IB English HL I

Malashewski

Marxist Literary Criticism:

The Lying Life of Adults

Directions
Break into small groups. 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 a few examples for each question (page references / very short quotes fine). Focus
on elements of fiction, diction, and figurative language.

1. How is the industrial district where Vittoria lives described by others, and how does it
reflect class tensions?
a. To what extent does Vittoria take on the qualities of the neighborhood in which
she lives? Why might that be significant?
It is described as being a filthy place. The industrial district and Via San Giacomo are symbolic
of the social structures that they live in, it can be seen in the traditional class sence like a
pyramid with Via San Giacomo on top literally and symbolically with the industrial area on the
bottom.

“I knew only one thing for certain: to visit them you had to go down, and down, keep going
down, into the depths of Naples, and the journey was so long it seemed to me that we and my
father’s relatives lived in two different cities” (17).

“We lived in the highest part of Naples, and to go anywhere we had inevitably had to descend”
(17). 33 clime mountain

Victoria seems to be the embodiment of her neighborhood. She likes her environment grimy and
rough.

2. How would you characterize Andrea’s feelings about where he grew up? What do you
notice about the moments when he focuses on his past?
a. Why does he feel the need to deny or erase his connection to his upbringing?

He is ashamed and embarrassed of his upbringing. Giving that he is an appearance oriented

person it makes sense that he would not want to present his past life as poverty as a part of
who he is.
When Giovanna is talking to her mother (Nella) on pages 33-35 Nella mentions the distain that
Vittoria feels towards him and the dislike his own mother had of him.

3. What is the connection between the use of Italian, Neapolitan (dialect), and class?
 a. How is vulgarity and ugliness connected to ideas about class?

Neapolitan is banned from Giovanna's household as it is a reminder of her fathers childhood of

poverty. Usually in the book whenever someone swears they do it in dialect and is described as
ugly and vulgar. The use of dialect does seem to be connected to an idea of class as characters
who live in the industrial area and other low income areas use more dialect than those of the
wealthy and educated who purposely try to speak composed and eloquently.
Seen from section 2 of chapter 2 when Victoria’s dialect is paired with her poor living conditions.

4. To what extent is “truth” connected to dialect, vulgarity, and ugliness? And why do you
think that might be the case?

There is a connection between dialect and truth. Dialect is used when someone is emotional or
around those they can trust, two instances where the truth would traditionally be expressed. The
truth can often be unpleasant and ugly and given that dialect is used in instances of truth telling
them then the connection between dialect and ugliness becomes clear.
Seen from section 2 of chapter 2 when Victoria’s talks using dialect to Giovanna and it is the first
time she feels like she was treated like an adult and told the truth.