{"id":1119,"date":"2024-05-22T19:49:42","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T02:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/?p=1119"},"modified":"2024-05-22T19:50:13","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T02:50:13","slug":"trust-and-the-process-of-building-it-by-elizabeth-clark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/trust-and-the-process-of-building-it-by-elizabeth-clark\/","title":{"rendered":"Trust and the Process of Building It by Elizabeth Clark"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trust is hard to regain when it\u2019s constantly broken. In Elena Ferrante\u2019s novel <\/span>My Brilliant\u00a0 Friend<\/span><\/i>, two female protagonists lack trust in the people in their community, and more\u00a0 disturbingly, in their own decision-making. As new wealth arrives, trust is rebuilt between groups\u00a0 who had previously been hostile, revealing that trust is not only correlated with affluence, it\u00a0 depends on it. But Jane Jacobs\u2019 book <\/span>The Death and Life of Great American Cities <\/span><\/i>claims that\u00a0 trust is built on certain factors of a city; namely, regular public contact on sidewalks. Although\u00a0 this public contact exists in Ferrante\u2019s novel, it does not prove to be influential in creating trust in\u00a0 the neighborhood. Ultimately, while Jacobs assumes that trust is built by human connections,\u00a0 trust for Ferrante relies on money, and in an environment where poverty and scarcity prevail,\u00a0 there is more to gain as a perpetrator of mistrust than as a victim of it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jacobs and Ferrante fundamentally disagree on the definition of trust. The Cambridge Dictionary\u00a0 defines trust as the belief \u201cthat something is safe and reliable.\u201d It\u2019s the assurance that something\u00a0 is \u201chonest and will not [cause] harm\u201d (\u201cTrust\u201d). For Jacobs, there is only one qualification for\u00a0 building trust: the existence of a very personal, intimate city groundwork. Jacobs states, \u201cthe\u00a0 trust of a city street is formed\u2026from many, many little public sidewalk contacts.\u201d These\u00a0 sidewalk contacts can be as small as greeting the man at the newsstand, conversing with the\u00a0 bartender, or buying gum at the corner store (Jacobs 56). Thus, Jacobs\u2019 view of trust is grounded\u00a0 in her belief in humanity, which to her, is the inherent ability to form bonds\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

with other people. Even amongst strangers, Jacobs believes people are innately connected\u2013that\u00a0 people will be good to others because they themselves are good. Ferrante\u2019s definition of trust is\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

multifaceted and more cynical. For Ferrante, mistrust is conventional and accepted, while trust is\u00a0 rare. From the beginning of Ferrante\u2019s novel, the protagonists, Lenu and Lila, are surrounded by\u00a0 mistrust. In their small neighborhood in Naples, mistrust is a survival tactic for navigating an\u00a0 unpredictable, violence-filled environment. But acquiring money, which provides security, serves\u00a0 as a more viable survival strategy. Therefore, for Ferrante, trust can only exist as a byproduct of\u00a0 wealth and security, and since wealth fluctuates, trust is transient.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lila\u2019s feeling of \u201cdissolving margins\u201d results from a mistrust in her own decisions which derives\u00a0 from her family\u2019s poverty. Lila is a fierce, intelligent young woman who grows up in a poor\u00a0 household. Forced to drop out of school due to financial constraints, she begins to work in her\u00a0 father\u2019s shoe store. When a wealthy suitor named Marcello proposes to Lila, she is strongly\u00a0 encouraged to marry. Lila\u2019s father explains \u201cthat Marcello Solara\u2019s proposal [is] important not\u00a0 only for her future but for that of the whole family\u201d (Ferrante 206). Though Lila hates Marcello,\u00a0 she desires financial security for her family and thus experiences a mental division that she calls\u00a0 \u201cdissolving margins.\u201d Within \u201cdissolving margins,\u201d the illusion of social bonds linking people of\u00a0 the city together disintegrates, exposing to Lila the fragility of her connections. She finds that\u00a0 interpersonal bonds are so weak, even within her family, that without money to hold her world\u00a0 together, everything will collapse. This fear intensifies following the explosion of a copper pot in\u00a0 Lila\u2019s kitchen. She recognizes this as a sign \u201cto find a solution, otherwise, everything, one thing\u00a0 after another, will break, everything, everything\u201d (Ferrante 229). Lila believes one wrong\u00a0 decision about her engagement can lead to the physical fragmentation of her reality. The\u00a0 previously fierce Lila is replaced by someone insecure and fearful, demonstrating that without\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

