Travel

For Elena, whose life grows increasingly narrow as the story progresses, travel is a form of escape. In the early stages of the story when her relationship with Nino is new, they travel together and experience a bliss of leaving their lives behind. As the years go by Elena still travels frequently for her career, and always looks forward to it with excitement and only a little regret at how it affects her young children. Several times she mentions how she is allowed to live a different life when she travels.

By contrast, Elena looks down on Lila, who lives in the confines of Naples, or the narrower circle of the neighborhood. She does not travel and in Elena's eyes, does not experience life or escape her duties.

The ultimate demonstration of this link is that by the end of the series, Lila has literally escaped...