Vidas secas
Vidas secas is a novel by twentieth-century Brazilian writer Graciliano Ramos, written in 1938. It tells the cyclical story of a family of five persons: Fabiano, the father; Sinhá Vitória, the mother; two sons and their dog called Baleia in the poverty stricken and arid Brazilian northeast. One of the distinguishing characteristics of the book is that it is written in said cyclical manner, making it possible to read the first chapter as a continuation of the last chapter, reflecting the cycle of poverty and desolation in the Sertão. Another distinguishing characteristic is that the dog Baleia is considered the most sensible and human character.
It is often considered amongst the most important works in Brazilian literature, blurring the genres of Modernism, Regionalism, and Realism with a "dry", concise style of writing. Due to its exploration of complex social and existential problems within Brazilian society, Vidas Secas has been lauded by critics as significantly contributing to the evolution of Brazilian literature.
Plot summary
Often attributed to its composition as a “collection of autonomous short stories,” that were originally published in various newspapers throughout 1938 in order for Graciliano Ramos to capitalise on his writings, the thirteen chapters of Vidas Secas can be read individually or as a group without affecting the overarching thematic qualities of the novel. The supposed fragmentary nature of the novel, in congruence with the readers’ exposure to various narrative or plot developments through the shifting point of view of different characters, has been cited by critics as intrinsically linking both reader and character in a shared emotional state.The plot of Vidas Secas follows the exploits of the vaqueiro Fabiano, his wife Sinhá Vitória, their two sons, and their dog Baleia, in their attempts to forge a meagre existence within the arid interior of Brazil’s north-eastern Sertão. The novel opens with Fabiano and his family escaping an extreme drought by taking shelter in an abandoned fazenda, whereupon they await the return of seasonal rains and tend to a wealthy landowner’s cattle. Within the first few scenes of the novel, the harsh nature of life on the Sertão is illustrated by the family killing and eating their pet parrot, the mute papagaio.
Although their time at the fazenda initially brings an “austere version of domestic stability,” Fabiano’s inability to negotiate fair wages with the landowner, along with his difficulty in navigating the city and its corrupt officials, ultimately leaves the family destitute. The family’s troubles are exacerbated by Fabiano’s run-ins with the ‘Yellow Soldier,’ a corrupt government official who bests Fabiano in a crooked card game and provokes a fight which results in Fabiano’s imprisonment. Though Fabiano is subsequently released, problems for the family continue to arise.
The next few chapters explore the varying perspectives of the other family members. A chapter dedicated to Sinhá Vitória illustrates her obsession with overcoming their destitute circumstances through her imaginative conceptualisations of “owning a comfortable bed of leather and sucupira wood.” Similarly, proceeding chapters highlights the eldest and youngest sons’ struggle to understand the sertaneja '' lifestyle and explores their differing perceptions of their father.
The family’s fortunes are met with further decline in the chapter ‘The Dog’ which has been cited by critics as “one of the most moving episodes in Brazilian literature.” The chapter, seen predominantly from the perspective of Baleia, was the first written by Graciliano Ramos and has thus been cited by critics as his inspiration for writing Vidas Secas. ‘Baleia’ documents the sick and aging dog’s death at the hands of Fabiano, following his suspicion of her contraction of rabies. After being shot in the hindquarters by Fabiano, Baleia thinks only of her household duty to mind the family goats and rather than holding animosity towards Fabiano, thinks only of licking her masters’ hand.
In the final chapters of the novel after continued economic deprivation at the hands of the wealthy landowner, along with the deep foreboding of the onset of yet another drought, the family escapes under the cover of night to wander towards “a big city in hopes of a better life.”
Characters
Major characters
- Fabiano: the illiterate vaqueiro stands as the main protagonist in Vidas Secas, holding the largest share of story events, experiencing the most extreme character arc and featuring heavily in other characters’ internal and external dialogues. He has been lauded by critics as a heroic character and the “perennial sertanejo stoically resigned to his destiny.”
- Sinhá Vitória: the stoic sertão woman, accustomed to the deprivations and brutal reality of living in poverty. As the novel progresses, she becomes increasingly disenfranchised with her reality, fantasising about “coming-out-of-the-wild,” and obsessing over material possessions.
- The Youngest Son: plays a very important part in the consolidation of Fabiano’s character. The youngest son idolises his father as a god-like figure who embodies the Sertão and later attempts to emulate Fabiano’s style and good character.
- The Eldest Son: or filho mais velho, unlike his younger brother, ‘The Eldest Son’ becomes progressively disconnected with his father and life on the Sertão and views language as having the ability to break the cycle of poverty.
- The Dog: or ‘Baleia’ is one of the most symbolically important characters in the novel. Critics have argued that the humanisation of Baleia through readers’ experiencing the world through her point of view accentuates the grossly dehumanising effects of poverty on other characters. Similarly, other critics have cited her thoughts during her final moments as symbolic of an ultimate submission to authority.
Other characters
- Papagaio: the unnamed, mute parrot is the family pet who is killed and eaten at the beginning of the novel. The family’s consumption and later lack of recall of the episode, was cited by one critic as being symbolic of the family’s dehumanisation through poverty.
- The Yellow Soldier: appears in the third chapter ‘Jail’ and the eleventh chapter ‘The Policeman in Khaki.’ ‘The Yellow Soldier’ has been viewed by critics as a plot device which acts as a catalyst for the challenging of Fabiano’s beliefs and contributes to the evolution of his characterisation. Another critic has argued that ‘The Yellow Soldier’ stands as an “allegorical allusion to the way in which the State makes itself present in the regions of the sertão.”
- Municipal Tax Collector: appears in the tenth chapter ‘Accounts’ as an overbearing figure of authority who informs Fabiano of his outstanding debts and crushes his dream of overcoming poverty.
Concept & Creation
Background
“In the context of Brazilian literature Graciliano Ramos stands out as one of the most provocative names, having significantly contributed to its coming of age in all senses, but especially with respect to the aesthetic representation of social problems.”
Following the publication of the prolific works Caetes, São Bernardo, and Angústia, Vidas Secas was the fourth and final novel produced by Graciliano Ramos. Written shortly after Ramos’ release from prison in 1937, Vidas Secas was first composed as a series of short independent stories that featured in local newspapers throughout 1938, before it was eventually published as a novel in 1939. Prior to his imprisonment and subsequent conception of Vidas Secas, Ramos had been serving as director of Public Instruction in Alagoas. However, upon Getulio Vargas’ assumption of power in 1936, and the establishment of a dictatorial Estado Novo government, Ramos was dismissed from his position without explanation, arrested, and sent to Rio de Janeiro. Here he spent a further ten months awaiting trial before his eventual release under equally dubious circumstances. Though at the time he was not a member of the Communist Party, Ramos’ imprisonment was one of many in Vargas’ politically repressive campaign and is speculated to have influenced the “representation of extreme deprivation and the unequal distribution of power” throughout Vidas Secas.
These covert political denunciations of the Estado Novo, along with stark aesthetic representations of poverty and suffering throughout Vidas Secas would position Graciliano Ramos as a leading figure within the Generation of 1930. The term, coined by the author of Vidas Secas’ first English translation, Ralph E. Dimmick, was used to describe a second wave of Brazilian Modernism in which, “the Brazilian literary firmament was transformed by the appearance of a galaxy of young authors.” This Generation of 1930 became incensed with the development of a sense of ‘Brazilianism’ within literature and art. Through novels such as Vidas Secas, Graciliano Ramos is said to have emerged within The Generation of 1930 “as an often caustic commentator on the foibles of the small-town bourgeoisie of his North-East region.”