Cortiço is a novel by Brazilian writer Aluísio de Azevedo. It was published in 1890 and is part of the naturalist movement in Brazil.
The work portrays the lives of simple people in a tenement (collective housing) in Rio de Janeiro.
With a critical content, it is an excellent representation of the Brazilian reality of the 19th century.
Characters of the work
Check out the characters that are part of the plot and their characteristics:
- João Romão : Portuguese owner of the tenement, sale and quarry.
- Bertoleza : slave slave of João Romão who works for him.
- Miranda : Portuguese bourgeois married to Estela and who lives next to the tenement.
- Estela : unfaithful wife of the Portuguese Miranda.
- Zulmira : daughter of Estela and Miranda, as well as wife of João Romão.
- Jerônimo : Portuguese man who manages the João Romão quarry. She has an affair with Rita Baiana.
- Rita Baiana : seductive mulatto who lives in the tenement. He had an affair with Firmo, and later became involved with the Portuguese Jerônimo.
- Piedade : Jerônimo’s wife who, upon discovering her betrayal with Rita Baiana, indulges in alcoholism.
- Firmo : Rita Baiana’s lover, he was killed by the Portuguese Jerônimo.
- Pombinha : beautiful, discreet and educated girl who prostitutes herself under the influence of prostitute Léonie.
- Libório : miserable and lonely tenant of the tenement, he lived like a beggar.
Structure of the work
Composed of 23 chapters , O Cortiço features an omniscient narrator (one who knows the whole story), being narrated in third person.
The time of the narrative is linear (beginning, middle and end), following the chronological time of events.
The place where the plot is developed represents the collective, a theme explored by the naturalist school.
In the work, the tenement becomes the main character, a space personified in several passages in the book.
In addition to the tenement, there are times when the story takes place in the quarry and tavern of João Romão. In some moments, the bourgeois class townhouse in the Botafogo neighborhood is mentioned.
In such a way, bourgeois characters mix with the simple life of the tenants.
Full of descriptions, the novel explores the physical characteristics and behavior of its characters, marked by degradation (moral, spiritual and physical) and ambition.
An example is the animalization of the characters, revealed mainly by sexual instincts.
0bra summary
Owner of Cortiço, João Romão is an ambitious Portuguese man who exploits his employees. In addition to owning collective housing, he owns a quarry and a tavern.
Although he is not the main character of the plot, many passages in the novel reveal his social ascension.
At the same time, the social degradation of the less fortunate living in the tenement is demonstrated.
Next to the tenement appears the aristocratic townhouse, where the bourgeois Miranda, a fabric merchant, married to Estela, lives. They live in an unhappy marriage, and Estela always betrays him.
Miranda is uncomfortable with the growth of the tenement and for that reason, she comes into rivalry with João Romão.
However, in order to have a social status similar to that of his rival, João Romão marries the daughter of Miranda and Estela: Zulmira. From there, he manages to achieve better social conditions.
João Romão, has a slave named Bertoleza. He forged a manumission letter for her, who eventually becomes his mistress and starts working for him.
However, after his marriage Romão delivers his runaway slave. Disappointed by this action, Bertoleza kills herself.
In the tenement, life is simple and hard. Much of the plot portrays the lives of its residents and their involvement. Rita from Bahia is a mulatto with great charisma and who knows all the residents of collective housing.
Seductive in nature, he had an involvement with Firmo and later with the Portuguese Jerônimo. This involvement led to the murder of Firmo.
Jerônimo is an honest man who works in the João Romão quarry. He is married to the Portuguese Piedade and together they have a daughter.
After getting involved with the seductive Rita Baiana, his wife discovers the relationship and starts drinking.
Jealous of Rita’s previous involvement with Firmo, Jerônimo decides to murder his rival. Finally, Jerônimo leaves his family to be with Rita.
The fire in the tenement was one of the main factors for many residents to move to another tenement, the “cat’s head”. With that, the place was renovated and the avenue was named “Avenida São Romão”.
Analysis of the work
The work O Cortiço is the most emblematic of the naturalist movement in Brazil. The great question raised by the writer was related to the environment, race and history.
Thus, the degradation and decay of the human being can be explained by the mixture of races, which, according to Aluísio, lead to promiscuity. Furthermore, the medium directly influences the behavior of its characters.
Social inequality is a widely explored theme, which is reinforced through the social and historical differences of the individuals involved. It is, therefore, a revealing portrait of Brazilian society in the middle of the 19th century.
The search for the rise of the characters demonstrates their ambition, involved in superficial issues. Even though it was written at the end of the 19th century, even today we can see this posture of seeking social ascension in Brazilian society.
Excerpts from the work
Below are excerpts from the work O Cortiço:
“ João Romão was, from the age of thirteen to twenty-five years old, an employee of a salesman who enriched between the four walls of a dirty and obscure tavern in the neighborhoods of Botafogo; and he saved so much from the little he had earned in this dozen years, that, when the boss retired to the land, he left him, in payment of overdue wages, not only the sale with what was inside, but also a story and five hundred in money . ” (Chapter I)
“ And for two years, the tenement prospered from day to day, gaining strength, punching people. And beside Miranda, he was frightened, uneasy by that brutal exuberance of life, terrified in front of that relentless forest that grew near his house, under the windows, and whose roots, worse and thicker than snakes, undermined all over the country. part, threatening to burst the ground around it, cracking the ground and shaking everything . ” (Chapter II)
“ It was five o’clock in the morning and the tenement woke up, opening, not his eyes, but his infinity of lined doors and windows.
A happy and hearty wake-up call for those who slept from a seated seven hours of lead. As if the last notes of the last guitar of the previous night still felt in the foggy fog, dissolving in the tender, blond light of dawn, like a longing sigh lost in other people’s land . ” (Chapter III)
“ Now, on the same street, another tenement germinated nearby, the“ Cabeça-de-Gato ”. A Portuguese man who also had a sale was listed as its owner, but the legitimate owner was a wealthy adviser, a man with a clean tie, who, due to social decency, should not appear in such a speculation . ” (Chapter XIII)
“ At the same time, João Romão, in flip-flops and a sweater, strolled from one place to another in his new room. A large room lined with blue and white with yellow flowers pretending to be gold; there was a rug at the foot of the bed, and a nickel alarm clock was on the sieve, and the furniture was all married, because the smart guy wasn’t about to buy furniture twice . ” (Chapter XXI)