Two ways of representing the Feminine in Children’s Literature: and Dorothy, by L. Frank Baum

Abstract

Considering that Monteiro Lobato’s (1882-1948) works were published sometime after L. Frank Baum’s (1856-1919) – so that we may assume such works have had similar influences from their time, even though they also had diverse influences from their space –, and that children’s books by both authors are very consequential in Brazil since then, be it because of the books themselves, adopted at schools as supplementary classroom materials, or because of the countless adaptations each one has received (the latter, mainly to movies and theater; the former, to television), and use fantastic worlds to figurativize their texts, we intend to compare the leading figures, Dorothy, from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), and Lúcia, from Reinações de Narizinho [Narizinho’s Mischiefs] (1931), aiming to analise the way of representing the feminine through these actors within aforementioned books. The significance of such analysis lies in the fact the two characters have a plethora of little similarities, such as some themes they figurativize in the story; yet there are likewise many diversities between them, given during their path, the way they are represented and in the discourse attributed to them.