Feminism

The novel stages feminism as a field of competing possibilities rather than a single emancipatory trajectory. Through Fernanda, Maju, Yara, and Shakuna, it presents distinct models of womanhood that expand and constrain women in different ways. These figures expose how gendered freedom is shaped by desire, labor, spirituality, and social structure.

Fernanda appears at first to embody a recognizable form of contemporary professional feminism. She has a high-powered career, financial autonomy, and the confidence to pursue an extramarital relationship with Yara. Her ambivalence about motherhood further distances her from traditional expectations of feminine fulfillment. She resists the idea that a woman’s identity must be anchored in selfless maternal devotion. Her sexual relationship with Yara also gestures toward a feminism that includes queer desire without heterosexual marriage as the inevitable endpoint of female adulthood.

Despite this, Fernanda’s liberation is unstable. Her career demands constant attention...