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’s body begins changing. She grows plump, develops breasts and acne, and sprouts hair between her legs and beneath her arms. She begins feeling sad and anxious all the time, and her struggles to keep up in school continue. When looking in the mirror, she feels she cannot recognize herself and she fears changing even more—she doesn’t want to develop and limp and wandering eye like her mother.
Lenù fears that her changing body signals she will one day wind up exactly like her mother. Throughout the novel, Lenù’s fears of adopting her mother’s physical traits externalize her deeper fears of falling victim to her mother’s social and economic circumstances—Lenù doesn’t know how to voice it yet, but she doesn’t want to be relegated to life as a wife and mother in an impoverished neighborhood.
Themes
One afternoon, Gino, the pharmacist’s son, follows Lenù home from school and tells her that his classmates have accused Lenù of stuffing her shirt with cotton. He says that he’s made a bet her breasts are real, and promises to give her 10 lire, half of the winnings, if she can prove she doesn’t stuff. Thinking of what Lila would do, Lenù brazenly demands Gino hand the money over first. Gino scampers off and brings back another boy who has bet against him. Again, Lenù demands the money. Gino gives it to her. She takes the boys to the top floor of an empty building and lifts her shirt to show them her breasts. The boys, stunned, run away. Lenù is pleased with how well she was able to mimic Lila in a moment of crisis—yet she fears she’s being like Carmela in her desire to emulate Lila.
Lenù’s first experience with male sexual attention takes her by surprise—but rather than become overwhelmed or frightened, she channels Lila in order to maintain control of the situation. This passage shows how Lenù’s close friendship with Lila has emboldened her to be stronger—even though they are on the outs right now, Lenù still turns to Lila as she makes decisions about her day-to-day life.
Themes
