Gender 7/1/14

            There are many sources of power in the world, particularly the power to make people do something they might not want to do. In Joaquim Maria Mchado De Assis’ short story entitled “The Rod of Justice,” several different methods of wielding power are on display. The power of the Church over young seminarians is the issue facing Damiao a the beginning of the story. There is also Damiao’s fear of his father’s power to make him return to the seminary from which he has escaped. The strongest source of power, however, derives from the feminine wiles of Sinha Rita.

            Sinhra Rita, the mistress of Damiao’s godfather, is consumed with her own influence and is “eager to show her power over both her lover and her slaves” (Puchner 911). Rita’s gender is important because she uses her sexuality to establish her power over men. In this case, her relationship with Carneiro, Damiao’s godfather, enables her to exercise power and influence over Carneiro’s father. She sends Carneiro to convince the father to allow Carneiro to drop out of seminary. Though Carneiro is extremely reluctant to carry out his assigned task, Rita’s hold over him is strong enough that he does as she asks (De Assis 914-915).

            Rita wields another kind of power, however, and seems to relish this second type even more than the first. Her authority over her slaves betrays a darker, angrier side to her nature than is seen in her efforts on behalf of Damiao. When one of her slave workers does not complete her task on time, Rita goes after her like an enraged banshee, “her face on fire, her eyes starting from her head, calling for the rod” (916). Though Rita is a female, and therefore limited in what kind of power she might attain overtly, she is certainly obsessed with the power she can wield within the confines of her own little world.

Works Cited

De Assis, Joaquim Maria Machado. “The Rod of Justice.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 2013. 911-916. Print.

Puchner, Martin. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2013. Print.