A Glimpse into Nineteenth Century Brazil

Esau and Jacob by Joaquim Machado de Assis portrays the tumultuous relationship between twin brothers, Pedro and Paulo, during the late nineteenth century; the twins symbolize the Brazilian political struggles during the transition from a monarchy to a republic. The brothers are emblematically born in 1870, “at the end of the Paraguayan War, a time when the Brazilian political elite split between conservatives and reformers” (xiii). The brothers fight; their most contentious arguments regard politics. Paulo is a republican and Pedro is a monarchist. The only commonalities the twins have are their love for their mother, Natividade, and their courtship of Flora. As an allegory, Natividade represents the old nation of Brazil – prior to the end of the monarchy – and Flora represents the new Brazil, which wavers between conservatism and liberalism. Both boys, and both political ideologies, vie for Flora’s affections, yet she, like the budding Brazilian nation, cannot choose between the suitors or the two political beliefs. In a pessimistic foreshadowing of the future, Flora dies without deciding between Pedro and Paulo, an ominous message from Machado de Assis regarding Brazil’s indecision to pick a definitive ideology after the fall of the monarchy. Despite Flora’s and Natividade’s dying wishes for the twins to cooperate, Pedro and Paulo are unable to cease their malicious antagonism, another grim reminder from Machado de Assis about the fruitlessness of political bickering and a warning about the future of Brazil.

Why Read Esau and Jacob

Unlike a conventional history book, the novel Esau and Jacob provides a personal glimpse of Brazilian society as it transitions from monarchy to republic. Joa...

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...Empire and Stringing Together a Nation provides an integrated perspective of the complications of a divided Brazil during the fall of the monarchy. De Assis writes about the personal experiences and utilizes characters to convey the feelings and ideas of the time, Da Costa provides historical analysis as to why the monarchy collapses, debunks the myth of racial democracy, and Diacon explains how the two Brazils become one Brazil, a concept de Assis could not imagine. The three books depict a more complete image of Brazil during the fall of the empire.

Works Cited

Da Costa, Emilia Viotti. The Brazilian Empire. The University of North Carolina Press,

Chapel Hill; 1985.

De Assis, Joaquim Machado. Esau and Jacob. Oxford University Press, Oxford; 2000.

Diacon, Todd. Stringing Together a Nation. Duke University Press, Durham; 2004.