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A Brazilian Slave of the Eighteenth Century: Arguments Posed by Furtado

Essay Instructions:
Analyze the arguments posed by Furtado [she challenged the stereotype of the black female] in her reconstruction of the lives of Donna Francisca (Chica) da Silva de Oliveira and chief judge and diamond contractor Joao Fernandes de Oliveira and their descendants. Be conscious of the practices of eighteenth century Portuguese America, especially the mining districts of Minas Gerais where men outnumbered women. Use evidence to support the arguments in the essay. -Length: 750 words maximum – Provide word count! -Essay should be typed and double-spaced. Cite all quotations and paraphrases. Writing is NOT a series of continuous quotations. Make it clear to the reader that you read the text carefully. -Write a thesis statement (central argument) in your introduction, then develop the thesis and provide historical evidence (body of your essay), and end with a closing paragraph. -Use Chicago Manual of Style. Junia Ferreira Furtado, Chica da Silva: a Brazilian Slave of the Eighteenth Century (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 121.
Essay Sample Content Preview:
A Brazilian Slave of the Eighteenth Century
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Introduction
Written during the colonial times in Brazil, there is a story that has graced the poems, songs and the film industry, which is a recollection of the history and the social elements in the society at the time. The story has the theme of a lady born of the Africana and European descent but a slave to one of the rich Brazilians, Joao Fernandez de Oliviera a judge and the owner of the diamond contracts in the area of Minas Gerais. She had become a mistress to the owner, the judge, and they had the affair going for quite some time, such that they even had children together. It is through this relationship with her owner that the lady whose real name was Francisca da Silva de Oliveira but commonly known as the Chica da Silva, made her way the higher social classes, through the riches that she acquired from the husband2. Her story has been widely related to given that it showed the determination of a slave who worked her way the top, regardless of the means that she used. Given the social elements that the slaves had to fight through during the colonial times to get to where she was, the Brazilians have always had a special place in their history for her endurance to stardom 2.
Thesis statement
The brazilin literature about Lady Chica da Silva portrays her as a savvy slave who used her body to improve her social status, without considering the complexity of the society at the time.
A Brazilian Slave of the Eighteenth Century analysis
Junia Ferreira Furtado, the writer who recollects the events and elements of the Brazilian slave during the eighteenth century, feels that the picture that is painted by the African slave lady was not as appealing as everyone would have it. According to the writer, she paints a picture of a seductress, who exploited her body to get what she thought she wanted in her life. Furtado rejects the literature that is widely recognised, with relation to the support of a simplistic view that existed between the races in Brazil during the colonial times. This notion gives a lot of emphasis to the likelihood of there being in existence social integration which only a few of the slaves form the African descent enjoyed with the rest of the social classes. In her view, the literature that has been the account of the slave portrays her as a savvy African woman that uses her body to achieve social mobility. Otherwise, Chica is also portrayed as a mulatto that benefited from the practices that benign and racial. These literatures fail to capture the essence of the complexity that ex...
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