Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend——Week12

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This week I read My Brilliant Friend, a novel about the touching friendship of Lila and Elena.

At the beginning of the novel, it is evident through the protagonist's childhood memories that they are very different from each other. Lila is calm and determined. She is intelligent and carries remarkable courage. While the protagonist is hesitant, she thinks about many things and fears many things. Leila seems to be a genius in the novel, while the protagonist is a good student who works hard. So logically, the protagonist is attracted to Leila, and the protagonist studies harder to chase in Lila's footsteps. I had a friend who was as excellent and dazzling as Lila, but what attracted me was not her various achievements but her deep understanding of me, which gave me a feeling of hating each other. Her language is short but always to the point, and this sharpness moved me, so, like the protagonist of the book, I kept trying to keep up with her growth because it is very rare to get a friend who understands you.

The book is told from Elena's point of view, and we can also see through her psychological activities she is not completely loyal to the excellent Lila like Elena. For Lila and her own gradually different standard of living, she can not help but have jealousy, envy, climbing and other emotions. In this perspective, Lila's lack of psychological make her looks more pure and sincere in the novel's first part. At the same time, this kind of dark psychology, which we usually do not describe much, adds more realism to Elena's character and brings a strong sense of immersion for me as a reader. It was as if my own negative emotions were portrayed straightforwardly when interacting with my friend, and I even had a vague sense of displeasure but admiration for the complex emotions of Lila in the book. But as I read, I found that Lila is not as calm and determined as I thought, and she also has similar mixed emotions about the friendship as Elena. Not only does Elena thinks that Lila is her genius girlfriend, but in Lila's eyes, Elena is also the object of her envy and admiration.

"Not for you: you're my brilliant friend. You have to be the best of all, boys and girls."

In contrast to Lila, who has a unique plan for her path, Elena is more inclined to follow in Lila's footsteps and become a better version of herself. In many ways, we can see that Lila first came up with the vision, and Elena went further to bring the whole thing to fruition, whether it's learning Latin, reading, or writing. Elena is somewhat chagrined that she is so mediocre, but Lila is envious of this constant pursuit of knowledge. It's a beautiful thing. Both of them can see the sparkle in each other.

My question for this book is: Do you think that if Lila's psychology is described, Lila's character will become more specific and likable, or will it break the image of Lila in the reader's mind.


评论

  1. Jennifer Nagtegaal2022年4月3日 15:15

    Thanks for your post (and question! The first for our list here: https://rmst202.arts.ubc.ca/ferrante-questions/ ). Meanwhile, you have left me wanting to hear more about this "dark psychology" that you refer to! Do you have a concrete example or page reference?

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  2. Simonlsw2022年4月3日 18:13

    Hi, nice blog post! To answer your question, I think Lila's psychology is not directly described in the book but it was evident from her language, her actions and her encounters. For instance, her disobedience to the authority and the temptation to challenge the family was revealed when she fiercely confronted her dad and was thrown out of the window by him later.

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