In defense of autonomy, with didatic intent: a debate on engagement in Machado de Assis’s short story “A pianista” [“The piano player”]

Abstract

This paper presents an interpretation of Machado de Assis’s short story titled “A pianista” [“The piano player”], which was published in 1866 in a Brazilian journal called Jornal das Famílias. We argue that this work seeks to encourage the modernization of family relationships in nineteenth-century Brazil, advocating marriage based on freedom of choice, in contrast to the patriarchal practice of unions based on familial arrangements. In this sense, “A pianista” supports changes in social patterns of the period, proposing greater autonomy for individuals, but some dissonances found in the text indicate the limits of this defense.