MARIANA LUZ E “A MENDIGA DO AMOR” NA SOCIEDADE PATRIARCAL

Abstract

Abstract: Gender, as a sexual difference, is the representation of the female subject that has served as a support in the social constructions of humanity, especially in colonized societies, in which women have been limited by patriarchy. In this sense, this text analyzes the poem “A mendiga do amor”, from 1896, by the Maranhão writer Mariana Luz, verifying how it highlights the marks of patriarchy printed in the verses in relation to the condition of women in Brazilian society at the end of the 19th century. To this end, it is observed, at first, how Luziana's poetry can be taken as one of resistance, since it transforms literature as an instrument of social analysis; and, secondly, the gender coloniality suffered by the female subject of the poem in Brazilian patriarchal society, especially Maranhão, is analyzed. An exploratory and descriptive, documentary and bibliographical research was then carried out using Aníbal Quijano (2005), Walter Mignolo (2007; 2021), Lélia Gonzalez (2018), Maria Lugones (2014; 2020), among others; on patriarchy, Heleieth Saffioti (1987; 2004) and Carole Pateman (1993); and, about the life and work of Mariana Luz, Jucey Santana (2014), José Neres (2018), Cristiane Tolomei (2019) and Gabriela Santana (2021). In view of this, it was verified that Mariana Luz had a decolonial profile when opposing the various Eurocentric paradigms of Brazilian society at the time, and denounced through her verses the oppressions subjected to the female subject by the country's patriarchal system.