Hybridization of Latin American Female Archetypes in Gabriela Mistral

Abstract

Gabriela Mistral positioned herself as part of the construction of the nation through her narration and role as a teacher, proposing a social system that included female prototypes. This article explores the fragmentation and negotiation of Latin American female archetypes in the life and literature of Mistral. The author investigates and explores traditional gender roles to question the role of women in society. Her literature favors and contributes to the construction of feminine aesthetics and corporality in the Latin American national discourse by incorporating the Marianist, peculiar, and new woman prototypes. Her essayistic work from the first decades of the 20th century that she calls “recados,” her poetic work from the “Vida” section of Desolación (1922) and “Locas mujeres” by Lagar (1938) expose ambiguous female archetypes focusing on the intellectual woman, teacher, mother, peasant, worker and artist. Her narrative mythologizes motherhood as a mandatory characteristic of women; however, she promotes the feminine intellect as a path to emancipation.