What does the radio represent to Dores and Graca in the novel, The Air You Breathe?

The arrival of the radio sparks a seemingly farfetched but ultimately attainable goal for the two girls. It both fuels and feeds their hunger for music, which leads them to the cane cutters’ singing circle. Relaying the events of the radio broadcast to the cane cutters allows the girls their first opportunity to perform for someone other than family, and the emotions they experience as adolescents significantly influence the courses of their lives. The radio introduces Dores to the world of fame and popularity in her otherwise limited existence. It proves that there is more beyond the Great House. It also gives Graça a purpose in refusing marriage and agreeing to an unsatisfactory existence. Rather than settling for what their lives as women would have allotted them, the radio helps give them hope and purpose.