Entre libertos e escravizados: a condição do pobre diabo no conto “pai contra mãe”, de Machado de Assis.

Abstract

This work aims to analyze the dynamics of power and oppression present in Brazilian slave society, taking as its research subject the short story "Father Against Mother", by Machado de Assis. The research investigates the way in which freedom, for freed and enslaved people, was a conditioned and limited concession, perpetuating structures of inequality and social control. Through a critical reading, it becomes clear how freedom, instead of representing full emancipation, reinforced the subordination and exploitation of the less privileged. This study also discusses the concept of "poor man" as a literary category that symbolizes the marginalization and social failure of individuals such as Cândido Neves and Arminda, characters who are victims of an oppressive and exclusionary system. By analyzing the interactions between these characters, the research demonstrates how economic and social difficulties shape their actions and choices, leading them to conflicts that reflect the injustices and cruelties of society at the time. To base our discussion regarding this study, we relied on the knowledge of the following authors: Assis (1975); Bosi (1982); Carneiro (1971); Chalhoub (2012); Faoro (1974); Freyre (2004); Pontes (2014); Schwarz (2000); among others that served as a basis for us to analyze and develop our work in this field of study.