Gender

      Joaquim Maria Machado De Assis (1839-1908) wrote The Rod of Justice. It is a story about a young seminarian, Damiao who ran away from the seminary. He sought help from Sinha Rita. He did not ask his father or godfather. He knew they would send him back to the seminary. Sinha Rita, a widow, was a lover to Joao Carnerio. Joao was his godfather. The relationship was meant to be secret. Somehow Damiao knew the information. He used it to his advantage. Men held the power in his time. A man’s lover held a power that was not discussed in society, but it was controlling. A man would heed to a woman in this situation, or be cut off from the relationship. Sinha Rita wanted to help Damiao leave the seminary. Damiao claimed he would be a terrible priest and he was not cut out for that life. Sinhua Rita was going to use her authority to persuade Joao Canerio to allow Damiao to leave the seminary. Joao knew he had to bow to Sinhua Rita’s wishes. He wrestled with the decision. He would rather have to deal with an extreme physical challenge than to get his friend to agree with Sinhua Rita. He did not care if Damiao was a priest or a beggar. He just did not want to face his friend and change his mind. He knew this was the most important thing he needed to do to keep Sinha Rita pleased was to convince his friend to allow Damiao to leave the priesthood. Sinhua Rita continued with request and followed up with a letter of response to Joao Carnerio. She even threatened to not see Joao anymore. Damiao knew that Sinhua Rita had the power for change. She was a woman in the society and women were not given a lot of attention for their role. However Sinhua Rita was a lover of Joao. This gave Sinhua Rita power in the situation. When a slave girl was going to be beaten by Sinhua Rita, Damiao was not going to stop it. Damiao did not wish any harm to the girl. He chose his desire to leave the priesthood over helping the girl. If he got in the middle of it all, Sinhua Rita would not help him. His help from Sinhua Rita was desperately needed. Damiao would get his way only because Sinhua Rita would get hers.

Works Cited

Machado De Assis, Joaquim Maria. "The Rod of Justice." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. By Martin Puchner. Third ed. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton, 2013. 910-16. Print.