Gabriela, Cloves and Cinnamon: Describes the Geographical-Cultural
Jorge Amado s Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon is a tale of occurrences within several months in the township if Ilh us, which is a province of the larger city of Bahai, situated in the northern Brazil. The foreword of the Portuguese translation of the book starts out with the first day of the several months in which the tale or several tale s unfold the murder of Sinh zinha Guedes Mendon a and her paramour Osmundo Pimentel, the dentist by the cuckolded husband Colonel Jesu no Mendon a. The same foreword also starts out with the description of old Filomena the cook of the local bar-owner, the Syrian-born Nacib. (1) One mistakenly begins to believe that the tale is about these two stories. Interestingly enough, the foreword, which often provides a teaser for what is to come bears no mention of the purported heroine of the story Gabriela if indeed she is the heroine (for this novel has plenty of heroes and heroines who play their heroic or human [even humane] roles as the description of the occurrences unfold). More than four hundred and twenty pages later, one realizes that this novel is more than political infighting, legal wrangles, unrequited love, romantic conquests, and the progress of women within the microcosm that wa
Here timidity was contradicted by the fearlessness of her daughter Malvina, who inherited her father s strong will and sense of independence. There s no doubt that ships from other places will follow soon after. This downtrodden aspect of a woman s life is well characterized by Melk Tavares wife who was timid, subjugated and could do nothing about it. To avoid confrontations, her mother wishes that the daughter dies so that she would not have to live with the shame of her daughter living a life anything other than a respected woman, who s role was to serve as wife and mother nothing else. The cosmopolitan cities of Sao Paolo and Rio are very far removed from the consciousness of local Ilh ans to be viewed as almost foreign. One of the heroes and main stays of the novel s narrative is Nacib Saad. Gabriela came to represent this transition but more importantly, she is the metaphor for mother Earth. With his business partner Moacin Estr la, garage and truck owners, he endeavors to start a bus service between Ilh us and Itabuna. One realizes that much like the wild rainforests of Ilh us, she could neither be captured nor tamed. Colonel Bastos was a political kingmaker. He was an exporter of cacao and therefore formed business collaborations with several planters from Ilh us. This attempt on the life was at the behest of Colonel Ramiro Bastos one of the biggest landowners of Ilh us, with possibly the biggest political clout in the town. During the early part of the creation of Ilh us, until the establishment of strongholds of the landowners, life was filled with strife. These back-landers trek many miles over many days to escape certain death from where they come leaving their pets to die, braving a difficult journey made worse by a chronic lack of nourishments that takes the lives of the old and the infirm, in the hope that they might earn a living. But nothing can get in the way of Malvina s escape from this.
Common topics in this essay:
Paolo Rio,
Colonel Bastos,
Earth Gabriela,
Syrian-born Nacib,
Gold Rush,
Ilh Itabuna,
Brazilian- Ilh,
Ilh Bahian,
Brasilia Bahia,
Falc Bahia,
colonel bastos,
landscape ilh,
ilh ans,
novel marks transition,
sister city itabuna,
developed world,
cultural landscape,
employee lover,
sao paolo,
geographical landscape ilh,
cacao plantations,
cultural landscape ilh,
attempt life,
ilh sister city,
mere province,
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Acceptance Essays
