Livro Clara dos Anjos, by Lima Barreto: summary and analysis of the work

Lima Barreto in his romance Clara dos Anjos It portrays delicate matters such as racial preconception, social obligation of marriage and role of women in society in Fluminense during the beginning of the 20th century.

Clara dos Anjos It was the last book written by Lima Barreto. O work was concluded in 1922, the year of the author's death. Either romance that reads as a title or it does not give me the protagonist was released just posthumously, in 1948.

In literary terms, the work belongs to pre-modernism.

I summarize

Narrated in a third person by an unaware narrator and at times he is an intruder, Clara dos Anjos Theme as a central theme or racism and or place occupied by women in the Rio de Janeiro society of the XX century principle.

Clara, the protagonist of the story, is a beautiful young woman of seven years who lives in suburb of Rio de Janeiro. Poor, mulatto, filha de um carteiro and a dona de casa, a menina always receives a melhor education and acolhimento.

Viviam all have a modest house of two quarters with a quintal not suburb of Fluminense. The urban environment ao redor was described as containing "houses, casinhas, casebres, barracks, huts", but we can see that it is a relatively humble vizinhança.

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Clara was the only surviving filha of the house, we are all young men and little is known of their fate.

A life gives garota suddenly mute when, no Sunday, a lot of friends, Lafões, parceiro do pai, suggest a different commemoration for Clara's anniversary:

—A bênção, meu padrinho; Good morning, Seu Lafões.
They responded and punished to pilheriar with Clara.
Dizia Marramaque:
—Então, minha afilhada, when are you getting married?
"Nem thought nisso," she replied, fazendo a little faceiro.
—What! - observes Lafões. - A menina já tem algum de olho. Olhe, not two serious years... É verdade, Joaquim: uma coisa.
O carteiro rested to xícara and perguntou:
"Or what?"
—I wanted to ask you for authorization to search, not day two, here da menina, um mestre do violão e da modinha.
Clara did not hold back and perguntou hurried: —Quem é?
Lafões responded:
"E or Cassi." A menina ...

Cassi, or musician suggested by Lafões, will live a life of the family turn hair birds. Convicted seducer, with any type of concern as women like him who walks, Cassi collects not his love curriculum from the flora and the seduction of a greater number of married women.

Her fame had never been known to us, the delegations, and among you. Like girls, victims, it was always mulatto or black, humble and naive. A rapacious, contudo, always defend or defend you together before all the accusations feitas against or filho.

Lafões had known Cassi na prisão: enquanto or first had caused disturbances in a boat, or Second, he had gotten into a married woman and, when his husband was uncovered, he was persecuted with a weapon. punho. Cassi, as she knows, manages to free Lafões.

Clara was or opposite of Cassi: very demure, she rarely left home and was always in a company in two countries.

For fim chegou or dia da festa de aniversário da jovem: friends reunited, casa cheia, great expectations for a dance. A menina ainda chegou to be alerted by one of her colleagues:

"Clara, take care." This homem does not pay.

Assim that she entered I did not resist, Cassie was glad of the ladies who were with her. O rapaz was introduced by Lafões years ago from home and on anniversary and logo was interested in young people.

To me, perceiving the predatory intention, I asked my husband to never take Cassi home again. Joaquim immediately agreed with his wife and guaranteed that she "no more pés os pés na minha casa".

Or super-protective way like a girl for a raised hair country, especially pela mãe, it seems to have been a mistake that would not culminate in a tragic destiny na filha. As she lived in recluse, living together, having relationships, Clara did not have a small experience of life, being easily deceived because he wanted her to pass.

Clara did not repair, for example, no social preconception awakened by being a mulatto. Naquela height, not suburb of Rio de Janeiro, a mulatto woman did not marry and was a family with a white home.

Cassi, little years, I was approaching the girl. One day she passed into the family's house and chamou by Joaquim, as an argument for having visited a friend and passed away from there. Sometimes she sent letters to young people. Finally, a girl finally fell in love with rapacious interest.

