my girl lifeis a book of Minas Gerais writer Helena Morley. In this diary, a teenager reports events that occurred in the city of Diamantina, between the years 1893 and 1895. The girl also reflects on the events and shows her transition from childhood to adulthood. This book is the author's only work and was first published in 1942.
Read too: the star hour — Clarice Lispector's most famous work
Topics of this article
- 1 - Summary of the work My life as a girl, by Helena Morley
- 2 - Video lesson: Literary analysis of the work My life as a girl
-
3 - Analysis of the work My life as a girl
- → Characters from the work My life as a girl
- → Time of the work My life as a girl
- → Space for the work My life as a girl
- → Some facts narrated in the book My life as a girl
- → Narrator of the work My life as a girl
- 4 - Characteristics of the work My life as a girl
- 5 - Historical context of the work My life as a girl
- 6 - Life of Helena Morley
Summary about the work my girl life, by Helena Morley
Author Helena Morley was born in 1880 and died in 1970.
my girl life narrates events that occurred between 1883 and 1885.
The work is a diary and, therefore, has an autobiographical character.
The diary shows the customs of Minas Gerais society at the time.
Video lesson: Literary analysis of the work my girl life
Analysis of the work my girl life
→ Characters of the work my girl life
Augustine: Helena's aunt.
Alexander: Helena's father.
Alice: Helena's aunt.
Antonio: Helena's uncle.
Artur Queiroga: teacher.
Aurelia: Helena's aunt.
Baptistine: Helena's cousin.
Beatriz: Helena's cousin.
Lovely: attached to the farm.
Welcome: Aunt Agostinha's maid.
Carlos: Helena's uncle.
Carlota: Helena's aunt.
Carolina: Helena's mother.
Catãozinho: teacher.
Cecilia: Helena's aunt.
Cesarean: family aggregate.
Clarinha: Helena's aunt.
Conrad: Helena's uncle.
Straps: Carolina's two friends.
Didic: son of Maria Flora.
Dindinha: Helena's aunt.
Miss Mariquinha: friend of the family.
doctor Teodomiro: teacher.
Elvira: friend of the family.
Emidium: family aggregate.
Fifina: attached to the farm.
Geraldo: Helena's uncle.
Glorinha: Helena's cousin.
Helena: the author of the diary.
Henrique: Helena's uncle.
Iaiá: friend of the family.
Iphigenia: Helena's aunt.
John: Helen's cousin.
Joaquininha: master.
Julião: Helena's uncle.
Leo: Helen's cousin.
Lucas: Helen's cousin.
Luisinha: Helen's sister.
Madge: Helena's aunt.
Martian: Bella's husband.
Maria Flora: known to the family.
Mortimer: Helena's uncle.
Baby: Helena's aunt.
Nestor: cottage household.
Nhonho: Helen's brother.
Nico: adopted son of Iaiá.
Cupcake: Helena's aunt.
Raimundinha: Helena's aunt.
Reginalda: Theodora's maid.
Renato: Helen's brother.
Rita: family's neighbor.
Rodrigo: husband of Maria Flora.
Sebastian: teacher.
Sergio: Helen's cousin.
Theodora: Helena's grandmother.
Little girl: Helena's cousin.
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→ Work time my girl life
The events narrated in the diary take place in the years 1893 to 1895.
→ work space my girl life
The action takes place in a place identified as Boa Vista, where the author's father works, and, mainly, in the city of Diamantina.
→ Some facts narrated in the work my girl life
The diary begins with the visit that Helena, her mother and brothers are going to makeThehis father in Boa Vista, where he works in mining. She is afraid, because they say “there is a very bad thief going around, who passed through Diamantina and the soldiers couldn't catch him. He kills to steal and when the soldiers arrive, if he's at home, he turns to a broom, a chair or something else; if it is in the bush it becomes a termite ”|1|.
It's carnival. Helena, aged 13, wants to go to a masked ball. And she was beaten by her grandmother for the first time, because when the old lady said “no” to her granddaughter, she left “stamping her foot hard” and fell on the bed, crying. The grandmother then gives her two slippers and says: “Then you cry with reason”.
