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
On Ischia, in the home of Oliviero’s cousin Nella Incardo, Lenù blossoms. She sleeps in the kitchen on a makeshift bed and helps out around the house as Nella cares for her paying guests—but otherwise, Lenù is free to swim, take walks, and read. She writes to Lila every single day and swims in the suit Nella sews for her. Lenù’s first time in the water is incredible. Her mother has long told her that she used to take Lenù to the sea when she was small—now, finding she can swim quite well, Lenù finally believes her mother. Lenù eats well, practices English with Nella’s guests, and feels a sense of happiness and wellbeing she has never known.
Lenù’s happiness on Ischia is diminished slightly by the fact that while she writes Lila letters every single day, Lila never writes her back. Even while Lenù has the time of her life relaxing and enjoying the sun and sea, she misses Lila and longs to stay connected to her.
Themes
The only thing Lenù misses about home is Lila. She has her “old fear” that in losing pieces of what’s happening in Lila’s life, her own life is losing “intensity and importance.” Lila doesn’t answer any of Lenù’s letters. At the end of July, after the English family departs, a Neapolitan family is due to arrive. Nella shows Lenù a book that the head of the family himself has written—it is the book of poems by Donato Sarratore.
Lenù misses Lila terribly. Her desire to stay connected to her verges on need—she is anxious when she doesn’t hear back from Lila, fearing that their lives are diverging in irreversible ways. Especially when she gets the news about the Sarratores, Lenù wishes she had Lila to talk to, gossip with, and seek guidance from.
Themes
