“IF SHE TURNED INTO A MAN, WHAT’S WRONG?”:

THE MALE SILENCE IN CONCEIÇÃO EVARISTO’S PONCIÁ VICÊNCIO

Abstract

This work proposes a reading of Conceição Evaristo’s novel, Ponciá Vicêncio, emphasizing the male silence. The hypothesis I defend is that the silence of Ponciá’s man, associated with the arrival of a rainbow in the sky, reproduce the sensations in which the protagonist’s memories were preserved. In her memories, Ponciá finds the fear of becoming a man, the fear she had when she was a child. Then, she replaces that fear by a desire. The explanation is that, for Ponciá, being a man means having the right to remain in silence with her memories. In the absence of a witness to listen to her painful stories, Ponciá considers the silence as her best option. However, finally, the silence, which was onde desired in the plot, is broken by the novel itself. The novel places the readers as witness, the witness Ponciá have missed when she desired the male silence.