My Brilliant Friend

The shoes that Lila designs and makes with her brother, Rino, in secret from their father, Fernando, are a symbol of female creativity and autonomy. When Lila abandons school, she also abandons the dream of writing a novel like Little Women and endeavors to become rich by going into the shoe business like her father. She draws a page of shoes that “she had invented […] in their entirety and in every part […] they didn’t resemble any that were seen in the neighborhood, or even those of the actresses in the photo novels” (116). Elena is impressed, but Lila wishes to start more humbly by making a simple pair of men’s shoes “just to demonstrate to her father how beautiful and comfortable they were” (117). She is convinced that Fernando will be so impressed he will request a line of production. Lila’s preference to begin with the functional elegance of men’s shoes, rather than the capricious fantasy of women’s, is symbolic as she seeks to win over her father on her own terms.

However, Lila’s creativity is thwarted on two accounts: first, by rash, ungrounded Rino who cannot resist showing the shoes to their father and taking credit for them before Lila considers them ready, and, second, by her father who is jealous and controlling.