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?
Page 37 and 38
The district is described to be run down and rustic compared to where Giovanna was brought up. It is
described to have “small bleak apartment buildings, faded walls, industrial warehouses and sheds,
gashes of green overflowing with garbage of every sort, deep puddles filled by the recent rain, putrid
air” (Ferrante 45). Vittoria takes on the qualities of her neighborhood by adopting its values and
behaviors, reflecting the influence of her surroundings on her character.

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 feels the disconnect and shows in his usage of language. He does not use dialect
(neapolitan) even when he is emotional. He quite literally blacked out a photo of her. He
does not acknowledge his parents or cousins. Even after his separation from his family he
denies his mistakes and does not want to admit how it had harmful effects. He attempts to
bring Giovanna into his new life

Andrea tries to erase his connection to his upbringing because it feels (at least to him) that they are
the ones that were always dragging him down when he could've been doing something greater. This is
shown through him raising Giovanna in a way that disconnects her from her family on his side and
his focus on materialistic things.

3. What is the connection between the use of Italian, Neapolitan (dialect), and class?
In real life as well as TLLA, people tend to use Neapolitan dialect when they are being less formal and
more emotional. It is associated with a lower class as well. Notably, Giovanna’s parents avoid speaking
in dialect at all costs, especially Andrea, as he is trying to separate himself from his “lower-class”
upbringing. Dialect is also used by Giovanna to discuss sex when she is trying to rebel from her
parent’s ideal of elegance and classiness.
“I said that I talked to the boys about sex in the wrong dialect.” (Ferrante 156)

a. How is vulgarity and ugliness connected to ideas about class?

Generally, lower classes (Vittoria) are perceived as vulgar and ugly compared to higher classes (Nella,
Costanza). These ideas relate to the way Vittoria, Giovanna’s parents and Costanza speak. Vittoria
tends to only speak in the dialect, only speaking in Italian when greeting someone, but throughout
the novel she mostly speaks in the dialect. However Giovanna’s parents and Costanza only use dialect
when they’re in a more emotional state. The concept of the dialect being “ugly and vulgar” relates to
the idea that lower class people usually speak in dialect, and those in higher classes look down on
those lower classes.

4. To what extent is “truth” connected to dialect, vulgarity, and ugliness? And why do you think
that might be the case?
Vittoria, who exhibits these characteristics and uses dialect, is considered to be more “truthful” by
Giovanna as she is used to being lied to by her parents and others. Vittoria “tells it like it is” even
though Giovanna is young, for example, on page 75 when she graphically describes her sex life with
Enzo to Giovanna. Vittoria says Giovanna needs to know that Giovanna always complains about how
her parents don’t tell her the truth.