At a dinner at a friend's house, Helena tries out a gastronomic novelty: “For dessert, there was a glass with a pretty sweet inside. I fill the spoon and put it in my mouth. I was startled and everyone burst out laughing. It's something that would happen to anyone, because none of us knew about it. It's called ice cream and it's made of ice."
Helena's family is very big, she has many uncles and cousins. The girl is curious, questioning and likes to have fun. The protagonist's grandmother has a farm and is a very religious woman. At the farm, in March, the subject is still the mysterious thief, who has been robbing “many houses and stores”.
On one occasion, the girl is horrified when she goes to the Straps' house and sees that they "were hanging a cat in the greatest satisfaction. One held the rope at one end, another at the other, and the cat hung”. Thus, the girl shows that she feels compassion for people and animals, despite sometimes having less than noble feelings.
She is of English descent from her father, who wants her to learn the English language. But Helena is lazy and doesn't try hard. Unlike her cousins, she is not a good student, she is too lazy to study. But she likes to write. It was my father's idea that she write in a daily, who told her: “Write down what happens to you, without having to tell your friends and keep your memories in this notebook for the future”.
Helena has a lot of affinity with her grandmother. About her, the girl says: “How good it is for grandma to live in Chácara! The house is so close to the Church of the Rosary that Senhor Bispo, seeing how fat and heavy it is, gave him permission to hear Mass from the bedroom window, and when it is time to receive Communion, the priest takes Communion to she".
In the work, it is very It is evident the place that black people occupy in that society in which O end of slavery it's such a recent fact. Some of these people still live together with their former “owners”, as in the case of Helena’s grandmother’s farm:
Many black men and women from the time of captivity still live in Chácara, who were slaves and did not want to leave with the Law of 13 May. Grandma supports everyone. It was only Tomé that grandma sent away because she said he was a sorcerer and was preparing Andresa with some root tea so that she could marry him. The black women, the ones who don't drink, are very good, and to get their copper they make angu pastries, dreams and carajés for church parties and for the theater door. Grandma buys a lot of these things from them and we eat all night.
Helena's father returns to Diamantina every Saturday and, on Monday, he returns to Boa Vista. In addition to playing and studying, Helena also takes care of domestic chores at home, such as ironing. There, he has the help of Cesarina, a girl from Helena's house:
Our little girl Cesarina has been sorely missed. She got sick with her breast and Mama didn't want to treat her at home, poor thing, because she says the disease is very contagious. She is in Boa Vista and we heard that she is already improving. I was very happy because her mother died of consumption and I was afraid that she would die too. She is such a friend of ours and so good to us.
We find out that Helena has plans to get the “normalist title” and that her grandmother has a special affection for her, to the detriment of the other grandchildren. The girl also talks about her late English grandfather, who was a Protestant and, therefore, was not buried in the church.
É 1894. According to Helena, “the black girls at the Chácara during the time of captivity are all black, but I don't know why a white and pretty one came out. Her name is Florisbela but we call her Bela. She married a black man who even makes her sad. On the day of the wedding there was a table of sweets and it was a pity to see Bela sitting next to the groom, poor thing”.
His name is Marciano, he is very popular with everyone. About the wedding, Helena's father says: "It's a diamond on a pig's snout." These racial issues are recurrent in the work, which shows how black people were seen and treated at the time, with prejudice and, at the same time, certain condescension.
Beauty gets sick. According to Marciano, it was “a done thing”. She's almost dead, she just breathes. Marciano says that that is a “do-it-yourself thing” by a man who wanted to run away with Bela, and she rejected him. After the burial of Bela, whom the girl liked, joy comes. At school, Helena starts to wear a uniform and is excited about it.
In Helena's family, everyone “has to deal with politics, because of Aunt Aurelia and Uncle Conrado, who are very influential”. For this reason, the men in the family and “the blacks from Chácara, who know how to read”, are convinced to vote for Dr. João da Mata for deputy. About him, the girl says that everyone “was very angry when Floriano arrested him”.
In the diary, Helena talk about family gatherings It is of everyday events, mainly related to the grandmother's farm, It isalso narrates his countless fits of laughter in the most inappropriate situations. And she says she went to a ball for the first time — Leontina's wedding. For this reason, she became the target of criticism from the city, as Aunt Neném, whom the young woman did not even know, had died that day.
