The black woman and the power relations in Mariana, by Machado de Assis

Abstract

Addressing power relations existing during the term of the institution of slavery involves raising a mix of issues that plot the situation of the negro that is inserted in an slave ambient deeply marked by a broad domination of a white elite that is characteristic of a society based on the rules of brazilian patriarchy in the nineteenth century.Get closer to these approach through in-depth analysis of Mariana’s situation, main character of the homonym tale of Machado de Assis that was published in January of 1871, exposes the different ways how these power relation can be the cause of a condition of extreme dependence capable of interfering in a significant way in the life of both the black and slavce woman, in situation of deprivation of liberty, as of her masters, allowing to understand the way the Negro is represented in Machado’s work.