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Ammaniti’s Novel, I’m Not Scared Essay

Decent Essays

This is a profoundly moral tale of lost innocence and adult cruelty. Do you agree?

Ammaniti’s novel I’m Not Scared set in Acqua Traverse, Italy 1978 is a powerful text, which explores relevant social themes and issues. Besides being a tale of adult cruelty and lost innocence we cannot ignore the role in which loyalty and betrayal play in the novel. These central themes make this novel a compelling text.

In the novel Michelle journeys from a joyful innocent child into a perceptive and wiser youth. Initially we view Michelle as a child who is very compassionate, willing to “do the forfeit” for Barbara to exempt her from Skull’s cruelty. As the story progresses qualities namely courage and loyalty surface in Michelle. These two …show more content…

Fillipo like Togo struggled when forced to wash and like Togo, Fillipo was very dirty. Fillipo had to live in his own excretion this can be seen when Michelle lifts the mattress to the hole “A terrible stink of shit was released”. The treatment of Fillipo is appalling, this act is magnified by the fact that the adults in the village have children of their own yet are capable of such cruelty. The author portrays Fillipo as identical to Michelle in age and height, the intended effect is to draw parallels with Michelle and show that Fillipo is like any other nine year old.

Loyalty and betrayal occurs frequently in the text. Michelle is loyal to Fillipo, he is willing to break a promise he made “on my fathers head”. He realises the suffering Fillipo endures and forms a bond. He admits openly towards the end of the text that Fillipo “is a friend of mine”. Betrayal is also a prominent theme in the story. To key instances of betrayal occur, the first being Salvatore’s betrayal of Michelle. Secondly we also must view Pino’s betrayal of his family. Salvatore’s betrayal was a heart wrenching experience for Michelle. Michelle is beaten by Felice but it is his heart which hurts most, “Salvatore had broken it”. Some readers feel that Michelle betrayed Pino however it has to be said that Pino despite having the best intentions for his family ultimately betrayed them. He was the one who chose to pursue the kidnapping, he did not serve the family well by engaging in

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