SILVA, Michele Alves da.
Abstract:
During 1930, Brazilian literature is marked by the emergence of a very characteristic social
debate in novels of regional context and it is in this period that Rachel de Queiroz makes her
debut with the novel The fifteen. The work, which is initially identified by its attempt to remain
faithful to the language and customs of the Ceará region, surprises several critics for revealing
a female author's writing. Thus, in the desire to contribute to the growth of research on
women's literary works and in view of the great challenges faced by women throughout the
twentieth century, such as access to education, higher education and the right to vote and to be
voted for, the present work has as its main objective to understand how the social evolution of
women occurs, as well as the role they play through the trajectory of the character Conceição.
We aim to analyze the construction of the heroine of the novel The fifteen, who, despite being
inserted in a society with patriarchal bases, presents herself as a woman on a scale of
emancipation. To this end, we adopted a methodology of bibliographical origin and qualitative
nature. Our research is based on the discussions of Bosi (2006), Coutinho (2004), Castello
(2004), Pinto (2003), Woolf (2019), Duarte (2017), Medeiros (2010) among other researchers
who were fundamental for the development of this work. We found, therefore, that Conceição's
early involvement with books shaped her identity, which made her initiate breaks with certain
paradigms of the time. This represents relative independence for the character, in the text, as
well as allows the narrative to achieve, in turn, advances for what is advocated in authorship
for the achievement of an autonomy for women, writers, tasked also with discussing the
common social problems of their and other times.
