THE DECONSTRUCTION OF MOTHERHOOD AS A DESTINY: MOTHERS IN DECOLONIAL LITERATURES BY FEMALE AUTHORS

as Mães nas Literaturas de Autoria Feminina

Abstract

This work seeks to understand, through examples of female authored literature with a decolonial view, how motherhood is seen in a woman’s life. For many years, female characters in world literature were described only in relation to the male protagonists of their narratives, and female mothers were even more stereotyped and silenced. However, with the notoriety of literature written by women, it is possible to realize that these characters can have their own arcs away from male eyes and can wish to be more than caregivers. It is through this perspective that we intend to investigate how the category ‘mother’ is described in texts written by female authors. With the contribution of Postcolonialism and Decolonialism theorists, the position of women in society and their role in a dichotomous world will be analyzed. The texts show how it is possible to understand women as their own beings, and how the chains imposed by society are really imprisoning.