Identidade cultural e construção do feminino em Clara dos Anjos

Abstract

This work focuses on examining how cultural and female identities are represented in the book Clara dos Anjos, by Lima Barreto. For that, we tried to understand the Belle Époque context, marked by social inequalities and how Lima Barreto's work is articulated in this context, through his militant literature. In addition, it was necessary to observe the mechanisms of identity construction. During the historical period in which the story takes place, there was the establishment of specific standarts that acted as regulators of cultural manifestations and genders relations and the identification processes in a general way. These standards attest to the presence of an identity marked by social inequalities, which become clear through the contrast between social classes, discrimination against black people and women. In this context, Lima Barreto, when addressing the culture of the suburb, makes it possible to demonstrate the diversity of its cultural manifestations and the discriminatory stance of governmental power that leaves the poorest areas and its population. In the same way, when examining the female profiles of the novel, reflections on the situation of domination to which the woman was (and still is) submitted are made possible. In according to these observations, the writer's criticism of the model imposed on national identity and female behavior is evident, and the power relations at work there are evident, which originate a reality of discrimination and oppression of groups that are known as minority. To support the analysis, the works of Schwarcz (2017), on the life and professional trajectory of Lima Barreto, Hall(2000, 2003, 2011) and Silva (2000), on identity, Beauvoir(1967, 1970) and Butler(2013) on feminist ideas and Costa(1999), on the context of Belle Époque were used.