In My Brilliant Friend, Ferrante reveals that the change from childhood to adolescence is scary and upsetting because the breakdown of innocence occurs. In the first chapter of Adolescence, Lila’s experience of “dissolving margins” (2) is symbolic of what occurs in every child during puberty. Furthermore, Ferrante symbolizes change with the motif of fire, which is seen in the fireworks display. During the display, Lila feels disgust towards the changes she sees in her brother and repulsion towards the human body, which “seem[s] to her attributes of monstrous beings” (39). Lila’s disgust of the body is representative of the disgust most children may feel about their own bodies, and the unveiling of the changes in Rino is symbolic of a loss of
