Entre mães e filhas: Lenu, Lila e a pluralidade de representações da figura materna em Elena Ferrante

Abstract

This research presents a study on how motherhood is approached in the works of writer Elena Ferrante, focusing on the books that make up the Neapolitan tetralogy: My Brilliant Friend (2015), The Story of a New Name (2016), Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (2016) and The Story of the Lost Child (2017). The author highlights the multiplicities and complexities of maternal experiences in light of sociocultural issues (Beauvoir, 2009; Badinter, 1985; Lerner, 2019; Iaconelli, 2023). Through the portrayal of mother characters, particularly the protagonists Lenu (Elena Greco) and Lila (Rafaella Cerullo), it was possible to analyze how the author addresses motherhood through behaviors characterized by repetition and conflict. In her text, she provides elements for reading the theme through the construction of possible mothers: the characters are mothers who must navigate the challenges that motherhood and caregiving raise. Thus, Ferrante discusses how mothering women are marked by the tension between fulfilling personal demands and performing the role that the patriarchal system (Lerner, 2019) has constructed and expects of them. In alignment with other contemporary works by female authors, she deconstructs the sacralized maternal model that undermines female individuality in the name of becoming a mother (Badinter, 1985), demonstrating how mothering women face obstacles in securing and maintaining their own subjectivity. Additionally, she discusses how the invisible labor of care serves as a sustaining agent of the patriarchal status quo (Federici, 2019; Lerner, 2019). Therefore, this research, through the study of Ferrante's works, addresses social and cultural factors that shape not only gender expectations - including the construction and idealization of motherhood - but also the practice of female authorship, in light of feminist theories.