엘레나 뽀니아또프스까의 소설에 나타난 여성인물의 전복적 이미지: 『오 하느님, 당신을 볼 수 없을 때까지』의젠더인식과 양성성(androgyny)을 중심으로

Abstract

This article explores a female protagonist’s experience, her identity transfiguration, and her subversiveness in a male-dominated Mexican society in Elena Poniatowska’s Hasta no verte, Jesús mío. Most of all, this study focuses on gender perceptions and androgyny of Jesusa Palancares, a soldadera. She does not only witness various type of oppression against women in patriarchal society of Mexico, but also she experiences extreme violence that comes from her male protector-soldier-male citizen, in short, from phallocentrism. Observing volatile women as a victim including herself, she condemns the hypocrisy and restraints imposed by social institutions. Consequently, Jesusa rejects gender norms imposed by male-centered society and she challenges gender stereotypes for survival and freedom. Making her gender ambiguous, she tries to break down barrier that limits her behavior. Performing both gender roles, Jesusa gets to realize that she can broaden her behavioral boundary enjoying diverse features a human-being can experience. She incarnates androgyny and as a result she transcends dichotomous way of dividing masculinity/femininity. Her struggle is a journey to survive, to achieve self-fulfillment and to find her true identity. This paper uses Judith Butler’s gender theory and her ‘performativity’ concept.