Relações sociais e de poder contidas nas personagens de Quincas Borba

Abstract

This work intends to analyze and problematize the Brazilian relations and social fields of the nineteenth century in the book Quincas Borba (1891) by Machado de Assis. The moral and ethical trends entrenched to the country’s culture reflect in the social constructs and are portrayed in Assis’ body of work within the power relations, making it possible to study this aspects through the literary point of view. In this way, this research seeks to carry out a reflective bibliographical study about the content of the work and the society described in it, since Assis’ figures are configured as symbols of the construction of a social identity present in the reality of the eighteenth-century context. In short, the characters of this novel can be studied as cores existing throughout the history of the country, and its relations, customs and moral representations have shaped foundations that cross the historical, cultural and national literary trajectory. This research is supported by the literary works O que faz o Brasil brasil? (1986) and A casa e a rua (1985), by Roberto DaMatta; Machado de Assis: O enigma do olhar, (2003) and História concisa de literatura brasileira (1970) by Alfredo Bosi; “Esquema de Machado de Assis” (1995) and Literatura e Sociedade (1985), by Antonio Candido; Freud e Machado de Assis (2001), by Luiz Alberto Pinheiro de Freitas and Imaginário familiar (2007) by Valdeci Borges. This research goes through the contextualization of Assis’ books inside a social-historic space. Presenting elements and aspects that define them as an eighteenth century work, socially involved and produced by Machado de Assis by the realistic literary point of view. In this perspective, the characters that are the center of the narrative, Sofia, Rubião and Cristiano Palha are analyzed, developing a study on its characteristics observing them through the social and power relation. Lastly, the environments in Quincas Borba are analyzed, with the purpose of understanding how those elements are influential to the behavior of the characters.