An epidemic called patriarchalism and its aftermath:

The A menina morta case

Abstract

The role of the second wave of the yellow fever epidemic in Rio de Janeiro in the novel A menina morta (1954), by Cornélio Penna (1896-1958), is unique. The episode, in addition to being sanitary, was linked to history, to social life, to politics, to economics, and to cultural and literary production. Such a transversal character contributes to transform it into a critical instrument that helps us to understand the book in question, above all, regarding patriarchalism. As the possibility of the Comendador, owner of the farm where the narrative develops, has contracted yellow fever increases, we see the system represented by him more and more weakened, undermined. From this, we think of this social, cultural and economic system as a disease that affects the country. We thus skew Susan Sontag's (1978) thought – for whom certain diseases are seen as metaphors – and apply it to patriarchy, reading it as if it was a disease, therefore, in a metaphorical way.