In my Post 1, about Lenù’s first lesson in a skill “at which [she] would later excel” (54) – holding back her fear and despair – I focused on a passage within the section about the beginning of the girls’ friendship. Lila’s throwing Lenù’s doll down the grate is only one example of her systematic testing of her friend. Lenù rises to the challenge, choosing between “two agonies” and throwing Nu down the abyss as though it were a natural gesture, even as she keenly feels the risk she is taking.

This is not the only time Lenù keeps her thoughts and feelings to herself when she’s with Lila. Though initially she has the impulse to tell Lila that she has seen Nino at middle school, she decides not to tell her (158). When Lila tells Lenù that gramophone is a Greek word, Lenù makes an excuse and leaves (141). She has hidden feelings of upset at other times too, like when she realizes that Pasquale paid attention to her only to get close to Lila (130). And when she can’t hold back her feelings, she makes an excuse – she tells Lila that she was crying “because of the bracelet” after Lila threatens to kill Marcello Solara (136).

Lenù is luckier than her friend in getting to go to middle school and, later, high school, A sequence of events will lead her to a different kind of life. The teacher’s invitation for Lenù to spend part of her fifteenth summer on Ischia is one of those lucky events; on Ischia, she “bloom[s]” (209).

In addition to being luckier than Lila regarding going past elementary school, it’s through stealth that Lenù will succeed in getting away. As smart as Lila is, it’s Lenù who is the one who ultimately understands that she has grown too big for the neighborhood. Rejoicing in the new (like when her father shows her Naples [138] or her time on Ischia) and her skill at not blowing up when she’s angry are going to get her out of the dead end life of the rione.