Um conto exemplar

Abstract

This article undertakes an analytical reading of the story “Caso de mentira” (“Lie case”) by Marques Rebelo (1907-73), which is part of his debut book “Oscarina” (1931). Narrated by the older brother, the story deals with a double mischief: the one of the younger brother that ends well, and the one of the older one, punished by the authoritarian father, which is a typical theme of the novels and short stories written by the Brazilian XIX century writer Machado de Assis: the perception of a mistaken destination which, at the same time, sets the scene of a patriarchal tradition of the Brazilian family.