48 pages • 1 hour read
Giorgio BassaniThe Garden of the Finzi-Continis
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1962A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaCharacter Analysis
Narrator
Content Warning: This section of the guide contains references to sexual violence, antisemitism, genocide, and suicide.
The unnamed narrator is the eldest of three children. He enjoys a comfortable if more modest lifestyle than the Finzi-Continis’. Consistently throughout the novel, he presents himself as an intellectual. Starting the events of the plot as a stressed-out schoolboy, his academic life is his largest motivator outside of his romantic interests. It is such a point of stress on his identity that he clashes against those whom he feels are not up to his standards, invoking the theme of Taste Versus Class. He is uncomfortable with Micòl’s depiction of Lattes and him as “‘[t]he two literary men of the band,’ two ‘very smart’ characters” (62), and as a boy, he rejects the comforts of a classmate because he does not see him as his equal. It is his academic pursuit without a clear goal that characterizes him as competitive instead of rational.
While he is not pursuing a career as a professor or even motivated by a concern for money, he enjoys the lifestyle of the Finzi-Contini children. He envies their aristocratic lifestyle, and as the novel progresses, his closeness with the patriarch leads the narrator to call him “the professor” rather than any other name.
With standout blue eyes, he is never rejected based on his looks, but neither is he shown to have great charisma. Described as a pessimist by his father, he is prone to isolating himself and sinking into depression. The novel ends with him fully cutting himself off from his friend group. This impulsive and destructive side is most clearly foreshadowed whenever he touches Macòl without consent. He describes this as “my mania” and tries to push down his sexual urges. He hence embodies the theme of Protection Against Rejection. He views himself as the core reason for his problems. He describes these physical outbursts saying, “my mania for hugging her, for rubbing against her was the sign, perhaps, of only one thing: my basic aridity, my constitutional inability really to love” (161). Despite his self-interest, it is only the memories of the Finzi-Continis’ garden and the family that he feels compelled to write about and share.
Micòl Finzi-Contini
Micòl dazzles the narrator and seemingly all other characters with her wit, ash-blond hair, and beauty. From a young age she is very interested in secrets and pushes back against her family’s decision to isolate within the titular garden. Whether it is beckoning the young narrator over the wall or creating the tennis party, she is the one inviting people in. The way that she creates these events shows real selflessness as she cares for her brother’s happiness and the status quo above her own comfort levels. Similarly, she chooses to stay away for months to try to help her relationship with the narrator despite how much she gravitates toward her home.
The self-awareness she has about her reputation is also clear in her language. Micòl is often described as talking in the third person, such as “Micòl is good” (88). It is also clear that her intelligence rises above what is expected of her. Her thesis is almost unanimously awarded with honors and is only held back by the racial inequality of fascist Italy. While the narrator envies the Finzi-Continis’ lazy lifestyle, Micòl is able to complete her thesis months early. It is a strong pull of homesickness and loyalty to her mother that brings her back to Ferrara.
Alberto Finzi-Contini
Alberto is a tragic character, and his death parallels the earlier death of his older brother. The two boys are the only people buried at the family tomb which the narrator is pulled to visit. Although he is not as vibrant as his sister, Alberto and Micòl are very similar. They are both pushed toward self-deprecation and are naturally desperate to invite people into their home. As the narrator describes, “Alberto and Micòl, as if continuing their competition, had hastened to denounce the same defects, without a shred of reticence, I would actually say with a kind of mocking, masochistic enthusiasm” (58). While Micòl drives the action within the family, Alberto is also capable of pulling together groups of people and sustaining friendships. Both he and Micòl are described as secretly communicating with others through silent looks and glances. However, Alberto’s real talent is invention. It is this kind of cleverness, rather than the narrator’s and Micòl’s talent for literature, in which Alberto excels. His relationship with the narrator emphasizes the distinction between Taste Versus Class; where the narrator may fit well into the dinners and conversations of the Finzi-Contini household, Alberto is above him by birth. As Alberto becomes sicker and sicker, there is an irony that this very direct and straightforward character is being whispered about by his friends. His sickness, which other characters do not want to confront, represents the growing antisemitism that the characters want to ignore but which will eventually lead to most of their deaths.
Giampiero Malnate
A larger figure in the second half of the book, Malnate acts as a foil to the narrator. Where the narrator is an intellectual and passes this time of political uncertainty with the Finzi-Contini family, Malnate is working as a chemist. Where the narrator is theoretical, Malnate is actively political. All the differences that the narrator notices between Malnate and himself fuel the jealousy the narrator feels for any connection between Malnate and Micòl. This connection remains unproven by the end, therefore highlighting the narrator’s obsessive state of mind more than it characterizes Malnate as a love interest. Malnate is the only other person besides the narrator to return to the tennis group after the winter.
Since Malnate is a socialist, Bassani constructs his character partly to explore the theme of Taste Versus Class. Malnate is one of the few independent characters who does not rely on family money. Although he develops a closer bond with the narrator, the separation between him and the other Jewish characters prompts the narrator to hold back at times. By the end of the novel, he not only gets his wish to leave Ferrara and return home to Lombardy, but in a twist, he also goes to the Soviet Union. He dies there while serving in the military, highlighting the widespread nature of the tragedies of the war.
Professor Ermanno Finzi-Contini
“The Professor,” as the narrator calls him, is the closest the narrator gets to a mentor figure. He is the father of Micòl and Alberto and the husband to the young Signora Olga. He attempts to sit on the fence when it comes to the politics of the time. When trying to keep a balance between isolation and safety, he donates money to the Fascist party but still refuses to join. He treats religion in the same way that he treats politics: He attends the local synagogue but at times retreats to the private Spanish one that he repaired.
He is an isolated character who finds great joy in inviting the narrator in, especially when the two connect over literature. His relationship with the narrator is a precarious balance: He matches the narrator’s enthusiasm for his family but deals with the narrator’s immature rejection of his help. While Ermanno can work plans out behind the scenes, he does not directly address the problems going on. All his money can provide the rare oxygen tanks that his son needs but is unable to save him. His emotional fragility is reflected in the premature black mourning clothes he wears even before Alberto’s death.
