This essay argues that literature enhances the discussions of sensitive issues in a Swedish EFL classroom. Building on reader-response theory and Judith A. Langer's envisionment building, the themes affinity, suicide and discrimination found in Sue Monk Kidd's novel The Secret Life of Bees could be discussed. The reader-response theory gives the pupils an emotional outlet that the envisionment builds on. However, the identified themes also need to be critically analysed to create rewarding discussions, and to be able to fulfil Langer's envisionment. This will hopefully make the pupils think more deeply about these social issues and question their own possible prejudices.

Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees (2002) tells the story of a motherless fourteen-year-old Lily Owens, raised by a cruel father, who desperately searches for clues to unlock her mother’s past. Kidd’s bildungsroman reveals the incredible power of black women, particularly a group of beekeeping sisters and a black Mary, to create a safe haven where Lily can examine her fragmented life and develop psychologically, finally becoming a self-actualized young lady. Lily’s matriarchal world of influence both compares and contrasts with the patriarchal world represented in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, exposing the matriarchy’s aptly structured ways of providing a more healing environment than is Huck Finn’s. Kidd’s novel also showcases the stylistic strategies of first person narrative point of view, language, dialect, and the motif of place in order to contextualize the social awareness and psychological development Lily gains through her journey.

Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees (2002) tells the story of a motherless fourteen-year-old Lily Owens, raised by a cruel father, who desperately searches for clues to unlock her mother’s past. Kidd’s bildungsroman reveals the incredible power of black women, particularly a group of beekeeping sisters and a black Mary, to create a safe haven where Lily can examine her fragmented life and develop psychologically, finally becoming a self-actualized young lady. Lily’s matriarchal world of influence both compares and contrasts with the patriarchal world represented in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, exposing the matriarchy’s aptly structured ways of providing a more healing environment than is Huck Finn’s. Kidd’s novel also showcases the stylistic strategies of first person narrative point of view, language, dialect, and the motif of place in order to contextualize the social awareness and psychological development Lily gains through her journey.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-09T12:28:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2014-02-20Bitstream added on 2015-04-09T12:47:17Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000813195.pdf: 874407 bytes, checksum: 550b00d09097fd89cbf077c69352a2d0 (MD5) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / O objetivo desta dissertação é discutir conceitos sobre gênero, presentes em algumas teorias e críticas pontuais e analisar dois romances contemporâneos: o norte-americano The Secret Life of Bees (2002), de Sue Monk Kidd, e o brasileiro Sapato de salto (2006), de Lygia Bojunga. Pretende-se cotejar o modo como cada escritora apresenta o processo de formação das protagonistas e, visto que esses romances são considerados Bildungsromane femininos, verificar como a forma do romance influencia na construção do gênero nas personagens principais das obras supracitadas. A formação das protagonistas será avaliada de acordo com as perspectivas críticas adotadas em que o sujeito é performativo e reivindica posições como marca da própria identidade. Considerando que as obras estão inseridas na contemporaneidade, procura-se mostrar que a mulher não assume mais uma posição inferior ao homem. A tradição misógina e machista é rompida nos romances, conforme propõe Butler, no momento em que as autoras dão voz e vez ao sexo (até então tido como) frágil, instaurando, assim, um discurso da ruptura. Como aparato crítico-teórico, utilizar-se-ão as perspectivas de Beauvoir (1974), Wittig (1982), Hollanda (1994) e Butler (1990; 2001; 2004), para questões do gênero; os trabalhos de Pinto (1990), Maas (2000) e Scwhantes (2007), para o estudo sobre o romance de formação tradicional ou feminino e as obras de Laclau (1990), Ortiz (1994) e Santos (2001), para a contextualização da contemporaneidade / The aim of this work is to discuss concepts about gender, present in some theories and specific criticisms, and analyze two contemporary novels: the American - The Secret Life of Bees (2002), by Sue Monk Kidd, and the Brazilian - Sapato de salto (2006), by Lygia Bojunga. It is intended to collate the way each writer presents the protagonists’ formation process and to check how the form of the novel influences on the gender construction of the main characters in both works, once these novels are considered feminine Bildungsromane. It is pertinent to emphasize that the protagonists’ formation will be evaluated according to the adopted critical perspectives in which the subject is performative and claims positions as a mark of identity. Whereas the works are embedded in contemporary times, it attempts to show that women do not assume an inferior position to men anymore. A misogynistic and sexist tradition is broken in the novels, as Butler proposes, at the moment the authors give the weaker sex their turn and voice, thus introducing a discourse of rupture. As critical- theoretical apparatus, the prospects of Beauvoir (1974), Wittig (1982), Hollanda (1994) and Butler (1990, 2001, 2004) will be used about gender issues; Pinto (1990), Maas (2000) and Scwhantes (2007) works will be the basis for the study of traditional and female Bildungsromane, and the works by Laclau (1990), Ortiz (1994) and Santos (2001) will contextualize the contemporaneity