money, she loses not only her self-trust but also her sense of self. Though Lila is the only one\u00a0 attuned to the feeling of \u201cdissolving margins,\u201d it is reasonable to assume that many people in her\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

community experience the same loss of self. Jacobs argues that the self can be preserved so long\u00a0 as sufficient personal connections exist, but it is impossible to find these connections, as\u00a0 explored through Lenu\u2019s eyes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lenu\u2019s neighborhood transforms as various public contacts arise, and though she attempts\u00a0 to adhere to Jacobs\u2019 view of trust, she finds it absent. Lenu discovers mistrust in childhood,\u00a0 demonstrated through the actions of her and Lila\u2019s dolls, who form a microcosm of the girls\u2019\u00a0 world. Their dolls \u201cspied on each other\u201d and \u201csized each other up\u201d (Ferrante 30), representing\u00a0 Lenu\u2019s understanding of the lack of trusting relationships in her world. However, in her middle\u00a0 school years, Lenu\u2019s childhood acquaintances become regular characters on the street, and small\u00a0 public interactions become common. She sees a childhood friend, Enzo, with his vegetable cart,\u00a0 who conveys \u201can honest, reassuring willingness to serve his customers,\u201d and waves to Pasquale\u00a0 who works on the construction site. From this, Lenu hastily concludes that the neighborhood has\u00a0 reformed and is \u201cnot to be known by the accumulated hatreds\u2026 but, rather, to show a new face\u201d\u00a0 (Ferrante 109). According to Jacobs\u2019 viewpoint that trust is formed from \u201cmany little public\u00a0 sidewalk contacts,\u201d (Jacobs 56) the community should become trusting during this period,\u00a0 corroborating Lenu\u2019s prediction. However, though public contacts exist, sincere human\u00a0 connections do not. Lenu is alone in abiding by Jacobs\u2019 idea of trust, and she attempts to trust in\u00a0 her education, hoping it will generate success. For others in Lenu\u2019s community, establishing real\u00a0 personal connections is unnecessary because trust is viewed through the lens of Ferrante: as a\u00a0 product of wealth. And as wealth remains absent, the streets continue as a home for mistrust. Even after a web of sidewalk interactions is established, Ada is raped by the Solara brothers,\u00a0 rival groups launch fireworks at each other, and brutal fights erupt.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is only when individuals like Stefano acquire money and security that trust emerges,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

but this trust is temporary because the powerless remain at the mercy of the wealthy. Stefano is\u00a0 the first example of someone in the neighborhood with both money and security. His wealth is\u00a0 described not as flashy like other members of the community, but as \u201cwealth that [exists] in the\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

