The middle class of Machado de Assis

Abstract

This essay aims, through the examples of short stories written by Machado de Assis, to better understand the social gear that ruled the city of Rio de Janeiro, and the country in consequence, in the turn point to the 20th century. In a society recently freed from the slavery, the writer narrates characters who move through different social classes and, when in contrast, build the representation to be analysed here when looking for features at this time in which the country became a free republic, but unable to provide minimum social mobility.