the fifteen is a work of great prominence published in 1930 by the writer Rachel de Queiroz, writer this modernist, who portrayed in her pages the great drought of 1915 that took great proportions in the then northeast of Brazil, the The work mainly represents the reality of the writer herself, who moved to Rio de Janeiro in order to escape the drought in the North East.
Raquel was and continues to be a great writer, she lived an admirable 92 years of age writing several very realistic works. known as the first woman to join the Academia Brasileira de Letras, and we cannot fail to mention the great Camões Award in 1993. The writer belonged to the modernist movement, better known as regionalist, her works portray the drought in the northeast, the misery, oppression and suffering of the poorest.
Index
The work fifteen is the greatest modernist novel ever written by the writer, comprising 26 chapters, without titles, just enumerated.
The book reveals the regionalist modernist theme in a romantic context that decentralizes the social theme, Raquel reveals her emotions, without pointing out that they are guilty or innocent.
Time: The novel is set in Ceara in 1915, the year in which the drought took great proportions in the northeast, this scenario forced thousands of people to migrate to other places, like Amazonas and São Paulo, the main objective was the possibility of a better life, the work shows no progress or setbacks of these families, the entire narrative is narrated in a straight line, giving centrality to the present, and the daily lives of the families who experienced that reality. The passage of time is portrayed in a very traditional way, with beginning, middle and end, the past is only mentioned by conception, very rarely.
Scenario: The work in its context is set in greater Ceará, in the region of Quixadá, in this location the work reveals the Farm of Dona Inácia, character Conceição's grandmother, and the Capitão farm, who is Vicente's father, and we cannot fail to mention the property of Dona Maroca, Chico's employer benedict
The book, in addition to portraying Ceará, in a few parts mentions the urban setting, highlighting the capital, Fortaleza, a region that houses Conception and most of the migrants who migrate to this location.
Language: The book had great notoriety due to its simple language, because the vast majority of literary books present a more complex language to be read and understood. The work avoids the so-called exhibitionism of more formalized words, it is a more spontaneous and calm to be understood, typical of modern Brazilian language, that is, a very regionalist.
Narration: Fifteen is narrated in third person, the narrator is the author of the work, becoming an omniscient narrator, characteristic of some literary works. In this narrative, the narrator deeply knows all the characters, knows all the characteristics, desires, desires and especially the thoughts.
A free and indirect speech is used, the narrator unites the characters, this can be recognized in some narrative dialogues.
Conception: In the narrative is a young 22-year-old single teacher with a strong genius. She is a strong-spirited character, cultured, and with ideas beyond her time, especially in the feminine content, her main readings are about socialism and feminism. His only love was his cousin Vicente, in whom he aroused great interest, as time went by he realized that the man was not well what he imagined, destroying all possibility of romance, and considered that he had a great vocation to be spinster.
Vincent: Vicente, as mentioned, is Conceição's cousin, considered a hardworking and backcountry man, with a somewhat rude personality. They come from a family of good conditions and have always dreamed of being a cowboy, a dream seen with bad eyes by the family, who over time accepted the idea. She is a human person, who always seeks to treat employees and family well, she also had great admiration for conception, but over time it became cold and distant, thus discrediting of love.
Chico Bento: Also a cowboy, unlike Vicente, he is of poor origin, his care is centered on the herd of others, both are good friends and neighbors, with the drought coming, Chico loses his work and is forced to migrate with his wife Cordulina and their five children to another city, becoming a migrant, becoming a disastrous journey full of losses in search of a life best
Corduline: In the narrative she is Chico Bento's wife, she is a submissive woman, with little or no reading, loaded with sufferings and sorrows, destined to live with her husband, in misery, in search of a better fate.
Mrs. Inacia: Grandmother of conception is considered a kind of mother, because the mother of conception died early. She is the character who owns the farm called Logradouro, she is against her granddaughter's behavior, especially in the idea of remaining a "single maiden"
The plot can be considered dramatic, which portrays a characteristic of the interior of Ceará during the hardest periods ever experienced by people, the drought in 1915, a year of greater proportions. The work shows the raw reality of the search for better living conditions.
The narrative begins by showing the reality of Chico Bento and his family, a man who works as a cowboy and is forced to leave his land because of the great drought that plagued the region. Faced with this situation, they decide to migrate to the capital of Ceará, Fortaleza.
With this brutal reality of the narrative, Chico and his family with no means of transport to reach their destination, find themselves walking to the capital, facing very painful events along the way, such as the loss of some of their 5 children, not to mention the great hunger and thirst they went through every way.
The death of the first child is due to the fact that Chico killed a goat along the way, this goat had an owner, and even explaining all his history of suffering life, the man had no pity, he left only the remains of the animal to quench the hunger of all.
Faced with so much injustice and cruelty, one of Chico's children, to satiate their hunger for days, eat a piece of raw cassava by the way, the cassava was poisoned, thus causing its terrible death and total suffering for all.
There is an excerpt of the work in which the reader is faced with a strong narrative, like this:
“There Josias had stayed, in his grave by the side of the road, with a cross of two sticks tied together, made by his father. He was at peace. I no longer had to cry with hunger, out on the road. I didn't have a few more years of misery ahead of my life, to fall later in the same hole, under the shadow of the same cross.”
Josias' death is not enough, another son of the couple disappears with a bunch of migrants, the couple never had any more news of the then son.
Finally arriving in the capital of Ceará, they face yet another difficulty, they are sent to a concentration camp destined for those condemned to drought.
Faced with so much tragedy and disillusionment, they find a charitable soul, called Conceição, who is volunteer and teacher, becoming after some time godmother of the youngest son, called Duquinha.
Conceição helped them in whatever way she could, helped them buy tickets to São Paulo, with the time she spent with her family, she took great love for Duquinha, and made the request to stay with him, claiming that he would live better with her, the couple thought a lot, and the son ended up staying with her then godmother.
Conceição, a kind woman with a big heart, determined and with big thoughts ahead of her time, was in love with her then cousin Vicente, but unfortunately the boy ended up meeting another woman during the narrative, Marilinha Garcia, who was also totally in love with the character.
The rain arrived, giving better times and better air to all the northeastern people, Conceição's grandmother decides to move to her homeland, Street, Conceição ends up staying in a fortress.
The novel transpires a narrative of regionalist content, the work basically does not occupy its space bringing tangible solutions and for each problem, but rather points out the evils of the drought in the region and its consequences, this is done through observation narrative.
In the work, O Quinze, the author is concerned with taking social issues together with psychological and behavioral analysis. of each character, focusing on the northeastern man, a man who does not see or even does not accept fate fatalistic. The drought is the great centrality of the entire work, and also of coronelismo and passionate impulses, the work reveals the harmonious relationship between the psychological and the social.
The writer represents the drought in the northeast and hunger as a consequence of reality, aiming as an image of life.
In the work it is possible to see that Rachel did not want to portray a separation of classes, that is, between the rich and the poor, this is demonstrated in the characters of Conceição and Vicente, who experience both worlds, avoids a romance that divides the so-called “good poor” and “bad rich”, avoiding finding an innocent or guilty.
The work was also adapted into a film, directed by Jurandir de Oliveira, in 2004.
See too: social poetry
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