Silence and (transformation of) affects: family, motherhood and mourning in Dias de se fazer silêncio, by Camila Maccari

Abstract

In this study, we propose to analyze how the notions of family and motherhood, as well as the manifestations of mourning, traverse the subjectivity of Maria, a character in the novel Dias de se fazer silêncio, by Camila Maccari (2023). To this end, we draw on the propositions of Studart (1980), Scavone (2001), Prado (2013), Butler (2023b), Suy (2022) and Iaconelli (2023). The plot focuses on the experiences of Maria, an eleven-year-old girl, her relationship with the absence of her mother and father, the terminal illness of Rui – her brother – and the feeling of guilt for wanting and feeling what she feels. The representation of motherhood in the narrative can be understood based on the contributions of Iaconelli (2024), as one of the important ties for a generation to be able to reproduce bodies and, above all, subjects, but it is not limited to what happens between a mother and her children. In this sense, it is possible to glimpse, throughout the novel, that the bond between the protagonist and her mother is marked by compulsory silencing, in the midst of household chores, crossed by the feeling of mourning experienced by both, but in different ways. In this way, by weaving a narrative that takes motherhood and mourning as its subject, Maccari (2023) seeks to represent the countless ways and nuances of feeling.