Detrás de cada gran mujer... Los personajes masculinos en cuatro cuentos latinoamericanos con autoría femenina

Summary, in English

The present study investigates the importance of the male characters in four short stories written by women. Said stories are: “La culpa es de los Tlaxcaltecas” by Elena Garro, “Lección de cocina” and “Cabecita blanca” by Rosario Castellanos and “La muñeca menor” de Rosario Ferré. The aim of the study is to break the prevailing trend of analyzing this type of literature from a perspective where focus lies on the women, and try to ascertain what role the male characters play in the stories. The investigation is vaguely based on the hierarchy of human needs, a psychological theory elaborated by Abraham Maslow in 1943. Due to the fact that there has not been much previous work made on the subject, the present study is based primarily on the rigorous reading of the primary sources, the short stories. However, discussion with previous investigators is included, mainly using the article “Erasing men from Álbum de familia by Rosario Castellanos”, written by Victoria Carpenter. The study concludes that the male characters tend to follow a reverse order of the hierarchy of human needs as they manage to satisfy different needs, depending on their degree of textual and figurative domain in the narration.

• Author: Michelle Bång
• Department/s: Spanish Studies
• Publishing year: 2016
• Language: Spanish
• Full text: Available as PDF - 732 kB; Download statistics
• Document type: Student publication for Bachelor's degree
• Topic: Languages and Literatures
• Keywords: cuento.; Maslow; personaje masculino; Castellanos; Garro; short story; Ferré; male character
• Supervisor: Ingela Johansson