Kvinnans roller i Elsa Graves diktsamling Mödrar som vargar

Abstract in English Elsa Grave (1918-2003) is a Swedish writer, artist and composer. The aim of my study is to analyse the female character in Mödrar som vargar, (Mothers As Wolves), which is a collection of poems written in 1972. The analysis is divided into four parts. First I analyse the figures of speech of the female “I” in the poems. In the second part I`m dealing with how she acts and relates to men. In the third part of my study I focus on how it affects her to give birth to a child and be a mother. The fourth part is about how she relates to the world and its problems in general. I have chosen different feminist theories for my analysis. The study of how the woman character speaks is based on, among others, Lars Elleström´s theory of the conception of irony as a female way of writing. The relation between man and woman is studied from Yvonne Hirdman´s theory that there is a gender contract that rules how the two sexes act within the family. Nancy Chodorow´s theory about mothering, based on the Oeidipus complex, is the background for the part about mother and child. The fourth part about the female character and the outer world is based on Carol Gilligan´s theory that women have another kind of moral than men. The result of my analysis shows that the woman character speaks ironically, by for example using metaphors with double meanings. My analysis also shows that the woman character as a partner is passive, emotional and inferior to the male figure. As a mother she is active and protecting, but she also speaks of the forbidden sides of motherhood, such as anger and selfishness. My analysis also shows that being a mother changes the female character´s way of looking at the world, and makes her a more responsible citizen of the world