake symbolizes by comparing the scientific cause and effect of earthquakes to the experiences the characters must endure from the disaster. She states, “Lenu is experiencing moments which lead to her own personal earthquake,” as she decides to leave the stability of Pietro to return to the chaos of Nino.” Next, Paul pays attention to the significance the earthquake has on Lila and Elena’s relationship. He emphasizes how earthquakes are uncontrollable and unable to be manipulated by humans and this catastrophe, out of Lila’s power, forces her to “finally confess to Elena all the reasons for her behavior.” Similarly to Paul, Kelsey notes how, on account of the earthquake, Lila is “stripped of the ability to precisely calibrate her thoughts, words, gestures, tactics, and strategies.” Kelsey also highlights how Elena notices the difference in Lila’s fear compared to her own fear of the event. Julie concentrates on the comparison between the earthquake and Elena, noting how the literal foundations of Naples and the foundations of Elena’s life overlap and suffer “violent breakage and destruction,” at the same time. While Naples shatters, Elena’s personal life faces catastrophe – she gives birth, her mother dies, and Nino cheats.
Shoshanna and Skevi both chose to focus on different aspects of the novel. Skevi focuses on the compelling passage that took place at the gynecologist. She comments on Elena describing Lila as “malicious” and “anxious.” Skevi finds that Elena has constructed an image of Lila that is inferior to the image she thinks and wants people to have of herself. She also notes how it is contradicting that Elena finds Lila to be “anxious” when Elena constantly questions her own life decisions. Shoshanna’s post discusses Elena’s rocky transition through motherhood. She highlights how the constant turbulence and “unmotherly” actions will affect Dede and Elsa, mentioning the idyllic image the girls hold of Lila, which juxtaposes with the image they have of their own mother. Shoshanna theorizes that is is easy for children to idealize other parents when they don’t witness the punishment and negativity.
Lastly, Katherine focuses on Lucamente’s article. She notes how this piece swayed her view of Elena. Lucamente describes Elena as an exploitative person, rather than a dependent one. Katherine finds that Elena’s actions are usually always self-sufficient and one-sided, as “most of the relationships she creates are because she can benefit from them,” socially, financially, and academically.
From the posts, it is evident that the earthquake had a notable effect on both readers and characters. The event undoubtedly changed Lila and Elena. It is also clear that this volume displays the repercussions Elena faces regarding her life decisions and the complexities she encounters juggling her personal and professional life.
Although I did not get a chance to write a post this week since I was behind on reading, I would still like to contribute to the posts. I find it appalling that at the beginning of The Story of the Lost Child, Elena makes a comparison between her and Lila’s style of parenting. She goes on to criticize, “Had Lila worried about Gennaro when she left Stefano, when she abandoned the child to the neighbor because of her work in the factory, when she sent him to me as if to get him out of the way? Ah, I had my faults, but I was certainly more a mother than she was.” (Ferrante 24) Although Elena goes on to explain herself, revealing that such sentiments were the result of bitterness and confusion, seeing as how Lila paid little attention to Elena’s children before, it seems as though Elena is attempting to lessen her own feelings of guilt. She knows perfectly well that the circumstances in which Lila committed each of those actions were done out of necessity and desperation rather than in carelessness and neglectfulness towards Gennaro. The abuse, rape and violence that Gennaro witnessed at home with Stefano towards his mother, the necessity to provide for her child and the desire to keep him out of harm’s way due to Naples’ political catastrophes were all motherly and shrewd decisions on Lila’s part. Although Elena should be given the benefit of the doubt in the sense that she’s aware of these facts, it seems as though Elena lacks any pride on her part knowing that her children do not have to fear the same things that Gennaro does. This, in itself, is definitely one of her successes as a mother and grants her the ability to escape the neighborhood, at least physically. However, having known Lila all her life in the context of the neighborhood, she should have realized that what constitutes a “good mother” in Naples is a spark contrast to this concept in Florence. Even so, Elena is in denial, choosing to put off the idea that her children will be harmed mentally by her running off with Nino, and that, in doing so, she is inevitably bringing herself back to the neighborhood where, until that point, she had managed to avoid almost wholly. She is reversing her life by giving in to old desires and forgetting that the future demands her moving on from her past insecurities and pettiness towards Lila.
