Uma leitura arquetípica do feminino em Mar Morto, de Jorge Amado: o sagrado e o humano, com foco nas personagens Iemanjá e Rosa Palmeirão

Abstract

The Iemanjá orixá is a deity of the Yorubá ethnicity who inherited characteristics from African ancestral mothers: the Ìyá Mi. Therefore, it has duality, that is, harmony between opposites. A fact that contributed to being identified as the archetype of the Great Mother. So, from the studies of Campbell (1949), understood as one of the faces of the Great Universal Cosmic Goddesses. However, when accompanying Africans smuggled to the lands of the new world, their cult and its archetype were (re) signified or (des) Africanized to remain alive in the memory of their descendants, making it Christianized, white and patterned Eurocentric aesthetic. Act that promoted the elimination of the “dark” characteristics of the Great Mothers of Yoruba Africa from their image and contributed to the (de) characterization of the figure of an African goddesses with full breasts, a symbol of fertility and motherhood to form in the popular imagination a fusion of images of a blonde water mother and a European mermaid who would later become a Brazilian Iemanja that is a mixture of enchantment and seduction, in addition to highlighting the static and protective side of the feminine by associating her with the countless images of our Holy Ladies and the Virgin Mary. This syncretism is verified in the object of our research: the acclaimed work Mar Morto (1936), by the renowned writer Jorge Amado (1912 - 2001). Thus, based on bibliographic research, our theoretical and critical basis comes from a post-structuralist perspective regarding the studies of literature, criticism and comparatively by Aguiar (2018), Carvalho (2013), Eagleton (2006), Jouve ( 2012), Sartre (2004), among other theorists, from which we verticalize our discussions and literary analysis about the relationship between literature, archetypes, feminine sacred, gender, stereotypes, ethnic and religious diversity with a focus on Afro-Brazilian religions to contribute with the official establishments of primary and secondary education - public and private - of this country, in the appreciation and respect of the history and culture of the African (Afro-Brazilian) peoples responsible for the formation of the Brazilian population, through the application of laws 10.639/2003 and 11.645/2008. Based on these theoretical and critical assumptions, we chose to make an archetypal reading of the feminine in Mar Morto - the sacred and the human - with a focus on the characters Iemanjá and Rosa Palmeirão, this being a complex female character. A cheerful, happy and free woman with sensual attributes touched on. A strong woman, warrior and feared for having a razor in her skirt and dagger in her chest. But at the same time, attractive and seductive, because she has big buttocks like the bow of a sloop (AMADO, 2012). Other times, sweet when she wanted to be a mother and sweet when she loved a man; then, a palm rose that she wore in the dress was much more beautiful (AMADO, 2012). These attributes directed him to ethnic and gender stereotypes, allowing him to approach the characteristics of the mythological goddess Lilith and the entity Pombagira due to the fact that they possess self esteem, strength, sensuality, sweetness, bravery and haughtiness, thus forming a female an archetypal triad. Bearing in mind that these female mythological beings have the duality of nature that can be compared to the human duality manifested in the behavior of the character Rosa Palmeirão. Thus, together they reverberate the images of an emancipated contemporary female who fights against the misogynist, sexist and patriarchal oppressors.