Reading and education as elements of awareness and emancipation of the protagonists in Destinos e Sozinha, by Sara Beirão

Abstract

The study we present here consists of a critical-analytical reading of the protagonists of two novels by Sara Beirão. The relationship with letters was an important step for Portuguese women, a path that gradually enabled them to achieve the exercise of their rights and the presentation of their potential, characteristics that overcame many impositions of patriarchal ideology over the centuries. The works Sozinha (1940) and Destinos (1955) allow, in their plots, to highlight the importance of education for female emancipation, whether, at the time, partial or total. It is possible, therefore, to demonstrate that education is the main instrument of raising awareness for changing a society.  In these two narratives, we see that it is through reading and formal education that the individual becomes more aware of their place and finds their voice in society, thus being able to actively contribute to the equality of rights that has always been sought, notably through feminist struggles. We use literary theory and criticism, as well as the theoretical contributions of Ana de Castro Osório (1905), Andradina Oliveira (2007), Constância Lima Duarte (1987), Irene Vaquinhas (2000), Manuela Tavares (2008), among others.