Point of View

The entirety of the novel is in Delia’s first-person point of view. This places the focus on Delia’s external and internal journey. The reader follows Delia as she goes throughout Naples to gather more information about Amalia. At the same time, Delia reveals her thoughts in her narration. This allows the reader to witness her immediate reaction to the events and conversations that take place.

Delia often thinks a few steps ahead of what is actually happening and just goes through the motions of being present in her conversations. Examples of this include when she was in the taxi with Polledro in Chapter 16 and thought about Caserta’s father’s sweet shop while Polledro spoke to her, and when she invited Signora De Riso into Amalia’s apartment in Chapter 19 and began thinking about her parent’s relationship. Ferrante uses Delia’s first-person...