We were Six: book summary and comments

We were six It's a writer's romance Maria José Dupre It was launched in 1943.

An important work of Brazilian literature, in which we accompany the life of a lower middle class family living in the city of São Paulo between the 10s and 40s.

It tells the story of the matriarch, Dona Lola, a woman dedicated to the mother of four children. He remembers the past, detailing his conquests and his achievements in a simple and sensitive manner, thus forming a portrait of some of the families, and especially of the women, Brazilians of the first half of the 20th century.

The author managed to brilliantly mix people's dramas in the context of her time, producing in this way a work that can be seen as a dramatic and also historical romance.

The plot gained various adaptations in teledramaturgy, becoming very familiar and povoando the imagination of the Brazilian public.

(Alert: o conteúdo contém spoilers!)

History summary

The narrative begins with a visit from Dona Lola, already gone, to her old house, a car on Angélica Avenue, in the center of São Paulo.

Looking back at the place, she remembers the long years she lived with her family: her husband Júlio and her children Carlos, Alfredo, Julinho and Isabel.

Lola is left with her children running around the house and the difficulties that she has with her husband to keep in day the benefits of imóvel, financed by them - a humble family - in a named area city.

Julio Abílio de Lemos, or husband, is described as an energetic and supportive homem. He works in a textile factory and strives to maintain his home. Meanwhile, like many men of his time, he is macho and often aggressive, which is seen as natural by Lola, due to the mentality of the time.

After the death of her husband, victim of a stomach ulcer, Dona Lola needs to undo herself to get money from the household benefits. So, she starts making twelve to sell, but that's not her first job, before, besides keeping the house, she sewed outside.

Dona Lola's life is marked by loss and abandonment. Alfred, the second filho, have strong and rebellious personalities. He linked himself to the communist movement and, after becoming involved in confusion, had to flee, leaving his family behind.

Carlos, or first-born, chooses to give up his dream of being a doctor to provide financial support to his mother, staying with her at home.

Oh another file, Julinho, she manages to rise socially, goes to live in Rio de Janeiro and marries a high-class girl. In this way, she also ends up getting rid of Dona Lola and two girls.

Já a caçula Isabel, which was her father's favorite, she also had a rebellious stance, repressed by the fact of being a woman in an oppressive context in the 20s and 30s. Either way, she faces society, and mainly her mother, and decides to join Felício, a desquitado homem. You do get angry and this attitude makes me and my family break the ties, separating each other forever.

Dona Lola comes to live only with Carlos, as she has a great relationship. She decides to sell her house on Av. Angélica and will live in Barra Funda.

Tragically, Carlos develops a health problem similar to his father's and dies early, leaving Lola alone.

Finally, the protagonist goes to a room alluded to in a Catholic thought, living with freiras.

Other characters appear in the plot, such as Lola, Clotilde and Olga, as well as other people more distant from the family nucleus. The interior of São Paulo, more precisely the city of Itapetininga, also emerges occasionally in some passages.

Comments on the work We were Six

With a didactic and objective writing, but more lyrical, the author Maria José Dupré presents the story of a simple family and its adversities at the beginning of the 20th century in São Paulo society.

Not only are major events revealed, but we are still transported to that time and to the daily dramas of Dona Lola and her relatives.

Memory is evoked here in an intense way, giving a melancholic and nostalgic character to the story. Isso because it is told in the first person by a hard-working and resilient woman who sacrifices herself for her family, but who ends her days together in a thinking room.

Thus, topics such as renunciation and altruism, revolt and detachment, mourning and solidarity are not discussed. In reading romance we are also forced to question the behaviors and values ​​of society and reflect on how they affect us today.

Historic context

It is interesting to observe how a narrative sews the events of the Corridors and the fatalities that occur with this group of people in historical events.

Accompanying the family's trajectories we see how the characters are crossed by episodes such as The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, the Paulista Revolt of 1924, and the Constitutional Revolution of 1932. Also, the First World War and the Second World War are also cited in the text.

Characters of We were Six

• Dona Lola: is the protagonist and narrator. Mother and exemplary wife, she sacrifices herself for her family and for the destiny of her children.
• Julio Abílio Lemos: Dona Lola's husband. He is a hard-working and provider-working man, more aggressive, moralistic and sexist.
• Carlos: firstborn. He is kind and dedicated to me, neglecting his dreams to support her.
• Alfred: with a strong and rebellious personality, he becomes involved in confusion and needs to be outlawed.
• Julinho: good money, but it enriches and leaves my mother and family to live in Rio de Janeiro.
• Isabel: with a free spirit, he is appeased by a unforgiving and angry man, much to Lola's displeasure.

Maybe you are also interested:

• Best books to read this year
• Books you need to read before you die