Fontamara Response

Throughout Fontamara, the townspeople are subjected to countless injustices, which are accepted as their way of life.  The book recounts several events through which the townspeople suffer, yet there is no argument for or against these occurrences within the story.  The reader simply understands the series of events.  We empathize with the townspeople, yet we grow to be frustrated because they are too uneducated and isolated to take control of their own lives.  What is interesting, is that the blatantly obvious question, “what are we to do?” is only asked within the last chapter of the book.  The sense of false hope collapses and the people of Fontamara face their helpless states of being.  The question raised at the end of the book, “what are we to do?” is not really a question, but it is rather the answer.  The people have finally reached the point at which they no longer accept life for what it is, and they realize that the authorities have taken their abusive control to an unforgivable and insufferable point. The reader is left with a sense of hope that the cafone will finally rise up and create a powerful presence for themselves amongst their countrymen.  Whether or not this is false hope is unknown. 

            One aspect of the writing style that is interesting is the changing of narrator’s throughout the book.  The father, mother, and son each assume the role of narrator at at least one point in the story.  The different points of view that the characters’ perspectives offer do not seem to alter the readers understanding of the events drastically.  However, the reader does have the ability to understand other characters better in the sense that we see their different relationships with the mother, father, and son. This develops the characterization of important characters, such as Berardo, in an interesting manner.