Elena continues to form her ideas on feminism into her
years of “maturity,” as this section of book four is titled. An idea that Elena
expresses on her book tour that struck me was when she states:
“I talked about
how, to assert myself, I had always sought to be male in intelligence—I started
off every evening saying I felt that I had been invented by men, colonized by
their imagination—and I told how I had recently seen a male childhood friend
of mine make every effort possible to subvert himself, extracting from himself
a female”(TSLC, 57).
Elena talks about her relationship to men and how she realizes the impact men have on her identity as a woman. This idea that Elena strives to be “male in intelligence” makes a lot of sense since many of the intellectuals she looks up to throughout life are male such as Nino, Franco, and Pietro. Elena starts with an intellectual model as a woman, Lila, but that image of Lila fades with time and is replaced by the men in her life. The most puzzling part of this quote must be when Elena refers to the encounter with her male childhood friend, Alfonso, and how he is “extracting from himself a female.” I see how this is relevant to the idea of male and female identities influencing one another but I’m not entirely sure why in the previous chapter Lila is mentioned in relation to Alfonso’s new appearance. Elena states, “Now, mysteriously, with that long hair in a ponytail, he resembled Lila” (TSLC, 55). Elena describes Alfonso’s look as more female but not just any female, female like Lila. What does this comparison mean?
Lila from the T.V. series My Brilliant Friend: The moment she witnesses Stefano’s betrayal on Marcello’s feet.
The narration of the story is tricky when one considers that for the most part, the reader is placed inside the mind of Elena and is not often allowed a genuine glimpse into Lila’s complicated thoughts. However, when Elena is invited to a party by one of her professors and Lila decides to tag along, the reader is given a painful insight into the humiliation in Lila’s heart that Elena later reads from her private notebooks. Elena marks the significance of this event for her friend by noting, “That evening for the first time it had become clear to her that her life would forever be Stefano, the grocery stores, the marriage of her brother and Pinuccia, the conversations with Pasquale and Carmen, the petty war with the Solaras…There, for the entire evening, she had felt irrefutably lost.” (Ferrante 161) Up to this point, Lila feels a sense of regret regarding her marriage to Stefano and everything related to it. She is a force to be reckoned with and cannot nor will not allow herself to be controlled and limited by anyone in any respect. Upon hearing of this party, her hopeful excitement that she would be able to escape her repetitive, demanding and sorrowful marriage life is put off balance by Elena’s hesitancy to bring her there. Evidently, Lila believes that her mysterious and dangerous aura would be a source of attraction to everyone she meets at the party. When she realizes the festivities are fulfilling the opposite of her expectations, the humiliation becomes too much to bear and she feigns boredom. Although her intelligence is boundless and her capacity to learn is admirable, her insecurities and the disrespectful treatment she receives are a reflection of her lack of schooling and awareness of everyday international events. Her pride and ego are damaged heavily at this event and she begins to realize where she is destined to belong.
Even upon realizing this, her attempt to humiliate Elena to conceal her own shame is evidence of denial on Lila’s part. Perhaps, the same stubbornness that does not allow Stefano, her in-laws nor the Solaras to control her every move, is the same sentiment that prevents her from understanding that the marriage trap she has placed herself in is more permanent than she believes. Whatever the extent of her knowledge, according to Elena, Lila is beginning to accept that she belongs to a certain group of people: those who are content with wealth, luxuries, marriage and children. In other words, in Lila’s eyes, a comfortable life that limits a woman’s freedom and persistent efforts of business deceptions that help to increase those lifelong comforts. The vulgarity with which Stefano and everyone around Lila are constantly attempting to pursue the utmost wealthy success, including her own brother, is so far from the world of education and academics of Elena’s world, that it seems as though Lila feels intimidated and unable to catch up with the mental marathon that Lila, herself, has pushed Elena to pursue. She does not wish to be left behind yet does not seem to realize that she, herself, is ahead of Elena in many other aspects of life. It is a matter of comprehending that, in reality, there is a balance to Elena and Lila’s friendship that reveals that intelligence and education take many forms.
