The Toil, the Bed and Lucas Procópio

Abstract

This paper analyzes Adélia, Joana, and Quiquina, black characters in the Lucas Procópio (1985) and Ópera dos mortos (1967) novels, by Autran Dourado. Although they are all black, there is a disparity between them. While the first is a mulatto who exchanges her freedom for sexual favors, freed by colonel Lucas Procópio – Isaltina’s husband – the others are portrayed as enslaved women living for sinhá Isaltina and boss Rosalina. For the social space occupied by these characters and the historical moment portrayed in the work analysis, this article is based on Gilberto Freyre (1933) and Roberto Reis (1987), and for the theoretical basis on black women and patriarchal order, this article is based on the ideas of the authors Affonso Romano de Sant’Anna (1984), Marilena Chauí (1984), Maria Lúcia Rocha-Coutinho (1994), among others.