Narrativas de estupro: a representação da violação feminina em Capitães da Areia e Terra Sonâmbula

Abstract

The rape scenes presented in Capitães da Areia (1937) by Jorge Amado and Terra Sonâmbula (1992) by Mia Couto are investigated in this study. Therefore, this research aims to analyze the assumption that the blame for such crime is often placed on the victim. For this purpose, the female characters “negrinha” and Farida were selected as the main focus of this study, emphasizing the way that both are represented in the same situation – the sexual abuse. This study analyzed the following inquiries: (i) is there a male supremacy in the social relations presented in the narratives?; (ii) do the lexical choices in the descriptions of scenes and female characters refer to a situation of female inferiority?; and (iii) is there a female desire in the rape scene that perpetuates the idea that the victim is responsible for the violence?; (iv) what are the main similarities and differences between the characters and scenes descriptions in both novels and what are the meaning effects that the women representation subject cause on the reader? The contributions of the Comparative Literature were used as theoretical background to the literary studies in Coutinho and Carvalhal (2011); Nitrini (1997). Furthermore, the definition of sexual and ethical violence was addressed in this research in order to achieve a state of non-violence, which is backed by Butler (2016), Gomes (2016), Solnit (2017) and Zolin (2009). At last, the heterodiscourses approached in Bakhtin (2014; 2015) were analyzed. In conclusion, the results showed that the literary works forementioned present sexual abuse descriptions with different approaches, which refer to social issues and inner values – one of the novels criticizes the posture of the abuser one while the other objectifies the abused one.