Cabiria's Development in Nights of Cabiria

Nights of Cabiria is unique among most of the films we've watched due to both it's up beat tone and a plot that feels more like a series of episodes than a linear narrative. But what holds the tone and plot together is Cabiria, whose complicated attitude towards the world and her own life make for an interesting conflict and representation of post-war Rome.

In many ways, Cabiria possesses both the best and the worst qualities of a child. She is stubborn when dealing with Wanda, is prone to emotional highs and lows (as seen with her fighting the other prostitute, then bragging about being picked up by the actor while still in his car), and naive to the point where she is robbed by someone she loves twice (she also carries all of her money in her purse, which is something my 9-year old sister does). But despite getting robbed twice, publicly humiliated, nearly drowning, and spending a night with her clients dog, she still projects a hopefulness and a cartoonish attitude that makes her adventures seem more like a series of mishaps than the tragedies they really are. Due to these traits, Cabiria doesn't seem to take on a "real" persona, and is instead more of an expression of the directors attitude towards the world at the time.

However, being a cartoon doesn't mean Cabiria isn't without flaws. She hides her self doubt and fears about her marriage prospects behind a disdain for the poor, working class that "live under caves" in post-WWII Italy. Her attitude towards the people who bought her house and the (previously cut) scene where she visits the homeless shows us how Cabiria fears joining a group that only prostitution, home-ownership, and a husband can keep her from. This bleak outlook for the working class in 1950's Italy is really what grounds both the film's more light-hearted misadventures and the neorealism the director, Fellini, had been known for in previous films. This attitude all changes in the last minutes of the film, where we go from a tragedy brought on by Cabiria's worst habits (her nativity and her fear of becoming poor) to a positive ending as Cabiria becomes what she fears most.

Cabiria doesn't seem to change her habits much from the beginning to the end of the film. Until she gets to the cliff, her motivations are consistent and shes is just as naive as always. But once she realizes that she is about to be robbed for a second time, she simply gives up on life, begging Oscar to kill her, as she knows that her life is "over". She had been tricked again, only now she is without the home she had after getting robbed the first time. After Oscar leaves with her purse, she's left homeless and hopelessly wondering about, and for the first time we see her truly despair. Then, as the parade of working class people forms around her in the streets, we a return of her prior attitude. She has finally become part of the poor, working class she refused to associate with despite always being destined to join. Cabiria may have reached what she thought would be her lowest, but as the parade goes on around her, she realizes it might not be as bad as she thought.