The subject of the research are Ginia and Clelia, the female characters in Pavese’s La bella estate and Tra donne sole. We wanted to confirm or refute the thesis that the behaviour and lifestyle of the two female protagonists do not follow the social norms in which the works were created. La bella estate was written during the World War II (1940); Tra donne sole was written in 1949. As for the character of Ginia, our thesis has been refuted here. There is no indication in the novel that she deviated from social norms during the World War II. Although Ginia is employed, she has a job where she does not earn much and which is not desirable by men. At the beginning, marriage, which at that time was a woman's greatest achievement, does not seem to interest Ginia. However, as she falls more and more in love with Guido, it turns out that Ginia also dreams of a traditional life for that time - she wants to get married. The only fact that indicates Ginia’s modernity or «breaking» of norms is that she is sexually active before marriage. As far as the character of Clelia is concerned, our thesis was completely confirmed, because she is not married, she does not have children and she even doesn’t want them, she is very dedicated to her work. She also has a liberal outlook on love, is not overly romantic and has an adventure with her colleague. In the Master's thesis, we have highlighted examples where Clelia’s self-confidence is evident (she is able to stand up for herself, she rejects annoying proposals from men and in fact it is she who takes the initiative in the adventure with Becuccio). These are indicators that the protagonist is not following the path of most women who lived in the post-World War II era, and which point to her modernity.
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