As Representações de Gênero no Conto "O Menino que Escrevia Versos" de Mia Couto

Abstract

The article intends to analyze the social representations of gender in the short story “O menino que escrevia versos”, by Mia Couto. It is also intended, in this research, to reflect on the representation of gender as a social construction, to discuss the role of patriarchy in distinguishing the behavior of boys and girls, in addition to relating the theme of the short story to contemporary reality. Although it is a relatively short story and refers to the context of Mozambique in the post-independence period, its theme applies to many American societies, including Brazil. Gender difference is analyzed in the story from the perspective of feminist thought, seeking to reveal that the behavior of men and women is not natural, but socially constructed, that is, each society establishes what are “boy things” and what are "girl stuff". In order to carry out the analysis, in the first stage, a bibliographical research was carried out, with the purpose of deepening the necessary theoretical knowledge. In the second stage of the research, the study focused on the analysis of the representation of gender present in the short story. Based on the analysis of the text, it was possible to verify that, despite being a work of fiction, the short story discusses something common in our society, which is the social construction to which we are subjected from an early age. Such a construction is responsible for establishing which behavior is appropriate for boys and which behavior is appropriate for girls. Those who do not follow the established social pattern start to suffer social sanctions of all kinds, in addition to being seen as having some kind of mental disorder.