From The fight of blind Aderaldo with Zé Pretinho from Tucum to The fight of Aderaldo son of the blind with Alexander the Neto, son of Zé Pretinho

Abstract

In this article we analyze one of the most famous Brazilian fights, The fight of blind Aderaldo with Zé Pretinho do Tucum (1916), by Firmino Teixeira do Amaral, and we also discuss The fight of Aderaldo son of the blind with Alexander the Neto, son of Zé Pretinho, by João A. de Barros. With this approach we want to show that in the Brazilian fight (and, in particular, the fight in cordel literature) and in the world that it represents, the law that the strongest prevails is often subverted. Against the strongest, the weakest, women, slaves, and other oppressed people like the blind, by their poetic dexterity and their intellectual and mental strength, are able to defeat those who consider and proclaim themselves stronger, and in front of them they deny and undo taboos, prejudices and phobias.