Helena is 14 years old, and always “a friend comes with a message from her brother or cousin or a boy for me”. But the teenager repeats that she doesn't want a boyfriend and that they leave her alone. AND narrates family stories, others referring to the customs of the city of Diamantina, in addition to the stories of black people, most of them ex-slaves.
At the end of 1894, the city celebrated the inauguration of Prudente de Morais, as the majority did not like Floriano Peixoto, with the exception of the Jacobins. The following year, Helena's mother decides to send her two daughters to Colégio das Irmãs, a boarding school. At first, Helena likes the idea.
On the day of leaving, she will say goodbye to her friends. Then he decides that he no longer wants to go to that school, so that only his sister Luisinha enters the institution. Instead, he starts the second year of Normal School. Afterwards, on one of the visits that Helena and her mother pay to Luisinha, they notice that the girl is thin, in addition to complaining of stomach pains.
The mother decides to take the girl home. And Luisinha doesn't go back to boarding school. Some time later, the mother falls ill and is cared for by Siá Ritinha, the neighbor Helena doesn't like. This neighbor, who steals chicken from the neighbors, would “always gossip and tell mom not to let us play running with our black classmates”, and this provoked Helena's anger.
Her mother is then taken to the farm, where she is cared for by Helena's grandmother. People suspect that she has consumption. Days later, she returns home, and everything indicates that it was just the flu. So, Helena's grandmother, aged 84, rents the farm and moves to a house on Rua Direita.
At the request of Aunt Madge, who is a teacher, Helena replaces her at school, but she doesn't like it one bit. Also, Helena's grandmother falls ill. On Helena's 15th birthday, her grandmother is still alive. A few days later, she dies, and Helena is inconsolable. But the girl's life goes on.
→ narrator of the work my girl life
The work is narrated by Helena, the author of the diary and, therefore, the main character of the book.
Characteristics of the work my girl life
my girl life It has the structure of a diary. Therefore, presents events dated by the author. The diary begins on January 5, 1893 and ends on December 31, 1895. The work does not have characteristics of a specific literary style, despite having been produced when realism and naturalism prevailed in Brazil.
The book has an autobiographical character and gives prominence to a female voiceie the author. Through the eyes of a teenager, it is possible to perceive the customs of Minas Gerais society at the end of the 19th century. The language is simple and presents one or another regional element. So, the author shows everyday elements of her time, through from a personal and sometimes ironic perspective.
Historical context of the work my girl life
A abolition of slavery took place in 1888. The following year, the monarchy came to an end with the Proclamation of the Republic. What we call today Old Republic. Floriano Peixoto (1839-1895) was the second president of Brazil, from 1891 to 1894, preceded by Deodoro da Fonseca (1827-1892).
The First Brazilian Republic began with two military and authoritarian presidents,
what led to Revolt of the Navy, when members of the Brazilian navy rebelled against both presidents. Finally, in 1894, Prudente de Morais (1841-1902) became the country's first civilian president elected by direct vote.
It is in this context that Helena and her family live in the mining town of Diamantina. The way black people and former slaves lived right after abolition is present in the work, as well as the political vision of most of the city's inhabitants., contrary to the government of the dictator Floriano Peixoto.
See too:Anne Frank's diary — a diary written during World War II
Life of Helena Morley
Helena Morley is the pseudonym of Alice Dayrell Garcia Brant. She was born in the city of Diamantina, in the state of Minas Gerais, on August 28, 1880. On her father's side, she was of English descent. But it was with her mother's family from Minas Gerais that the writer had the most contact in her childhood.
In 1900, she married her cousin, the journalist Augusto Mário Caldeira Brant (1876-1968). She already had six children when she decided to publish her diary. my girl life, in 1942. Like this, the author experienced great success with her only work. She died on June 20, 1970, in Rio de Janeiro.
Grades
|1| MORLEY, Helena. my girl life. Sao Paulo: Pocket Company, 2016.
image credit
[1] Grupo Companhia das Letras (reproduction)
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