My Brilliant Friend

The majority of the novel takes place in Elena and Lila’s impoverished neighborhood. Through Elena’s reflections and characterizations, the neighborhood becomes a character in its own right: The people and places take on a near-mythic guise. What is the role of the neighborhood in propelling character growth and communicating the novel’s core themes? You may wish to reflect on the following as you construct your response:

• What methods does Ferrante use to characterize the neighborhood and its violent reality?
• How is the neighborhood a microcosm of the systems of power that constrain women like Elena and Lila?
• How do characters try to escape or change the neighborhood and its systems?
• How do Elena and Lila challenge those systems of power?
• How does their friendship itself become a means of challenging established power systems?

Teaching Suggestion: Students new to literary analysis may benefit from additional support identifying characterization tools; this could be an opportunity to introduce key concepts such as methods of direct and indirect characterization. It may also be useful to excerpt particular quotes or passages from the novel and ask students to reflect on the discussion questions with those as a focus.