Laughter Out Of Place Analysis

Laughter Out of Place by Donna M. Goldstein is an anthropology of Brazil involving race, class, violence and sexuality in a Rio shantytown. Goldstein spent over a decade studying the culture and specifically a domestic worker named Gloria who raised fourteen children some of whom are hers biologically and others she picked up from the streets or family members whose parents had died. Goldstein uses Gloria and her family’s first hand accounts to reveal the overall state and challenges of life Goldstein observed while researching her anthropology.

Most Brazilians and historians agree that Brazil is a racial democracy. Goldstein argues through her anthropology using her personal observations, first hand accounts, and historical facts that Brazil …show more content…
In each chapter she gives an overview of the policies and realities regarding the topic and exemplifies it with a personal account from Gloria or one of her circle of friends and family. Laughter Out of Place is not a history book it is an anthropology which is the study of humankind particularly their culture and development.

Goldstein starts Laughter Out of Place with one of Gloria’s daughters laughing while telling Goldstein that one of her brothers had been murdered. By immediately exemplifying the “harsh” and “cold-blooded” humor held by the people Goldstein introduces the overarching survival technique the Brazilian poor hold to as they continue to be assaulted by horrible situations of rape, fear, murder, and injustice.

Chapter Two “The Aesthetics of Domination” also starts with laughter. Gloria laughs in what appears to be insensible and cruel manner about her employer’s daughter wanting independence until Goldstein explains the irony of Gloria wishing her own daughters would be independent. Goldstein learns that the relationship between domestic workers and their employers has somewhat bridged the gap between the middle and working classes. While it does reinforce the inferiority of darker skinned people it also creates a connection between them because the relationship does not have clear socially acceptable guidelines. Employers can often be considered …show more content…
Gloria even threatened her daughters with throwing them out on the street if they gave away their virginity. Despite the threat, Anita, one of Gloria’s daughters, chose to have sex with her boyfriend at the age of fourteen. Later, to avoid Gloria figuring out she was not still a virgin while being raped along with her older (and virginal) sister she made sure to scream just as loudly as her sister. When she realized she was pregnant she allowed Gloria to believe it was a result of the rape. Later on, Gloria would laugh about the rape and attempted abortions on the child as a way of subtly criticizing Anita for her disobedience and