The narrator realises why Nicola and Jacopo work so hard. Yet he does not go r in to meet their sister nor does he speak to them about what he learns from the nurse. Working in groups, discuss the following aspects of the story and share your views with the class.
(a) The love and devotion, and the family values Nicola and Jacopo display.
(b) Their pride in themselves and their family.
(a) Nicola and Jacopo embody brotherly love, devotion and family values. They are two small boys whose actions represent those human emotions which are rare to be found in the children of their age group. They worked hard day and night for earning money. They readily took up any job which could bring money for them in a fair way. They did not spend their hard-earned money on them. Rather they saved it for the medical treatment of their sister, Lucia who was suffering from tuberculosis of the spine.
(b) Nicola and Jacopo fell on evil days due to war. In such conditions the boys of their age are very likely to become pickpockets, cheats, drug addicts and burglars but Nicola and Jacopo were never seen doing any unfair and fraudulent job. They worked hard for money and earned it with their labour and industry. Nor did they ever beg. It was simply because they were proud of their cultured family which lived with dignity and honour before war Their father was a famous singer of his times. The war deprived them of all comforts and pleasures but they still retained the happy memories of those golden days. They did not tell about the disease of their sister to the writer, though the writer was so kind because they did not want any one to show pity to them. They had a great sense of self-respect and pride.