O jardim sem limites, by Lídia Jorge – or, in other words, the situation in Portugal after April 25th

Abstract

This study aims to think the book O jardim sem limites, by Lydia Jorge, as an allegory of the situation of Portugal after the Carnation Revolution: the microcosm Casa da Arara, where the novel's characters inhabit, represents the macrocosm Portugal, as well as the inhabitants of the first and second floor and the tension between these two levels correspond to different generations that make up the Portuguese people. Thus, the conflicted everyday who live in the younger residents of the second floor and the older of the first would be the representation of the distance between a generation that lived the Salazar era and fought the regime and another that was born after the end of totalitarianism and does not understand the sacrifices made by the first group so that everyone could enjoy freedom. For this analysis, it was used as theoretical foundation, studies by philosophers who think the Portuguese nation, its identity and history, as Eduardo Lourenço, Boaventura de Sousa Santos and Jorge Babo.