Machado de Assis and Conceição Evaristo

Rereading the Representations of Black Women in the Short Stories “Pai contra mãe” and “Ana Davenga”

Abstract

I propose, here, to comment on the memory narratives of afro-descendant resistance, in order to understand the resignifications of reconstructions of representations of black characters, mainly, of the figure of the black woman, based on the comparative critical analysis of the short stories: “Pai contra mãe”, de Machado de Assis (19th century); and “Ana Davenga”, in the book Olhos d’água, by Conceição Evaristo (21st century). The stories mentioned portray the tragic fates of black female bodies in Brazil, from the social context of slavery and patriarchy in the 19th century to their implications in the 21st century. My main objective is, based on a comparative reading between the female characters in the stories in question, Arminda and Ana Davenga, to seek to understand how, in different ways the representations of these black women deal with very similar realities, unfortunately, still current, despite the distance between centuries.