O godfather of Clara, ao you see the situation, resolve to intercede to defend a member, but end up, contudo, being assassinated by Cassi and a colleague.

Cassi chega to confess or crime for Clara and argues that it was a love affair. Fragile and illusive as a promise of a true paixão, Clara gives in to Cassi’s insistence.

O tempo passa e Clara discovers that she is pregnant. When she receives the news, Cassi immediately disappears, leaving the girl sozinha and helpless. Sem to know what to do, Clara, before aborting, decides to follow or conselho da mãe, Engrácia, and vai try to do rapacious.

What is her surprise when, when she was received by Salustiana, she was mistreated and humiliated, especially due to her fight and her social condition. Also, as has happened on other occasions, Salustiana defends or filho até or fim e pratically accuses the poor young man of what happened:

—Ora, vejam vocês, só! Is it possible? It is possible to admit-I am married as this... As lines will intervene:
"What is it, mom?"
Velha continued:
—Married with people of laia... Qual... What would you say meu avô, Lord Jones, who was the consul of England in Santa Catarina - what would he say, is such a shame? Qual!
Parou um pouco de falar; e, for a few moments, she aduziu:
—Engraçado, those little guys! I know that they will abuse them... É always a mesma cantiga... By any chance, meu filho as tie, as gag, as ameaça with faca e revolver? No. A fault é delas, only delas ...

Pela fala da mãe de Cassi is possible to perceive clear marks of prejudice and racial and social discrimination.

Após ouvir or Cru e hard speech by Salustiana, finally Clara becomes aware of her condition social of mulher, oppressed, mestiça, poor and face a final challenge to me that occupies the last page of free:

Num given moment, Clara ergueu-se cadeira so that she sat down and hugged her very fiercely her mãe, saying, with a great accent of despair:

—Momãe! Mom!
"What is minha filha?"
—We are nothing in this life.

Clara dos Anjos It is a light that deals with difficult and thorny issues, especially controversial in the period in which the work was written and released, embora não deixe de conter dos pontuais of humor and irony.

Personagens principais

clear

A young, ten-year-old English, fragile, poor, mulatto and highly protected country hair. She was the only house of the Joaquim dos Anjos e Eugrácia house. She feared unfortunate fate after meeting Cassi.

Joaquim dos Anjos

Carteiro, of humble origins, Clara's father and Engrácia's husband. Flutist, violão and modinhas enthusiast, Joaquim dos Anjos compunha waltzes, tangos and modinhas accompaniment.

Grace

Dona de casa, wife of Joaquim over twenty years, Catholic, described as a woman sedentária e caseira, very much dedicated to Clara and a family member.

Antônio da Silva Marramaque

Padrinho de Clara, companion of a single and great friend of Joaquim, semi-remote and semi-paralytic on the side of the body. She is very interested in discussing politics and literature. He defended his affiliates together and, for her, ended up losing his life.

Cassi Jones from Azevedo

Illegitimate filho by Manuel Borges de Azevedo and Salustiana Baeta de Azevedo. Um violeiro, just under 30 years old, white homem, who plays no anniversary of Clara. Malandro and known for collecting women, Cassi seduced Clara that she finally turns off for him.

Salustiana Baeta de Azevedo

Vaidosa, fã number um do filho, Cassi Jones, helped to build her inabalável self-esteem and always accepted love cases and confused people armed with filho hair. Racist, preconceived, she never conceived that or herdeiro would marry someone she considered to be a great party.

Adaptation for the quadrinhos

A adaptation for the quadrinhos do romance Clara dos Anjos Foi feita by Marcelo Lelis and Wander Antunes in 2011. The project was idealized that the artists received or Troféu HQ Mix from 2012 in the category Adaptação para os quadrinhos.

Adaptation for the romance quadrinhos by Lima Barreto.

Historic context

O Rio de Janeiro, during the early twentieth century, was experiencing serious social and public health problems.

A Brazilian society, and especially Rio de Janeiro, was also characterized by deep-rooted racism and by strong traces of misogyny. We see the work of Lima Barreto - especially through character Clara dos Anjos - how there was a palpable racial preconception and how women were discriminated against.

