Sob a égide de Afrodite: O espaço feminino em O Despertar, de Kate Chopin

Abstract

Departing from the theoretical principle of the feminine text as a palimpsest that holds subtextual meanings which, in permanent interaction with the textual surface, disarticulate the oppositional and hierarchical backgrounds of patriarchy, this essay intends to offer a general overview on the narrative instance of space in The Awakening, the most important work by Kate Chopin - one of the highlights of Realism in the United States -, with the intention to show how the space is itself plenty of and at the same time disseminates into the other narrative elements some inter-dictions to gainsay patriarchy. We intend, in this perspective, to develop an analysis of the space and its subtextual inter-relationships displayed in the symbolic implications of the water, the sea, the circle, and the feminine subjectivity awakening of the work's protagonist.