A representação da mulher idosa em “Viagem à Petrópolis” e “Feliz aniversário” de Clarice Lispector

Abstract

This study aims to analyze how the representation of old age is configured in the social silencing, invisibility and loneliness experienced by the characters Mocinha and Dona Anita, respectively, in the short stories by Clarice Lispector: “Viagem à Petrópolis”, A Legião estrangeira and “Feliz aniversário”, Laços de família. These short stories are narrated in the third person, that is, they are omniscient narrators, who give us a view of the text from a broader perspective of the protagonists’ relationships with the other characters in these fictions. We can see, for example, that Mocinha (Viagem à Petrópolis) and Dona Anita (Feliz aniversário) live in an environment of solitude, despite having social contact with other people, they are treated as if they had little or no significance. Mocinha has lost all her loved ones and lives in a house with an unknown family, while Dona Anita has a large family and lives with her daughter Zilda. But what makes these two women feel so alone and isolated, even though they have different life realities? What makes them feel deprived of attention and care? We need to look at these elderly characters and analyze them in their personal and social spheres to understand why they are unable to occupy a place of social visibility, why they have no voice in society and in their family environment due to the consequences of loss, gender, and ageism. To carry out this analysis, we will use as a theoretical basis authors who deal with ageism, gender, and old age, such as Beauvoir (2024); Debert (1999); Camarano and Kanso (2010), Lins and Andrade (2018), among others.