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
Stefano, Lenù, and Lila head into the shop. Fernando and Rino are looking at them with strange, “sullen” curiosity. Stefano asks if he can try the shoes on. When Rino brings them out, Stefano asks Lenù what she thinks of them, and Lenù says they’re “handsome.” Stefano asks to see the designs for the other shoes Lila and Rino plan to make, and Lila runs to fetch them.
Stefano’s interest in buying the shoes symbolizes his interest in buying Lila’s affections. Lila willingly allows—and even encourages—Stefano to do so, believing that if she winds up with him, she will have a better fate than if she winds up with Marcello. The shoes continue to function as a symbol of the things that Lila is willing to forgo in order to climb out of poverty.
Themes
Stefano tries on the shoes, stands up, and walks around. Stefano’s face becomes worried—he announces that the shoes are too tight. Fernando offers to widen them on a special machine, and Stefano says he’ll take them. Rino warns Stefano that the shoes are expensive, but Stefano insists he’ll take them no matter what. He asks how long they’ll take to stretch; Rino tell him three days. Stefano promises to return in three days and purchase the shoes. He asks if he can take the drawings with them in the meantime, and Lila “coldly” agrees.
The shoes’ tightness on Stefano’s feet is a bad omen signaling that what he and Lila are doing together is dangerous or not quite the right fit—nevertheless, Stefano remains committed not just to buying the shoes but also to investing in Lila’s family’s business wholeheartedly.
Themes
As Lila follows Stefano out of the store, she warns him not to make “fools” of her and her family. Stefano says he’s a businessman—Lila’s designs are “unusual,” and he wants to think about him for several days. Lila tells Stefano that Marcello already tried to buy her once—no one, she says, will ever be able to buy her the way he tried to. Stefano tells Lila that he doesn’t spend a single lira if he doesn’t think he’ll be able to make a hundred more. Lenù realizes that the drive was a way for Stefano and Lila to come to a much-sought-after agreement.
What Lila and Stefano are doing is an intricate dance of wits and wills. They know that to be together is to fly in the face of the Solaras’ control of the neighborhood on many levels—as such, Stefano wants to make sure he’s making the right move, and Lila wants to protect her honor even as she attempts to sacrifice her freedom in exchange for the protection Stefano provides.
Themes
