O Sumiço da santa, de Jorge Amado: interfaces entre as vozes femininas e os processos culturais relativos à sexualidade e à religiosidade

Abstract

In literature, the male figure almost always represented leadership and occupied a position of superiority. This was reflected in the way women were represented in literature. Despite the invisibility of the female voice and the female body being presented in the literary domain, generally in a sexualized way and submissive to the Christian religion, some authors have broken this canonical system, and created female characters who would become ladies of their own desires", breaking from this literary canon by promoting the neutralization of the order of masculine strength, considered universal and legitimized through discourses. Jorge Amado, for example, was one of the authors of Brazilian Literature who broke national borders and gained worldwide notoriety with his vast literary production and several novels that tell stories permeated by the country's historical, social and cultural issues Based on this contextualization, we indicate as a guiding question: How is female representation in the novel 0 sumice da santa: uma historia de feitigaria, by Jorge Amado, considering the construction of the female characters Adalgisa and Manela and the cultural processes that involve religiosity and sexuality? The main objective of this study is to analyze the Jorge Amado's novel considering the female representation in the composition of the characters Adalgisa and Manela in dialogue with cultural processes related to religiosity and sexuality. As for the specific objectives, we seek to: 1) investigate the influence of the Catholic and Candomble religions in the construction of the main female characters' sexuality; 2) analyze the relationship between the female orixa lansa and Adalgisa and Manela's behavior in the novel; 3) ponder on the issue of belonging and the construction of identity through social interaction; 4) address the importance of religiosity narratives in the educational context. As theoretical contribution, the research was guided by Post-Modem Cultural Studies, with emphasis on issues relating to identity, social representations and female sexuality. In summary, we seek to prove that the processes related to sexuality are influenced by patriarchal religion and appear less liberating for the women represented in the novel.