Thoughts on Lenu's mother in Elena Ferrante's "My Brilliant Friend"

“While men were always getting furious, they calmed down in the end; women, who appeared to be silent, acquiescent, when they were angry flew into a rage that had no end.”

This is one of my favorite stills from the show, in my mind, an opera in every sense. How her husband is gazing at her, he knows she's a force, the depth of her rage, what she harbors inside, forever inscrutable, perhaps.

She absolutely loomed over the kitchen table, her domain. Like a boxing ring, and she's the trainer. She was conditioning her daughter, "chin down, eyes up", tempering her for a world that would pull no punches - anything short of that, I believe, she would have considered a dereliction of her duty as a mother. Granted, it appears absolutely cruel at times, but tempering her daughter was her form of love. And she does reward her with a figure, her *bracelet*, which is, imho, an important piece in the puzzle.

Signora Greco, in all her complexity, remains a personal favorite.