What It Is
The two kinds of music in The Slum: the fado, which Jerônimo plays on the Portuguese guitar at his door, with his wife, out of longing for Portugal (chapter V); and the Bahian chorado, which Firmo and Porfiro play on the violão and cavaquinho and to which Rita Baiana dances (chapter VII). They meet on the night of the pagode, and the book makes the exchange of one for the other the mark of Jerônimo's change.
Where It Appears
In chapter III, when the work begins, the washerwomen sing Portuguese fados and Brazilian modinhas without dispute.
Rompiam das gargantas os fados portugueses e as modinhas brasileiras, Portuguese fados and Brazilian modinhas burst from their throats
In chapter V Jerônimo plays fados at night, after the day with the pick, and his exiled soul flies back to the sad villages of his childhood.
a sua alma de desterrado voava das zonas abrasadas da América para as aldeias tristes da sua infância, his exile's soul flew from the scorched lands of America to the sad villages of his childhood
In chapter VI Rita returns to the tenement and announces a pagode for the night, because her merrymakings are the best in the tenement.
In chapter VII Jerônimo plays the fado, the circle grows melancholy, and the chorado of Firmo and Porfiro lifts it; Rita dances in the middle, and he is caught by her, forgetting Piedade and the hours.
Abatidos pelo fadinho harmonioso e nostálgico dos desterrados, iam todos, até mesmo os brasileiros, se concentrando e caindo em tristeza; mas, de repente, o cavaquinho do Porfiro, acompanhado pelo violão do Firmo, romperam vibrantemente com um chorado baiano, Cast down by the harmonious, nostalgic little fado of the exiles, all of them, even the Brazilians, were sinking into sadness; but suddenly Porfiro's cavaquinho, accompanied by Firmo's violão, vibrantly broke out with a Bahian chorado
E à viva crepitação da música baiana calaram-se as melancólicas toadas dos de além-mar, And at the lively crackle of Bahian music, the melancholy tunes of those from overseas fell silent
Naquela mulata estava o grande mistério, a síntese das impressões que ele recebeu chegando aqui, In that mulatta lay the great mystery, the synthesis of the impressions he received on arriving here
In chapter IX Jerônimo becomes Brazilianized: he trades wine for aguardente, codfish for black beans, and gives up his dreams of ambition.
pouco a pouco, se foram reformando todos os seus hábitos singelos de aldeão português: e Jerônimo abrasileirou-se, little by little, all his simple habits as a Portuguese peasant were reshaped: and Jerônimo became Brazilianized
In chapter X, at the evening samba, Rita dances and sings, and Jerônimo whispers a proposition to her, which leads Firmo to the challenge and the razor.
In chapter XVI Piedade waits for her husband on the doorstep, remembers the fados he used to play, and sees Rita singing across the way, at the window of number 9.
onde ela, tantas vezes, com a cabeça encostada ao ombro do seu homem, suspirava feliz, ouvindo gemer na guitarra dele os queridos fados de além-mar, where she, so many times, with her head resting on her man's shoulder, sighed happily, listening to the beloved fados from overseas groan on his guitar
a mulata baiana, a dançadeira de chorado, a cobra assanhada, cantava alegremente, the Bahian mulatta, the dancer of chorado, the frisky snake, sang cheerfully
In chapter XX, after Rita leaves with Jerônimo, the courtyard stops having sambas in the open air.
Depois da partida de Rita, já se não faziam sambas ao relento com o choradinho da Bahia, After Rita's departure, no more sambas were held in the open air with the little Bahian chorado
What It Means
The music shows which side each one is on without anyone saying so. Jerônimo's fado is longing and routine (chapter V); the chorado is body and festivity (chapter VII); and the passage from one to the other follows Jerônimo's move from his former wife to Rita, which the narrator explains by the milieu (chapter IX, chapter XV). Piedade remains tied to the fado, and she hears it in memory on the doorstep (chapter XVI). When Rita leaves, the chorado in public leaves with her (chapter XX). The narrator tells the exchange as an effect of the milieu, and the scenes leave it to the reader to decide how much of it belongs to the place and how much is Jerônimo's choice.
Relationships
- Work: The Slum, by Aluísio Azevedo.
- Standard themes: Nature and Civilization, Sexuality.
- Characters: Jerônimo, Rita Baiana, Firmo, Piedade.
- Neighboring symbols: the São Romão tenement, where the two kinds of music are heard, and the quarry, from which Jerônimo returns at the end of the day to play.