The The Spitting Image of a Man

Machado de Assis's Crônicas about Donkeys

Abstract

This selection of donkey-themed crônicas by Machado de Assis, presented in translation and published between 1876 and 1895, demonstrates that for Machado, the donkey’s function is essentially allegorical or fabular, serving in particular to dramatize the condition of presently and formerly enslaved Afro-Brazilians. By extension, in these pieces donkeys and their “masters” embody essential human characteristics: cruelty and patience, acceptance and rebellion, skepticism and hope for the future. By allegorizing Afro-Brazilians who are enslaved, who suffer cruel abuse, who are threatened by technology-driven obsolescence and eventual abandonment, and who are presumed to be as stupid as donkeys, Machado, with his characteristic irony, humanizes and defends them: they are shown to curse their masters under their breath, they educate themselves and resist to the extent they are able, they advocate for their individual and collective well-being, and they speak, debate, and articulate philosophies to explain their condition and guide them forward.