Human Rights: A Dignified Death in ‘Sete Palmos de Terra e um Caixão’, by Josué de Castro, and ‘O Diabo Foi Meu Padeiro’, by Mário Lúcio Sousa

Abstract

This article proposes a reflection on the dignity of death as a human right, based on an interdisciplinary approach that brings together literature, sociology, and human rights. It draws on the sociological essay Sete Palmos de Terra e um Caixão by Brazilian author Josué de Castro, and the novel O Diabo Foi Meu Padeiro by Cape Verdean writer Mário Lúcio Sousa.

On the eve of the military dictatorship in Brazil, established on 1 April 1964, the Northeast region is marked by deep social tensions, where sugarcane exploitation still bears feudal traits. For the peasant, to die with dignity means securing seven palms of earth and a coffin of one’s own, in order to reduce inequality at the Final Judgment. The

In Portugal, between 1933 and 1974, the Estado Novo regime imprisoned, tortured, and murdered those who fought for freedom and fundamental individual rights. Tarrafal, the setting of Mário Lúcio Sousa’s narrative, served as a concentration camp where the regime’s most dangerous opponents were sent to die, through forced labor, torture, malnutrition, and the harsh environmental and sanitary conditions of the prison.

The struggle for a dignified death in both cases simultaneously exposes the inequalities endured in life and demands memory and justice for those ostracized by political power. 

The two works converge in an ethical and universal appeal for the recognition of human dignity, even in the most extreme conditions of existence.