The Shoemaker's Wife

The latter half of Part 1 uses Ciro’s and Enza’s intersecting storylines to introduce the theme of The Journey Toward Self-Discovery, Meaning, and Purpose. Their meeting on the hillside in Chapter 6 ignites their connection and underscores the parallels between their harrowing circumstances. Ciro and Enza are both on the verge of major life transitions when they meet. Ciro soon learns that Don Gregorio is kicking him and Eduardo out of the convent, and Enza will have to adapt to her life without her late sister. They’re both in vulnerable states when they share their first conversation and confide in each other. Their dialogue about life, love, and loss captures how the search for meaning is inherent to coming of age. Ciro pontificates on this thematic notion after Enza confesses her sorrow over Stella:

If you look around to find meaning in everything that happens, you will end up disappointed. Sometimes there aren’t reasons behind the terrible things that go on. I ask myself, if I knew all the answers, would it help” […] I realize there’s nothing to be done about what has already happened (51).

Ciro speaks with wisdom and maturity. His encounters with loss are already shaping his worldview. He wants his life to have meaning, but often has difficulty reconciling with his hardships. The same is true for Enza, who lacks control over her circumstances, too. Both are from meager means and have had to make due to survive. Their encounter temporarily bolsters their spirits and offers them temporary hope for the future.

In addition, Ciro and Enza’s meeting catalyzes the novel’s central love story. A work of historical fiction, The Shoemaker’s Wife is an immigrant tale interested in cataloging the difficulties of leaving home and starting over. Ciro and Enza’s burgeoning connection nuances the tale, infusing it with heart, warmth, and possibility. For example, when they kiss on the hill in Chapter 6, they experience common feelings of comfort, safety, and newness. Their storylines have run in parallel throughout the novel thus far; the kiss is a metaphorical and narrative exhibition of their uncanny bond. In this romantic scene, the narrator alternates between their points of view, revealing what each is thinking and feeling. While kissing Enza, Ciro wonders, “How did he get this far, how was she allowing him to kiss her when his hands were dirty and he was hardly at his best?” (81). Meanwhile, Enza feels “her heart race as their lips [touch], the sadness of the day quelled by the unexpected meeting with this boy from Vilminore” (81). The formal interplay between their perspectives enacts the characters’ mutual connection and foreshadows their fate together. Both derive a sense of hope and security from each other that they’ve never felt before.

Ciro’s departure to the US ends Part 1 on a cliffhanger. He has no choice but to leave his home on the mountain, and he thus finds his journey to the US intimidating rather than exciting. In particular, Ciro is devastated to leave his brother’s side. Although he’s 16, “with a grown-up masculine prowess,” Ciro is reluctant to leave Eduardo, who “[has] been Ciro’s parent” since they were children, “setting his moral compass, helping him navigate convent life, prompting him to study, all the while encouraging him to see the good in people and the possibilities of the world beyond the piazza in Vilminore” (113). The brothers’ separation at the end of Part 1 marks a turning point in Ciro’s self-discovery journey, challenging him to brave the unknown with spirit and courage. As Chapter 8 closes, the narrator doesn’t hint at what will happen to Ciro next or detail where Enza is in the meantime and whether she and Ciro will ever meet again. Closing the section on this inexact moment between Italy (which represents the past) and the US (which represents the future), the author creates an organic transition into the next phase of Ciro’s and Enza’s stories.