IB English HL I

Malashewski

Feminist Literary Criticism:

The Lying Life of Adults

Directions
Break into small groups of 3-4. Make a copy of this doc and share with your group. Discuss
these questions as a group, working through your annotations and sharing your insights.

Aim to find 3-4 examples for each question (page references / short quotes are fine). Focus on
elements of fiction, diction, and figurative language when considering the following questions.

1. How is Vittoria viewed by Giovanna’s parents, and why is it significant?

● Vittoria is viewed as an evil witch who is the cause of all the problems. “Your father’s
sister is an envious woman.” (Ferrante 33)
○ From their perspective, Vittoria is someone who only wants to drag Giovanna and
her family back down to her level
● Were my grandparents, my aunts and uncles, my cousins dangerous, or just Aunt
Vittoria?” (Ferrante 19)
● She is seen as an obstacle that her parents had to overcome in order to get where they
are now “There is no thing or person that for Vittoria isn’t a kind of personal insult. But
what offends her the most is your father’s existence.” (Ferrante 33)

2. How is Vittoria portrayed in the novel?

a. To what extent does she uphold or subvert feminine ideals?

she’s a low level but has a air of authority and high value in her community
● “She responded with obscenities that I had never heard uttered by a woman.” (66)
○ does not abide by feminine standards of behavior and appearance. She uses
obscenities, embraces her sexuality, does not put effort into looking fancy. This is
another reason Andrea doesn’t like Vittoria: he is very much pro-upholding
gender roles and class conventions.

3. How do Giovanna see herself? How is she seen by others?

a. Does Ferrante’s portrayal of Giovanna adhere to or subvert the status quo?
● It subverts the status quo because he portrays the negative aspects of her personality as
well as the good things. Many female heroines are portrayed as ingenues and virtuous,
but Giovanna is open about the darkness of her desires and insecurities.
b. What kinds of freedoms or constraints does she experience?

● She is very self-conscious about her appearance and obsessed over how she looks
“Physically you’re pretty… only you look a little bit ugly because you’re anxious.”
(Ferrante 29)
“Two years before leaving home my father said to my mother that I was very ugly.” (Ferrante 1)

4. How is her mother Nella portrayed?

a. To what extent does she uphold or subvert feminine ideals?
● Upholds them because she does makeup, etc
b. What kinds of freedoms or constraints does she experience?
● Also constrained by dad
● Her mother is not very present in her life in the consistent way. She is very subservient to
the father. After the separation she is not exstant for
● “Surely that was the case—my mother's voice was very effective in mending operations.
She never had outbursts of rage, or even of annoyance.” (Ferrante 32)

5. How does her father uphold patriarchal values and/or attitudes?

● Judges women on appearance