Comparing Eyes Shut and A Woman

Kendall Weinert

FYS: Masterpieces of Italian Literature

Eyes Shut Blog Post

            The novels, A Woman, by Sibilla Aleramo and Eyes Shut, by Federigo Tozzi are very similar in the sense that the main characters struggle to become independent and go against what others expect. In Tozzi’s, Eyes Shut, the main character Pietro is constantly faced with the challenge of going against what others say. In, A Woman, Sibilla struggles to go against the social norms of that time. Neither of these characters will do as they wish because they are scared if they do they will be looked at differently. Pietro does as others ask because he is afraid that if he does his own thing and becomes an individual he will also become lost. He does as he is told and very rarely strays from following what he is told. Tozzi states, “[Pietro] gave in to [Ghisola’s] wishes, doing what he told him to do and trying to guess what he was thinking but didn’t say straight out.” (23) This illustrates that Pietro is scared to go against or even question what others tell him to do. He will wonder, but never ask because he may be looked at differently if he does. Pietro is scared that he will be lost if he does what he wants instead of what others want, so he remains doing what others tell him.