Trança de gente: a construção das protagonistas narradoras Leda e Bel em A filha perdida e Bisa Bia, Bisa Bel

Abstract

The following dissertation aims at discussing the process of building the female identity in A Filha Perdida (2016) by Elena Ferrante as well as in Bisa Bia, Bisa Bel (1982) by Ana Maria Machado, both of which narrated by female protagonists. Firstly, it was of utmost importance to reflect upon what is female and the role of women in society based on discussions proposed by Simone de Beauvoir and Rebecca Solnit. Secondly, a discussion has been raised on what identity is and its importance in the contemporary world according to Zygmunt Bauman. In the light of all those perspectives, this paper sought to understand the role of the character underlying Antonio Candido and Anatol Rosenfeld’s theories. Apart from that, this research has therefore identified which narrative strategies are used so that the female is built in the characters. Also, it was paramount to analyse the impact of the interaction among characters, by means of otherness, from the standpoint of Jean-Paul Sartre and Emmanuel Lévinas. In accordance with thorough reflection upon time and narrative underpinned by theories of Paul Ricoeur, Benedito Nunes and Tzvetan Todorov it was possible to ascertain how the narrators manipulate time in order to build their identities. At last but not least, in both books the identity is never reached indeed, since female or what it is said to be inherent to women is a fluid idea, which happens to be evident in the way the characters are being featured along the narratives. Nevertheless, Bel, Machado’s protagonist, is more restrained, while Leda, herein Ferrante’s counterpart, consists of fragments – an ‘obscure’ character, as the original title in Italian suggests: La figlia oscura