Granny Torrelli Makes Soup

Bailey, the neighbor boy who is about Rosie’s age, has been Rosie’s best friend since the two were born in neighboring houses only a week apart. Bailey does not see well. Because of this, he has some different experiences than Rosie does, and he goes to a different school.

Rosie’s anxiety over her fight with Bailey at the start of the novel is Rosie’s impetus to grow and broaden her mindset, in particular to learn The Value of Empathy. Bailey understands his situation in ways that Rosie cannot. Rosie struggles, however, to accept that Bailey has a unique lived experience that she cannot necessarily grasp. For example, among Rosie’s recollections is a story from their past when Bailey got mad at her when they were putting on a play, as Rosie wanted to pretend to be a blind woman. At the start of the novel, Rosie’s lack of empathy for Bailey has reached a tipping point. One thing that Bailey could do that Rosie could not was read Braille. Rosie admired this skill greatly, referring to it as “miraculous” and calling his Braille materials “special stuff.” Over the course of a year, Rosie therefore painstakingly taught herself this skill, determined to close this gap between them. When she showed Bailey what she learned, with no small amount of showmanship, instead of being proud of her, Bailey is angry. His words are what Rosie is mulling over from the start.

Conversely, though Bailey has deep feelings for Rosie and demonstrates The Importance of Forgiveness gracefully in the first half of the novel, he is not a perfect friend either and must learn empathy himself in the second half of the novel. For example, Bailey does not at first understand that Rosie is jealous of Janine. Even when Bailey does grasp the basics of Rosie’s feelings, he doesn’t quite understand her emotional needs in relation to those feelings. When Rosie asks whether he could ever like Janine more than he likes her, Bailey gives a lukewarm response, failing to reassure her. Just as Rosie does, however, he eventually learns from the stories of Granny Torrelli. As he gains insight and empathy, he is also able to change his actions.

Granny Torrelli and her stories about her life facilitate much of the growth that Rosie and Bailey experience over the course of the novel. Granny Torrelli does not tell them what to do or lecture the children. Rather, she uses The Power of Storytelling to help them reflect on the outcomes their choices may yield. Her stories, which share events from her past that are emotionally relevant to the children’s current problems, nourish the children as much as the soups and pastas they make together. In this way, Granny Torrelli passes along wisdom as she also passes on her cultural heritage.

Granny Torrelli’s closest friendship in her childhood was with a boy named Pardo. This relationship, as she shares it through stories, closely mirrors the relationship that Rosie has with Bailey. Through being honest about her mistakes, Granny Torrelli shares how her own weaknesses led to fallouts and failures, sometimes funny in nature, sometimes more sober. For example, when Rosie is being stubborn about communicating honestly, Granny Torrelli tells a story about Pardo’s dog. Granny Torrelli was jealous of the time Pardo spent with his dog, so she decided to befriend the dog herself. Instead of succeeding, she ended up temporarily losing the dog. Because Granny Torrelli tells Rosie this story, Rosie is able to see that her grandmother too once had her own weaknesses. Granny Torrelli demonstrates vulnerability by sharing these stories in which her weaknesses are on display, but she offers up that vulnerability in order to help forge a bond with Rosie and Bailey and to also help them deepen and heal their bond with each other.

Granny Torrelli comes from a different country and from a different generation than Bailey and Rosie do. Her language and her values are different. She speaks English to the children, but her English is peppered with Italian words and phrases. This helps Rosie learn even more about her own heritage and the language of those in her family before her spoke. Granny Torrelli is Catholic, a faith that does not get passed down to her granddaughter. Finally, she values people slowing down. She thinks people do things too quickly these days, and she wants people to slow down and savor life more. This belief is reflected in the time-intensive process she undergoes of making homemade pasta and teaching Rosie and Bailey to do the same.

Both Janine and Violetta are perceived by Rosie and Granny Torrelli, respectively, as threats to their relationships with their male best friends. Janine is more elaborately characterized than Violetta is. Rosie perceives Janine as a shallow girl who believes best friends can be forged in an instant with one simple question. Janine is outgoing with everyone, the first to introduce herself to the boys who move in across the street. She triggers jealousy in Rosie, as Rosie does not like how Janine is infringing on her relationship with Bailey. In a similar way, years ago, Violetta caught the eye of Granny Torrelli’s friend, Pardo. Granny Torrelli was very jealous of the girl, but Violetta finally moved away. While both of these characters serve as antagonists, they also help Rosie learn more about herself and her relationship with Bailey.