Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in My Brilliant Friend, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Female Friendship
Masculine vs. Feminine Violence
Women’s Work
Poverty, Social Climbing, and Sacrifice
The Uses of Community
Love, Sex, and Strategy
Summary
Analysis
Lenù has a hard time in high school. Her class is large at 42 students, and it’s one of the rare mixed-gender classes. Lenù studies hard, makes few new friends, and answers Lila’s daily probing questions about what Lenù and her classmates are working on in their lessons. Lenù has noticed Lila continuing to change as the months go by. Lenù sees that Lila and Pasquale are spending more time together and becomes determined—desperate, even—to find a boyfriend of her own.
Even though Lenù’s new life in high school affords her time away from the neighborhood and chances to expand herself socially and intellectually, she remains tied up in competition with Lila.
Themes
One day, Lenù notices a new student at school. He is handsome and yet there is something familiar about him. As Lenù observes him, she realizes the young man is Nino Sarratore. Nino, however, does not appear to recognize Lenù. On the way home that day, Lenù wants to tell Lila about Nino’s presence at school, but decides not to—she’s afraid that if Lila goes to school to try and glimpse Nino, Nino will fall in love with her.
In this passage, Lenù finally discovers something that she wants to keep separate from Lila. She has been sharing knowledge and stories with Lila each day—but Lenù feels the information about Nino is too delicate and precious to share. Lenù clearly feels threatened by Lila even as she tries desperately to stay close to her by sharing parts of her new life with Lila.
Themes
In spite of some academic setbacks at the beginning of the year, Lenù soon begins to excel in school. She draws the attention and praise of her teacher, Maestro Gerace. Lenù attributes her success in Greek to her studies with Lila. Lenù’s classmates—even the ones who have known her since childhood, like Alfonso and Gino—begin calling her Greco or Elena out of respect. Gino once again asks Lenù to be his girlfriend, and this time Lenù accepts him.
Lenù begins succeeding greatly—but she can’t take credit for her successes on her own. She feels that without Lila, she would not be the star pupil that she is—she attributes her every achievement to Lila’s influence, and, to some degree, she is right.
Themes
During Christmas vacation, while catching up with Lila, Lenù learns that Lila has been teaching herself in her spare time not just Greek but also English. Lenù is taken aback—she herself knows nothing of English. Lila excitedly talks to Lenù about the books she’s reading—she has read the Aeneid in just days while Lenù has taken months to get through it. Lenù distracts Lila from talking about school and literature by telling her about Gino. Lila taunts Lenù for having “given in” to love. Lila begins talking about Melina and the hardships the poor woman is facing—Melina has become more erratic than ever, all because of her love for Donato.
Lila, driven by a desire not to be left behind by Lenù, continues pursuing knowledge and learning even more fervently than ever before. She doesn’t want to become less valuable to Lenù, and she wants to remind Lenù that even though she’s not in school, she still has the capacity to expand her worldview on her own.
Themes
Get the entire My Brilliant Friend LitChart as a printable PDF.
Lenù decides to tell Lila about Nino and Lila urges Lenù to tell Nino what’s happening with Melina so that he will tell his father. Lila declares that she will never fall in love no matter how many men fall in love with her. Lenù asks if Marcello is still “after” Lila. Lila admits that he—and many other boys—are indeed pursuing her, but she insists that things with Pasquale are simply platonic; he is still educating her about the world “before” their generation. Lila is incredulous and outraged over how their parents’ generation attempts to willfully forget “before” and kowtow to men like the Solaras. Enchanted by Lila’s new knowledge, Lenù hangs on her every word. The two spend Christmas vacation together talking for hours every day about matters large and small.
Lila and Lenù’s relationship reaches new levels of closeness as the girls bond over new developments in their separate lives. They have clearly missed each other—and yet the events of this passage give each of them hope that they can continue to grow closer even as certain parts of their lives diverge. Lila’s contempt for male attention—and her ongoing hatred of the Solaras—speaks to her growing anger over the deep-seated imbalances in justice and power that make life for her, Lenù, and all the women of their neighborhood more difficult.
Themes
