The Lost Daughter

Later in the day, a man whom Leda assumes is Nina’s husband arrives. He is soon followed by a boat of more Neapolitan relatives, and the whole group begins negotiating with the surrounding beachgoers to make room for the newcomers. Watching the family spread out and take up more umbrellas, Leda is again reminded of her own family and their similar air of “domineering cordiality” that could quickly become “vulgarly insulting and violent” (26). She thinks about her mother, a woman who believed herself above the vulgarity of her husband and his family but was just as likely to devolve into violence. Leda again remembers her mother’s repeated threats to leave her daughters, and she thinks about how determined she was to be a different woman when she grew up.

When a Dutch family cannot understand the Neapolitans’ request to move, Gino and a pregnant woman named Rosaria ask Leda for help communicating. She reluctantly agrees and convinces the Dutch family to move, speaking loudly to impress the Neapolitans. Afterward, she walks by Nina and sees that she isn’t as beautiful as Leda imagined from afar. Up close, she seems as coarse and ordinary as the other Neapolitans.