Vidas Secas is one of the greatest classics of Brazilian literature. Published in 1938, this novel tells the tragic story of a poor family living in the Northeast Region of Brazil and describes their everyday life.

The cyclical way of writing that the author adopts makes it possible to read the first chapter as a continuation of the last chapter. This means that the destiny of the protagonists is a never-ending cycle of misfortunate episodes.

All Graciliano Ramos did was depicting the reality of thousands of his compatriots. Born and raised in the northern Brazilian sertão (a ‘backland’ or ‘backcountry’ in Portuguese), Ramos mostly portrayed the illiterate, mistreated country workers of his region, explaining perfectly the deep-rooted social inequalities in Brazil. 

The story is something between a social novel and an intimate psychological story.

There are hundreds of classics describing life in the Brazilian backlands. ‘The Devil To Pay In The Backlands’ by João Guimarães Rosa is one of the most popular:

https://langlittravel.wordpress.com/2021/10/23/brazilian-literature-2-joao-guimaraes-rosa-the-devil-to-pay-in-the-backlands/

In Vidas Secas, each chapter represents the point of view of each character. The author describes meticulously the world of Fabiano, Sinhá Vitória, the Older Boy, the Younger Boy, the dog Baleia, and the parrot, which serves as the providential food that the family eats to alleviate hunger.

Aside from the protagonists Fabiano and Sinhá Vitória, the author doesn’t bother to give names to the other characters. The lack of names symbolizes the characters’ mystery, as they are the “nobodies”, the “unnamed”.

The yellow soldier, the town hall inspector and the farm owner antagonize Fabiano and represent the oppression of the institutional oligarchic power. 

You are a man, Fabiano, he tells himself; then correcting the sentence: you are an animal, Fabiano; a source of pride: yes sir, an animal, capable of overcoming difficulties.

– Fabiano in Vidas Secas

The world in Graciliano Ramos’ novels is a world of fall and degradation. Yet, the dream of freedom persists and the message is clear: a world of freedom is possible.

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