A ENCENAÇÃO DO AMOR E DOS PAPEIS DE GÊNERO EM AVE DE PARAÍSO, DE NÉLIDA PIÑON

Abstract

This article aims to analyze how discourses on gender and love are constructed through the narrative mode of organization in the short story “Ave de Paraíso”, by Nélida Piñon. It is argued that the narrative text operates in a particular way in the organization of the structural elements that produce meaning within the narrative. In the short story under analysis, narrative logic and discursive staging act intrinsically, contributing to the creation of a fictional universe that represents society in a plausible manner, especially with regard to gender issues and the idealization of romantic love. This effect is achieved through the formal aspects that compose the plot, as well as symbolic elements such as food practices. These aspects converge toward the production of an effect of discursive reality, allowing an understanding of how discourses are simultaneously staged and problematized by the narrative instance. The study seeks to: (I) relate the narrative mode of organization to discursive strategies that problematize the social roles assigned to men and women; (II) explore the figure of the narrator as the instance responsible for organizing and guiding the interpretation of symbolic discourses; and (III) examine the role of food, especially chocolate pie, in the configuration of the gender and love relations constructed by the narrative. The theoretical framework is based on Charaudeau (2008), Biroli (2014), Saffioti (1987), Beauvoir (1970), and Lagarde (2001). The results indicate that the short story stages gender discourses which, while reaffirming traditional roles attributed to women, also expose contradictions that allow the questioning of female submission and the naturalization of love as destiny.