The novelty of such an episode stems from the weakness that Lila expresses. From the beginning, the reader becomes intimate with a Lila that is ferocious and indestructible both physically and mentally. However, the humiliating reality of her situation and the decision of placing herself under the hand of Stefano has revealed her human side. The constant mental and physical pressure at home, whether it’s working at the grocery, her husband’s beatings or her miscarriage and the mental pressure of the party has thrown her off balance. She is finally beginning to realize that she cannot control everything. This time, instead of being able to step on the brake to place herself where she deems suitable, she is swerving out of control, unable to understand that she is being led down a dangerous route.
Lila Cerullo and Stefano Carracci from the T.V. Series My Brilliant Friend
Like Lila’s episodes of ‘dissolving margins’, these crucial moments merge into one another from the first novel to the next. Primarily, this occurs when Lila realizes her brother, Rino, is expressing his true colors or rather, the darker, more violent side of him during the fateful night of New Years Eve. She begins to feel nausea, terror and blurriness all at once, unable to comprehend what had possessed her brother and the newfound bestiality of his mannerisms.
Unfortunately for Lila, a similar sentiment returns to her heart after her marriage to Stefano. First of all, it is important to recall the reasons that lead her to marry Stefano in the first place. Similar to Rino, she had noticed generosity, kindness and ambition. She had fallen in love, believing the spectacle that Stefano had put on for the entire community, including her own family. Despite the neighborhood conflicts, Stefano treats everyone around him with courtesy and benevolence, determined to initiate the waves of change and rid of the tense relations of their home unlike the bitter past generations. She becomes filled with admiration and expresses appreciation for the initiative he takes in pushing her father’s shoe business to the top.
However, on her honeymoon night, as she dines with Stefano in an elegant restaurant, the reality of the situation she had placed herself in becomes clear as day, after a series of unfortunate events: “He was a being, now, with whom she felt she could share nothing and yet there he was…He had little or nothing to do with the seller of cured meats who had attracted her, with the ambitious, self-confident, but well-mannered youth…something in and around him had broken,” (Ferrante 37). Similar to the atrocious behavior of Rino on New Years Eve, Lila’s eyes are now able to vividly see the man she has married. He has finally secured his grasp on her and the inner horrifyingly fleshy and selfish man is now in the spotlight. All the positive traits that have previously made up his being have faded and disappeared into nothing. Whatever element has held him together in one piece during his courting period of Lila is now completely and utterly ‘broken’. The margins have given way and the greed and horror that had been hidden in his heart and soul and had been inherited from the feared Don Achille is slowly beginning to pour out.
In analogous terms, prior to the wedding, Lila had seen a figure that had been colored within the lines with gentleness, care and without any errors whatsoever. Now that she has bound herself to him both lawfully and morally, his ‘human’ form is beginning to morph and the carefully chosen theatrical colors are starting to melt away into reality.
This moment of a rude awakening is a sickening reflection of the importance of the physical elements of Lila’s and Elena’s poverty stricken neighborhood as well as the outward appearances of Naples’s women. The confusing maze like trait of their home is an abyss for women who are constantly under the watch and care of their fathers, brothers and husbands. Their beauty or lack thereof are constantly judged and ridiculed, being deemed as prizes for the most ‘manly’ of men. Under such standards, Stefano is now perceived as a real man because he has successfully obtained the most prized and envied female of all under his control. This creates both physical and mental constraints on Lila, further entrapping her into the violence and despair of her neighborhood, unable to find her way out of the maze of wedding vows and empty promises made in her own personal coloring book.
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