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By applying Mikhail Bahktin's literary theory to The Inhabited Woman, this essay illustrates the way in which Belli's work empowers nature as a speaking subject and, reflecting the beliefs of Native American cultures, restores the important relationship between human society and the natural world.
Whether through poetry or narrative, Gioconda Belli has consistently addressed two main (and revolutionary) concerns in her work: the Sandinista struggle for liberation of her native Nicaragua and the feminist effort to gain equal footing with men in a patriarchal society. In addition to these two themes, however, there is a third key element present throughout Bclli's work that often has been overlooked or underestimated by critics. This element is nature and in The Inhabited Woman (La mujer habitada), her first novel and bestseller, the connections that exist between human beings and the natural world are as important to the narrative as are the relations that bind humans to one another. In this novel, nature is not only inseparable from the political and social dimensions of the texts, it is actually presented as a character. By applying Mikhail Bakhtin's literary theory to The Inhabited Woman, the following analysis considers the way in which Belli empowers nature as a speaking subject and restores the important relationship between society and the natural world.
Set in a fictitious country called Faguas, The Inhabited Woman presents the stories of two women, Lavinia and Itzá, through two distinct narratives. The first story is told in the third person, by an omniscient narrator, and recounts the events that took place over the span of one year in the life of Lavinia, a twenty-three year-old woman of the upper-class. To Timothy Richards, this narrative is a female bildunsroman since "through a progressively more comprehensive involvement in her society, [the protagonist] learns to distinguish the true from the false in her and the world around her" (209). Indeed, Lavinia carries out her own feminist revolution by refusing to consider marriage and choosing to be independent. She lives by herself and works as an architect. Her lover, Felipe, introduces her to the Movement-a revolutionary group whose mission is to overthrow the military dictatorship ruling the country. Eventually, the young woman grows to accept and embrace the principles of the...