<i>Sofía de los presagios</i>, espacio de encuentro de dos estructuras psicosociales: matriarcado y patriarcado

Abstract

This article discusses the presence of two psyco-social structures in permanent tension in the narrative world of Sofía de los presagios (Gioconda Belli 1990): the matriarchal structure (the psychosocial structure of the gynecocratic world, in terms of J.J. Bachofen) and the psychosocial structure of the patriarchal world. 

The traces of the gynecocratic world are examined as evidenced in symbols, myths and rituals associated with telluric forces. sensoriality and rnagic; for example, the pondering of the Ancient Mother, the presence of circles and spirals and the symbolism of the Moon as a means of mediation between the Earth and the Sun and as a 'eminine principie. Hidden and margined elements or elements considered to be opposite to the values of the patriarchal world, such as the artifices which made possible the conversion of such women as midwifes, herbalists and quack doctors into witches, are also studied, as well as the mechanisms used in the patriarchal system to influence the "must be" and to establish social norms which validate heterosexual conduct and condemn homosexuality.  Finally, the figure of Sofia is analyzed from her difference (witch) among the difference (the supersticious and archaic world of Diriá vis-a-vis revolutionary Nicaragua).