A protagonista e suas facetas, em um defeito de cor, de Ana Maria Gonçalves: a (re)existência de uma afrodescendente

Abstract

The objective of this monograph is to present an analysis of the character’s development of Kehinde, from the novel A color defect (Um defeito de cor), by Ana Maria Gonçalves (2006), and an analysis of the character’s different facets of (re)existence that arise along the novel. The literary work in question is narrated by Kehinde, who narrates her life, since her capture in Africa, when she is enslaved, until when she returns to her homeland, as a returnee. The protagonist, while narrating her memories, reconstructs the Brazil of the slavery period in the 19th century, which is described through her perspective. This memorialistic novel written by Gonçalves shows us a character that, upon her arrival in Brazil, is renamed Luiza, and will identify herself both as Brazilian and as African, in what concerns to the place where she lives and to the religion that she professes, and at the same time the narrative presents the diferente resources of Kehinde to (re)exist. In order to better understand the narrative and the process of development of the character Kehinde/ Luiza, and to verify the pertinence of the proposed questions, we used the narrative theory (BAL, 2021) as basis and of different problemalizations regarding afro-descendant heritage and the African diaspora. We believe that it is possible to identify a prismatic construction of the protagonist in her development, considering that she lives in the intertwining of two different cultures and that she needs to resist and survive to the adversities of both cultures.