My Brilliant Friend: Childhood: Chapter 14 Summary & Analysis

Lila is forbidden to do is to approach the home of Don Achille—but she nonetheless leads Lenù up the stairs toward the man’s apartment a few days after the girls lose their dolls in the cellar. The girls are determined to make Don Achille give them the dolls back. Presently, looking back on the climb up the stairs, the older Elena can still feel Lila’s hand in hers.

At Don Achille’s door, Lenù feels her heart pounding in her chest. Lila fearlessly rings the doorbell. Donna Maria answers the door and begins calling for Alfonso, believing the girls are there to see him. Instead, Lila demands to see Don Achille. Maria shouts for her husband, and soon the large man lumbers toward the door, a cigarette in his mouth. Lila introduces herself as “the daughter of the shoemaker,” and introduces Lila as the oldest daughter of Greco, a city hall porter in Naples. Seeing Don Achille for the first time, Lenù is shocked to realize that he is a man of flesh and blood—not an ogre made of all the things he’s stolen and hoarded from his neighbors over the years.

Lila demands the dolls back, but Don Achille is confused. Lila tells Don Achille that he took them from the cellar. Don Achille shouts into the apartment, asking if any of his children stole the girls’ dolls. His children shout back that they don’t know anything about them. Again, Lila firmly tells Don Achille that he is responsible for taking the dolls and keeping them in his “black bag.” With something “unexpectedly pained” in his voice, Don Achille repeats Lila’s words, confused.

Donna Maria calls for her husband—dinner is ready. Don Achille reaches into his pants pocket and pulls out a wallet. He gives Lila some money and tells her to go buy herself and Lenù new dolls—and to remember that the dolls are “gift[s]” from him. Lila grabs Lenù’s hand and begins to pull her down the stairs. Lenù turns around, wishes Don Achille a good evening, and tells him to enjoy his dinner.