The Lost Daughter

The arrival of the rest of the Neapolitan family in Chapter 6 unleashes a flood of memories for Leda as the novel continues to explore The Relationship Between the Past and Present. Most of Ferrante’s novels are set in Naples, and the differences in southern and northern Italy are key to understanding certain themes and motifs. The southern part of the county, including Naples and Sicily, is generally considered less cultured and educated than northern cities like Florence. There is more poverty, and organized crime has historically been a concern. Most significantly, for Ferrante’s work, Neapolitan people speak with a distinct dialect. The tension between “proper” Italian and dialect is a recurring motif in Ferrante’s work that speaks to themes of class and education. “Proper” Italian is learned in school. Therefore, dialect is associated with a lack of education and experience in the outside world. This tension plays a key role in The Lost Daughter’s theme of Language, Education, and Social Class.

The Neapolitan family often speaks in dialect, which is described as “coarse,” “harsh,” or “full of vulgarity” (125). On the other hand, Leda is a literature professor who lives in Florence and speaks English and standard Italian; she is often described as “a proper lady.” From an early age, writing and education became a way for Leda to separate herself from her family. Seeing the Neapolitans on the beach makes her think of her mother, who had “played at being the well-dressed, well-behaved lady” but was quick to revert to dialect when she became angry (26). Leda feels that she has succeeded where her mother did not; she has become a refined lady and left Naples behind completely. However, as she spends more time around the Neapolitans, Leda questions this assumption. When Gino and Rosaria ask for Leda’s help communicating with the Dutch family, Leda is initially flattered. It is an opportunity for her to demonstrate her education and worldliness, and she speaks “in a loud, confident voice” (27), trying to “show off [her] skills” (27). However, upon leaving, she worries that her tone inadvertently spread the “overbearing disorder” of the Neapolitan family. Speaking “proper” Italian does nothing to erase Naples from her identity; Leda is still more like her mother and family than she would like to believe.

Chapter 9 offers Leda’s first detailed account of her experience when her daughters were young, as well as a contemplation on the nature of motherhood. Leda points out the complexity of the female body, which she describes as being able to do “a thousand different things” (36), yet women are often limited to motherhood alone. She also alludes to the societal and biological pressure to have children. Leda wanted both her daughters, but she has trouble separating her own wishes from the “animal opacity” of her body’s desires and the social pressure of “popular beliefs.” After her first daughter was born, Leda knew that she had to have another: [E]veryone around us believed it, and we, too, believed it” (37). Additionally, she points out how parental responsibilities are different for men and women. After having her babies, Leda was expected to give up her career and ambitions and focus solely on being a mother. Meanwhile, her husband continued to live his life much as he had before and played a minimal role in their daughters’ upbringing. Leda never suggests resenting her husband despite his lack of involvement. Instead she justifies the double standard by attributing it to women’s biological drive to be mothers: “Your life wants to become another’s” (37). However, her description of pregnancy as “a greedy impulse and yet repellent, like an insect’s poison injected into a vein” suggests that one can want to be a mother and still feel deeply ambivalent (37).

In Chapter 10, Elena loses her doll and briefly goes missing, beginning the novel’s central tension and referencing the title of The Lost Daughter. The title is significant to the novel in several ways, and various characters could be considered the lost daughter. Elena is the most obvious; however, her disappearance also reminds Leda of losing Bianca on the beach. In fact, both of Leda’s daughters could be considered lost; they are far away from their mother on another continent. Then there is the loss of the doll, which Nina treats “as if she were alive, a second daughter” (20). On a deeper level, loss is a recurring theme for many of the female characters. Leda often thinks of the “many damaged, lost things […] behind” her (62), the opportunities she missed because of her children. She describes motherhood as “a shattering,” and Nina likewise implies a feeling of loss when she later asks Leda if the “turmoil” of motherhood will go away. Overall, the title The Lost Daughter suggests the difficulty of maintaining one’s identity and individuality in the face of motherhood and society’s expectations for women.