facts of every day\u2026without splendor and without glory\u201d (Ferrante 249). Stefano uses his wealth\u00a0 and security to build a bridge of trust between himself and his family\u2019s rivals; he invites the\u00a0 Pelusos to dinner for New Year\u2019s, making a \u201cconclusive peace\u201d with them (Ferrante 170).\u00a0 Stefano\u2019s financial stability also allows Lila to begin to trust herself again. Towards the end of\u00a0 the novel, Lila agrees to marry Stefano, confident that her decision will ensure her family\u2019s\u00a0 future financially. Her self-trust is displayed when her feeling of \u201cdissolving margins\u201d ceases.\u00a0 Lenu, when describing Lila after the engagement, says \u201cthe story of the exploded pot\u201d is no\u00a0 longer a piece of her; that the Lila who had experienced that feeling \u201chad disappeared\u201d (Ferrante\u00a0 265). Lila\u2019s trust in herself is amplified because Stefano\u2019s money acts as a safety net, alleviating\u00a0 her fear of the world collapsing. However, this trust is temporary. During her wedding reception,\u00a0 Lila sees Marcello wearing the handmade shoes Stefano bought from her family\u2019s store just\u00a0 weeks before. This moment represents Stefano\u2019s lack of loyalty to Lila. Although Stefano\u00a0 initially succumbs to all of Lila\u2019s demands, in the end, the business of men is more important.\u00a0 Lila is once again left incapable of trusting herself and anyone else in her life.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The conflict between Don Achille and Signor Peluso highlights that mistrust due to lack\u00a0 of money and security ultimately leads to violent social breakdown. For Signor Peluso, a broke\u00a0 carpenter and gambler, mistrust stems from a lack of financial stability. Throughout the novel, Peluso doesn\u2019t trust the people around him, including Don Achille, whom Peluso blames for his\u00a0 downfall. Though in reality he \u201clost everything gambling,\u201d (Ferrante 36) Peluso publicly\u00a0 declares that Don Achille stole his carpentry tools and his shop. Peluso\u2019s projection of blame\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

comes from the sentiment that he must \u201cmake it difficult for others before they [make] it difficult\u00a0 for [him]\u201d (Ferrante 37). This mindset is widespread in the community and is rooted in mistrust\u00a0 and the belief that people will betray each other before they can be betrayed. It\u2019s a coping\u00a0 mechanism for surviving an environment motivated by financial jealousy, where the desperation\u00a0 to preserve scarce material resources dominates. For Peluso, this mistrust isn\u2019t completely\u00a0 unjustified. Don Achille, the local boss of the Camorra and loan shark of the neighborhood\u00a0 (Ovan, 2023), holds power over Peluso, who is deeply in debt from gambling. Because Peluso\u00a0 cannot trust that Don Achille won\u2019t end his life at any moment, he hurts Don Achille before Don\u00a0 Achille can hurt him, and mistrust escalates into violence. The rivalry ends with Peluso\u2019s\u00a0 imprisonment for the murder of Don Achille. This idea of \u201cget them before they get you\u201d applies\u00a0 to most instances of violence seen in Ferrante\u2019s novel. Without money to produce trust, the\u00a0 neighborhood collapses into violence.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Ferrante\u2019s novel, trust is rare because the pairing of money and security is rare in\u00a0 Naples. Because of this, Jacobs\u2019 optimism in building trust borders on na\u00efvet\u00e9 when placed\u00a0 alongside the harsh environment that Ferrante creates. In an ideal world where people believe\u00a0 trust is built by sidewalk contacts, Lila and Lenu could have a stable sense of trust and form real\u00a0 connections with others. But the protagonists don\u2019t live in an ideal world. Throughout their\u00a0 childhood, the girls \u201cdidn\u2019t trust\u2026the people inside and outside their houses\u201d (Ferrante 31).\u00a0 Their relationship with trust is built on a foundation of money, and when money is scarce in a\u00a0 community, so is trust.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/p>\n

Ferrante, Elena. <\/span>My Brilliant Friend. <\/span><\/i>Translated by Ann Goldstein, Europa Editions, 2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jacobs, Jane. <\/span>The Death and Life of Great American Cities. <\/span><\/i>Vintage Books, 1992. Ovan,\u00a0 Sabrina. \u201cWomen\u2019s Movements: Space, Friendship and Deception in Elena Ferrante\u2019s <\/span>My\u00a0 Brilliant Friend<\/span><\/i>.\u201d CORE 1. Scripps College. 13 Oct. 2023.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/vimeo.com\/user32186518\/review\/857664086\/53299984f8.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTrust.\u201d <\/span>Cambridge Dictionary<\/span><\/i>, https:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/us\/dictionary\/english\/trust.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trust is hard to regain when it\u2019s constantly broken. In Elena Ferrante\u2019s novel My Brilliant\u00a0 Friend, two female protagonists lack trust in the people in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,22,86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-fiction","category-sands-essay-award","category-volume23-spring2024"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1119\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}