"Dried lives" is the most emblematic work of the modern Brazilian writer Graciliano Ramos (1852-1953). The book was published in 1938 and is a documentary novel inspired by the author's experiences.
The place of development of the story is the Brazilian northeastern hinterland, where Graciliano Ramos portrays the life of a family of migrants, tracing the figure of the sertanejo. At the same time, he explores the themes of poverty and drought in the Northeast.
In short, the work describes the moments of a family of migrants that cross the northeastern hinterland. Everyone is fleeing poverty and drought and looking for a better life.
Structure of the Work
Vidas Secas is written in third person and features a omniscient narrator.
The work has a psychological time to the detriment of the chronological one, and is divided into 13 chapters:
- Chapter I - Change
- Chapter II - Fabiano
- Chapter III - Chain
- Chapter IV – Sinhá Vitória
- Chapter V - The Youngest Boy
- Chapter VI - The Oldest Boy
- Chapter VII - Winter
- Chapter VIII - Party
- Chapter IX - Whale
- Chapter X - Accounts
- Chapter XI - Yellow Soldier
- Chapter XII – World covered in feathers
- Chapter XIII - Escape
Main characters
- Fabiano: Northeastern poor and alcoholic, Fabiano represents the head of the family and designates an ignorant and rude man.
- Sinhá Vitória: suffering northeastern woman and fighter, wife of Fabiano and the mother of 2 children.
- Sons: represent the children of Fabiano and Vitória, the "youngest boy" and the "older boy". Like their parents, they are poor and suffering.
- Whale: she is the family dog, very dear to everyone, especially the boys. She is treated like a member of the family.
- Bossshe: she represents Fabiano's boss, explorer and owner of the farm where he works.
Secondary characters
Besides them, there are the secondary characters that appear in just a few moments of the story: Soldier, Yellow Soldier, Seu Inácio, among others.
Full Summary
Dried lives it is a profound portrait of Brazilian society, above all of its social problems.
In this way, Graciliano draws a social critique portraying the difficulties encountered by a poor family of migrants. They have to live constantly with the misery and drought that plagues the northeastern hinterland.
Fabiano and Sinhá Vitória are a simple couple who have two children: the youngest and the oldest. Of the children, no names are mentioned throughout the story. Even living constantly with misery, they are children who have dreams. The eldest is very curious, and the youngest is eager to do something important, so that everyone is proud of him.
The Whale is a bitch that curiously has a name, and makes reference to an aquatic animal, that is, a whale, in contrast to the drought. She is very much adored by the boys and throughout history she falls ill and eventually dies. Interesting to note that the whale is considered a human being.
It is worth remembering that the work often does not have dialogues. Fabiano, really ignorant, finds it difficult to express himself and prefers to be quiet. Her wife, Sinhá Vitória, is a fighter who seeks to improve the situation, being less ignorant than her husband, who admires her a lot.
When the family finds a place to rest from the blazing sun, they encounter the owner of the land, who will be Fabiano's boss.
He stays there with his family, working as a cowboy on the farm. Fabiano is unjustly arrested by the yellow soldier, at which point he reflects on his life and condition.
Romance is full of small happiness within the family of retreatants. However, the social problems and animalization of the characters permeate the entire work.
In addition, the dream of ending suffering remains in everyone, hoping to find better opportunities.
Note that the last chapter “Escape” points out that the drought is again devastating the region, with the approaching summer. Thus, a new escape begins, being the same as the beginning: the drought escape.
Excerpts from the work
For a better example, below are two excerpts from the work, from the first and last chapter:
Chapter I - Change
“On the reddish plain, the juazeiros enlarged two green patches. The unfortunates had walked all day, they were tired and hungry. Ordinarily they walked little, but since they had rested a lot on the sand of the dry river, the journey had progressed well three leagues. They had been looking for a shadow for hours. The foliage of the juazeiro trees appeared in the distance, through the bare branches of the sparse catinga.
They crept towards it, slowly, Sinha Vitória with her youngest son straddling her room and the leaf chest on her head, Sombre Fabiano, wobbled, the yo-yo in the shoulder, the gourd hanging from a strap attached to the belt, the flintlock shotgun in the shoulder. The older boy and the Whale dog followed.
The juazeiros approached, retreated, disappeared. The older boy began to cry, sat on the floor.
—Come, damned of the devil, cried his father..”
Chapter XIII - Escape
“(...) What outraged Fabiano was the habit that the poor had of shooting pecks at the eyes of creatures that could no longer defend themselves. He got up, startled, as if the animals had descended from the blue sky and were walking nearby, in a low flight, making smaller and smaller curves around his body, that of Sinha Vitória and the boys.
Sinha Vitória noticed the restlessness in his tortured face and got up too, woke them up. children, she arranged the pikuás. Fabiano resumed the charge. Sinha Vitória untied the strap attached to his belt, removed the gourd and turned it over the older boy's head, on a mould of springs. On top he put a bundle. Fabiano approved the arrangement, smiled, forgot the vultures and the horse. Yes sir. What woman! That way he would have the load lightened and the little one would have an umbrella. The weight of the gourd was insignificant, but Fabiano thought he was light, stepped hard and walked to the drinking fountain. They would get there before nightfall, drink, rest, continue their journey in the moonlight. All of this was doubtful, but it took on consistency. And the conversation started again, as the sun set.
"I've been eating bacon with more hair," Fabiano declared, defying the sky, the thorns and the vultures.
- It is not? murmured Sinha Vitória without asking, just confirming what he was saying.
Little by little a new life, still confused, began to take shape. They would settle in a small place, which seemed difficult to Fabiano, a servant loose in the woods. They would cultivate a piece of land. They would move later to a city, and the boys would go to schools, they would be different from them. Sinhá Vitória warmed up. Fabiano was laughing, he wanted to rub his hands around the mouth of the bag and the butt of his flintlock rifle. (...)”
Check the entire work by downloading the pdf here: Dried lives.
Film
The modernist writer's novel became a Brazilian feature film in 1963, directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos. Vidas Secas (the Film) was awarded the Cannes Film Festival in France in 1964.
