Conformações familiares em contos de Cadernos negros: o papel da mãe

Abstract

This study proposes to analyze the mother´s role in two stories from Cadernos Negros: Conceição Evaristo`s "Maria", (1991) and Márcio Barbosa´s "Pais" (2007). The first short story, more closely related to the most denunciatory aspect of black literature in Brazil, has as its protagonist a character who lives on the margins of society, and integrates family configurations which escape the standard nuclear family, composed of father, mother and children; “Pais" depicts a traditional family structure. After theoretical reflections on the social function of the family and new familial configurations, especially the ones at risk situations, the short stories are analyzed, pointing out different family formations, the people to whom the mother´s role is assigned and the identity conflicts that arise from the interpellation of the mother in conflicting roles.