Reconstructing Matilde: inequality and discrimination in Leite derramado, by Chico Buarque

Abstract

This work focuses on Chico Buarque's novel Leite derramado, launched in 2009, and aims to analyze the treatment given to Matilde, character of the work, by the society in which she is inserted, more precisely by the social environment of the family Assumpção, which integrates, for a long period, the aristocracy of Rio. The analysis of the text is done from the perspective of identity and culture and considers political and historical aspects when shedding light on certain events that occurred in Brazil and mentioned in the work. For this purpose, the concepts of Homi K. Bhabha (1998, 2011), Lélia Gonzalez (1984), Linda Hutcheon (1991), among others, are used as theoretical support. With this, it is possible to perceive, through the narrative, the social displacements and their impacts in a prejudiced, racist and sly society.