ABSTRACT
A maca no escuro is a novel about social transgression and exclusion. This chapter argues that this attempt fails in two key instances which articulate with one other, maintaining Martim's connection with society. Although breaking social laws by attempting to murder his wife, Martim continues to obey norms regarding masculinity and whiteness. Put another way, the masculinism of the State refers to those features of the State that signify, enact, sustain and represent masculine power as a form of dominance. With a smile concealing pain, he caressed the feminine skin of the cow and looked about him: everything in the world was masculine and feminine. Many of the 'conventions of power and privilege constitutive of gender within an order of male dominance', which Brown sees as typifying the masculine state, are still prevalent in Martim's experience as a social outcast.
