Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2013

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-27

Chapters 28-60

Chapters 61-96

Chapters 97-123

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Neapolitan Dialect Versus Standardized Italian

The Neapolitan dialect is distinct from the standardized Italian language accessible only to those in elite or educated positions, and the language characters speak signifies their social and educational status. Throughout the novel, the Neapolitan dialect symbolizes the ambivalent relationship Elena has to the violence and vulgarity she experienced in her childhood home.

Because she spends most of her time out of the neighborhood, Elena does not speak in dialect very often in the novel. Elena’s Italian is precious to her, hard-won after many years of study, and dialect is now “disgusting” to Elena, symbolizing the influence of the neighborhood Elena wants to escape. In Chapter 93 during the party at Marcello and Elisa’s, Elena finds herself regressing into dialect out of nervousness and feels that the neighborhood “was imposing its language on me, its mode of acting and reacting” (328). To Elena, dialect signifies more than just her roots; it signifies a violent and vulgar way of living. When Elena finds Dede and Gennaro comparing bodies at the beach, her decision to break the children apart is not motivated by concern over the nature of what they’re doing; Elena reacts when she hears Gennaro speak to Dede in dialect, “coarse words, horribly vulgar words” (307). Elena doesn’t want her daughter to pick up the dialect because it symbolizes low class to her, and the cycles of violence Elena thought she was leaving behind with the neighborhood.

By contrast, Lila almost always speaks in dialect by choice; Lila can also speak eloquently in standard Italian despite having no formal education in it. When Lila visits the Galianis in Chapter 36, Professor Galiani notes the “intense Italian of her sentences, her skillfully controlled irony” (138). Lila’s ability to modify her speech according to her circumstances displays how she uses her intelligence to manipulate others, rather than investing in standardized Italian as a marker of personal worth, as Elena does.

Order and Disorder

Disorder is a prominent motif in the novel, reflecting the chaotic political climate and major life changes the main characters go through, and the growing disorder Elena feels within herself. This is reinforced by the end of the novel in which the chaos in the neighborhood at Manuela Solara’s murder coincides with Elena upending her whole life to be with Nino.

For Elena, order is a tool of control, both in her external and internal worlds: she has the ability to arrange ideas and write well, and to arrange the conditions of her life to reflect her desired image. Elena has controlled herself throughout her whole life, stifling her true wants: “Ever since I was a child I had constructed for myself a perfect self-repressive mechanism. Not one of my true desires had ever prevailed, I had always found a way of channeling every yearning” (399). Pietro is of the same disposition as Elena–he likes things to be ordered. He is less supportive of the workers’ revolution than his family because he “would have liked a life ruled by unquestioned habits” (284). He cannot tolerate Elena challenging his intelligence with her own, or conceive of her doing anything except being a mother and wife, because it challenges his sense of the traditional gender roles. The dark desires Elena feels to “turn everything upside down. House. Husband. Children” (283) presents itself as a revolt against this order. Elena’s primary internal conflict in the novel is her growing desire to exchange the socially acceptable behavior that has brought her social and financial stability for true self-determination and the freedom to behave irresponsibly.

By the end of the novel, Elena embraces chaos, upending the order of her life to run away with Nino, an act that feels to her like liberation. At the same time, the neighborhood is in turmoil after the murder of Manuela Solara, an act that likewise feels like a rebellion against the Solaras’ control. Disorder and order cannot be characterized as unambiguously bad or good in the novel; they are manifestations of the changes in societal structures and in the characters themselves.

The Power of Writing

The power of writing is a motif that represents both the power of the educated class and Elena’s personal power. Through her writing, Elena constructs her self-image as well as the image she wishes others to have of her, and writing is also a prominent motif in Elena and Lila’s relationship. Despite Lila’s lack of education, Elena often feels that Lila’s writing outshines her own; this fear is exacerbated in Chapter 59 when Professor Galiani praises Lila’s writing while ignoring Elena’s. Writing is, like so many other things in Elena’s relationship with Lila, something which evokes simultaneous feelings of pride and inadequacy in Elena. Writing is also a symbol of the potency of the girls’ combined genius: When Elena is trying to come up with ideas for her second novel, she wishes for Lila’s influence, and finds the power of their shared creativity when they come up with the story about Manuela Solara. This motif represents the fraught yet mutually constructive relationship between Lila and Elena.

Still, Elena’s writing is most powerful when it comes from her own thoughts and voice. When Elena attempts to write her second novel, she bases it off the story she and Lila created about Manuela Solara, hoping Lila’s influence will direct her writing; however, Adele bluntly tells Elena that the novel isn’t good. In contrast, Elena’s first novel, which “didn’t even seem like a book to me” (269), and her feminist essay—both inspired by her own feelings and experiences—do exceedingly well. When Elena feels oppressed by the role of wife and mother, she turns to writing to re-establish her sense of self: “I, at last, felt alive, digging into words and among words” (354). When Elena allows herself to cultivate her own thoughts, writing is a powerful tool through which she can express her own true voice, connect with others, and support political movements.