For my Bildungsroman article, I read Woman on the Verge of a Breakthrough by Erica Frouman-Smith, an article about Liliana Heker’s Book “Zona de clivaje”. Frouman Smith uses modern psychology to explain the differences in men and women’s struggles and then uses these explanations as the framework for today’s female bildungsroman stories. the article claims that men and women have different values as a result of their sex. Boys realize their masculine selves in the separation from the feminine, their mother. Women on the other hand are defined in their connection to their mothers. Thus, men are more individualistic and women more communal in thoughts and values. These values allow female bildungsroman protagonists the space to discover their femininity in a patriarchal society.

In Heker’s novel, Irene is the female protagonist through which Heker expresses her version of a females struggle through a failed relationship. She captures the drama Irene is feeling through her use of narration and in using Irene’s own journal type entires. Irene, having fallen in love with her professor at 17 years old, is introduced at age 30, thirteen years after the relationship. She sees her old flame with his new young girl friend and feels jealous, of course, but also sees in this girl her own naive attributes that she is finally ready to leave behind. Gender roles also play a large role in the development of Irene’s character. Though intelligent and beautiful, as a child Irene never really spoke up around people, i.e. men. This was also a common theme in HOMS where women subjected themselves to men in order to be loved and cared for. The female bildungsroman is concerned with a woman’s position in society and the struggle and self discovery that comes with finding a peace/piece of their own. 

Woman on the Verge of a Breakthrough: Liliana Heker’s “Zona de clivaje” as a Female “Bildungsroman”