♱

“Let’s go back,” Lila said.

“And the sea?”

“It’s too far.”

“And home?”

“Also.”

-Elena Ferrante,

so upsetting we never got to see holly’s lucrezia after rodrigo’s death and cesare’s capture because of how well she portrayed grief and loneliness (especially in regards to her identity as a borgia)

whereas margaret has become so desensitized to sexual violence she believes it’s the only option for a woman of her socioeconomic status. she inflicts on her daughters the same abuse that she was subjected to and for the majority of the series refuses to acknowledge her daughter’s trauma because she prioritizes her own discomfort with recognizing the harm she’s inflicting on charlotte over charlotte’s feelings. her intention of grooming charlotte for sex work comes from a place of survival rather than profit, and she makes a genuine attempt to be a “good” madame but intention does not negate the end result. margaret is not alleviating her daughters from the confines of patriarchal violence, but rather teaching them to function within it.

"I did not mind anymore that I lost when we raced and I lost when we swam out to the rocks and I lost when we tossed spears or skipped stones. For who can be ashamed to lose to such beauty? It was enough to watch him win, to see the soles of his feet flashing as they kicked up sand, or the rise and fall of his shoulders as he pulled through the salt. It was enough."

-Madeline Miller,