Analyzing the short story Duel, by João Guimarães Rosa, and finding elements that characterize a standard of Brazilian sociability are the main objectives of this paper. By means of critical analogies, which include treating a literary text as an allegory, we can show how certain school conflicts emerge: they are caused by social interactions in which egos develop by searching the physical or symbolic "annihilation" of the other, always defined as an enemy to be overcome. A sociability understood through the allegory of duel indicates the risk of destruction of the social tissue that we have been witnessing in Brazil.
Allegory of duel; Standard of sociability; School conflicts