At the question of Dona Salustiana, she cannot answer and respond as if:
- Let him marry me.
Dona Salustiana ficou livid; to intervention of mulatinha to exasperou. She olhou-a cheia de malvadez y indignação, delaying or olhar purposely. By fim, she expectorou:
- What are you saying, your black woman?

The period was also marked by the yellow fever, which proliferated in the houses, and the days passed on due to the lack of basic sanitation. It is possible to observe a description of the romance as the basin where the family lived, not in the interior of Rio de Janeiro, was marked by the lack of paved roads and successive floods.

A rua em that was located at his house, it developed not flat and, when chovia, puddled and ficava than nem um swamp; In the meantime, it was povoada and made the path obrigado das margens da Central for a longinqua and inhabited parish of Inhaúma. Carroções, cars, autocaminhões that, almost daily, walk through those gangs to suppress the rioters of genres that attackers lhes fornecem, percorriam-na do começo ao fim, indicating that such a public road should deserve more attention edilidade.

For the city, it was a controversial period marked by the forced vaccination commanded by Oswaldo Cruz and his historical development (in Revolta da Vacina, occurred in 1904).

While monumental works were completed - such as Igreja da Candelária, not Centro - all of the city's structure undergoing major modifications. Pereira Passos faces the work of Vista Chinesa (in Tijuca) and Avenida Atlântica (in Copacabana). In 1909 it was open or sumptuous Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro and its vizinho building, a National Library.

During the same period, the Igreja de São Joaquim was demolished to make way for Avenida Marechal Floriano. The politicians viam no Centro or desire to reproduce um belle epoque style Parisian. The center appears in the streets of romance of Lima Barreto with total force:

He dressed seriously, second to the fashions of Rua do Ountador; more, hair strained forced e o degagé suburban, as suas roupas chamavam a atenção dos outros, que teimavam em discovering that aperfeiçoadíssimo "Brandão", das margens da Central, that lhe talhava as roupas.

In 1912, it was also the inauguration of the famous bondinho do pão de açúcar, which would become the largest postal card in Rio de Janeiro. A few years later, it was once the city to become a center for education. In 1920, the federal government inaugurated the University of Rio de Janeiro, the first Brazilian university.

Or the following year there were great works. You engenheiros will send you down or hill of Castelo, who say that it prejudices the circulation of the region, and, as material retired, deram start the works that julgavam essenciais for the city and the construction of the Santos Dumont and Praça Airport Paris. Or narrator of Clara dos Anjos at times it seems to be going on over the course of two pages in a passeio on the streets of Rio de Janeiro:

Cassi Jones, with more percalços, was found launched in the heart of Campo de Sant'Ana, it does not give me a multitude that takes the Central ports, it gives an honest pressure to work. His feeling about him was that he was in a foreign city. He does not submerge, he tinha os seus ódios e os seus loves; not suburbious tinha the seus companheiros, and to his fame of vioiro percoría all of him, and, in any part, he was aponted; not suburb, enfim, ele tinha personalidade, was bem Cassi Jones de Azevedo; mas, ali, sobretudo do Campo de Sant'Ana for baixo, or what was ele? It was nothing. Where we will finish the trilhos da Central, it will finish its fame and its value; to his boastfulness of him he evaporated, and represented himself as enchanted by those "faces" all, that nem or olhavam. Fosse no Riachuelo, fosse na Piedade, fosse em Rio das Pedras, always found a conhesion, hair less, simply by sight; But, I don't care about the city, he ran into a face from the front, no group on Rua do Ouvadora or avenida, he was from a suburban area that did not deserve any importance. Like what there, naquelas elegant ruas, such a guy, so badly-dressed, was celebrated, inquanto him, Cassi, passava scattered?

As can be seen, Lima Barreto is a testament to a period of profound social and architectural changes or rushes in Rio de Janeiro and Clara dos Anjos he asked to represent the city as a fund.