Tag Archives: poverty

The Clichéd View of Naples

Walter Benjamin’s take on Naples includes ideas about the “banal tourist” (164). The tourist visits the city to observe much of the other topics of Benjamin’s essay such as the crime, poverty, Camorra, and the gray working-class rione. Benjamin writes that the tourist “fares no better” in Naples (164). I interpreted this as the idea that the tourists who may visit the city with all clichéd purposes and stereotypes in mind may not end up as satisfied once they authentically experience real Naples.

One could argue, as many Italians probably do, that Ferrante’s novel is crowded with these same clichés of Naples recovering from WWII. While corruption, violence, poverty, and strife were certainly prevalent, as they were in many Europeans cities post-war, Ferrante’s book advocates the usual stereotypes that enthrall the foreign reader and tourist into Naples.

The foundations of Ferrante’s plot consist of two poor girls navigating their way through a difficult life. The version of Naples full of the Camorra, disorder, and discomfort is attractive to readers outside of Italy because it is how the city is constantly depicted for the international eye. It is difficult for me to fully decide my take on this novel because it seems rather challenging to write about this period of time in Naples without including the clichés, of which many hold truths to them.

“There is a poverty that makes us all cruel”

Benjamin’s essay on Naples speaks of the entrenched poverty in Naples. Benjamin writes that in Naples “Poverty and misery seem as contagious as they are pictured to be to children”. Living surrounded in poverty, it is impossible to not also fall into poverty too.

The characters in Lenù’s neighbourhood are in poverty. Lenù and Lila’s reaction to this is a desire to escape their poverty, and by extension the neighbourhood too. When they are children, they dream of writing a successful novel, inspired by reading Little Women, and to be wealthy as a result. Benjamin’s essay reflects the friends’ view of poverty. They see it all around them, have been impacted by it. Lack of money is a constant obstacle in Lenù’s education, and was one of the factors that prevented Lila from continuing her education. A desire to pull themselves out of poverty underlines many things they do. 

Lila and Lenù have many reasons why they want to escape poverty. It prevents them from doing many things ie school, but it is summed up aptly with a line from Lila to Lenù: “There is a poverty that makes us all cruel” (261). It is not just poverty they want to escape, it is the violence and depravity that it creates. Towards the end of the first novel, Lila is in a situation where she has money to spare when she becomes engaged to Stefano. However, Elena notes that during this time she realised that money itself was no longer the object for them, but the protection that money offers themselves and the ones around them. She writes that the dream of “The treasure chests full of gold pieces ..when we published a book like Little Women – riches and fame- had truly faded. Perhaps the idea of money as a cement to solidify our experience and prevent it from dissolving, together with the people who were dear to us, endured…” (248). Lenù is realizing here, that they do not want money, they want the safety and the privilege that having money creates.