LITERATURE AND HUMAN RIGHTS: REPRODUCTION OF CRUELTY IN THE POSTHUMOUS MEMOIRS OF BRAS CUBAS

Abstract

This article shows how cruelty is reproduced in historically constructed social relations, exemplified in Machado’s romantic fiction novel, Posthumous Memories of Brás Cubas, whose background is slavery. Situations recollected by Brás Cubas reveal the social standards of the humanity of that time, analyzed in the light of the concepts of cruelty and wickedness. The reproduction of cruelty has its roots in the introjection/internalization of social and moral values and leads to a reflection about the illusions of humanism and the role of human rights today.