Male and female characters in Mate Lovrak's novels

Abstract

Mato Lovrak jedan je od najpoznatijih pisaca dječje književnosti u Hrvatskoj. Zahvaljujući njegovom poznavanju i umijeću komuniciranja s djecom, njegovi tekstovi s lakoćom su osvajali nove čitatelje. U radu je proučavano kako Lovrak opisuje i gradi svoje muške i ženske likove odraslih i djece. Promatrano je koji likovi su brojniji, koje zadatke izvršavaju te ima li rodnih stereotipa u njihovim prikazima. Analizirana su tri romana: Družba Pere Kvržice, Devetorica hrabrih i Anka Brazilijanka. Iz analize navedenih romana može se zaključiti kako Lovrak u svojim dječjim romanima češće odabire i prikazuje muške likove. Ženski likovi većinom su u ulozi sporednih likova. Rodnim stereotipima podliježu i muški i ženski likovi.Mato Lovrak is one of the most famous children's literature writers in Croatia. Thanks to his knowledge about children and the ability to communicate with them, his texts were easily winning over new readers. This paper examines how Lovrak describes and constructs his male and female characters of both adults and children. It will be shown which characters are there more of, which tasks do they perform and whether there are gender stereotypes in the ir portrayals. The analysis is based on three novels: Družba Pere Kvržice, Devetorica hrabrih and Anka Brazilijanka. From the analysis of these novels stems a conclusion that Lovrak often selects male characters, while female characters are mostly playing minor roles. Both male and female characters are portrayed through gender stereotypes