The Violent Land by Jorge Amado
"The Violent Land," a novel by Brazilian author Jorge Amado, is set in the cocoa-producing region of São Jorge dos Ilhéus in Brazil, a place marked by social tension and the violent struggles for power among wealthy landowners known as colonels. The story revolves around two principal figures: Colonel Horacio da Silveira and Colonel Sinhô Badaró, who vie for control over a coveted jungle that holds fertile land for cacao cultivation. The narrative features a cast of diverse characters, including Dr. Virgilio Cabral, a lawyer who becomes embroiled in an extramarital affair, and Margot, a former mistress who seeks revenge and finds herself caught in the conflict.
As the colonels' rivalry escalates, the storyline unfolds against a backdrop of violence, betrayal, and political intrigue, reflecting broader themes of greed and the moral complexities of love. The conflict between the two factions leads to a series of violent confrontations, with mercenaries and assassins populating the landscape of this brutal struggle. The story culminates in a temporary resolution that introduces the influence of politics and the church, symbolizing the new social order that emerges from chaos.
Amado's work presents a vivid exploration of the socio-political dynamics of Brazil during the early 20th century, addressing issues of class, power, and the impact of colonial legacies in a richly woven narrative.
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The Violent Land by Jorge Amado
First published:Terras do sem fin, 1942 (English translation, 1945)
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Social realism
Time of plot: Late nineteenth century
Locale: Bahia, Brazil
Principal characters
Colonel Horacio da Silveira , a cacao planterColonel Sinhô Badaró , another planterDoña Ester da Silveira , Colonel da Silveira’s wifeDoña Ana Badaró , Colonel Badaró’s daughterCaptain João Magalhães , in love with Doña AnaDr. Virgilio Cabral , Doña Ester’s lover and da Silveira’s lawyerMargot , a prostituteJuca Badaró , Colonel Badaró’s younger brother
The Story:
In the minds of most Brazilians, the São Jorge dos Ilhéus is a semibarbarous country ruled by a handful of rich planters who style themselves colonels. These men rose, almost without exception, from humble origins by means of courage, bravado, and murder. The two most important planters are Colonel Horacio da Silveira and Colonel Sinhô Badaró. Between their lands lies a large forest, upon which both men have long cast covetous eyes. The forest, actually a jungle, could be cleared to uncover almost fabulous cacao-growing soil.
Among the strangers who pour into the region in search of wealth at the time are several people who are to range themselves on one side or the other in the coming struggle. Dr. Virgilio Cabral, a cultured and talented lawyer, allies himself with da Silveira. With the lawyer comes Margot, a beautiful prostitute who fell in love with him and became his mistress while he was a student. Another arrival is Captain João Magalhães, a professional gambler and a courageous opportunist who calls himself a military engineer. Among his admirers are Juca Badaró, Colonel Badaró’s younger brother, and Doña Ana Badaró, the colonel’s daughter, who is also the heir to the Badaró fortunes.
Soon after his arrival, Cabral falls in love with Ester, da Silveira’s beautiful wife. The woman, who hates her semibarbarous husband, quickly returns the affection of the more cultured man. When she becomes his mistress, both know that they will be killed if the husband finds them out. As his ardor for Ester increases, the lawyer’s affection for his former mistress wanes, and soon Margot finds herself unwanted by her lover. In retaliation, and because she needs someone to support her, Margot becomes the mistress of Juca. Out of spite, she also furnishes him with scandal about the opposition, gossip that he turns to account in the newspaper that favors the Badarós.
Professionally, as well as amorously, Cabral is a success, for he finds an old survey of the contested lands and registers the title in da Silveira’s name after he bribes the registry officials. The Badaró family quickly retaliates by burning the registry office and all the records on file. In addition, the Badarós hire Magalhães to run a survey for them. He makes the survey, even though he lacks the proper knowledge to do so. His presence at the Badaró plantation earns him the respect of the Badaró brothers and the love of Doña Ana Badaró. The self-styled captain, always an opportunist, permits himself to fall in love with the woman and pay court to her.
The Badaró family is the more powerful of the two factions, so da Silveira goes to several small planters and promises to let them divide half of the forest land if they, as a group, will help him hold it against the Badarós. There is bloody fighting on both sides of the forest and within it, for both factions hire many assassins and bodyguards to back up their interests with bullets. The Badarós control the local government, and the state government is in opposition to the federal government of Brazil.
Juca is assassinated by a hired gunman after he insults Cabral. Juca found the lawyer dancing—at the woman’s request—with Margot and insulted the lawyer for daring to do so. On the other side, too, there are disappointments and deaths. Cabral and da Silveira are deterred in their plans when the colonel falls ill with a fever. The planter recovers, but his wife, the lawyer’s mistress, becomes ill as a result of nursing her husband. Her death removes one incentive in the efforts of both her husband and her lover, but they stubbornly continue the fight.
As the struggle in the courts and in the fields continues, the Badarós spend more and more money. They not only sell their current crop of cacao pods but also sell their next year’s crop to raise funds. Before his assassination, Juca saw to it that his niece, Doña Ana, was married to the gambler, for he saw in Magalhães an ambitious man willing to fight for money and power. The proposal the Badarós make is so tempting that the captain agrees to take his wife’s name, her father insisting that he do so to carry on the Badaró line.
At first, by tacit consent, the contending parties do no damage to one another’s cacao trees, but as the Badarós become desperate, they instruct their desperadoes to burn the cacao groves. Their opponents see that the matter has to be settled at once, lest both parties be irretrievably ruined and become victims of someone stronger than they. Colonel da Silveira and his henchman, along with their paid gunmen, attack the Badaró plantation in force and drive off the family, after killing all the men except a handful led by Magalhães.
Da Silveira and his men think that the women of the Badaró household were sent away, but the attackers are greeted by gunfire from Doña Ana herself as they enter the house. When she runs out of ammunition, she gives up, expecting to be killed. The attackers let her go, however, because she is a woman. The Badaró rout is completed by an announcement from the Brazilian capital that the political party favoring da Silveira is in power and is sending troops and government agents to the district to quiet the violence. The jungle lands are ceded to the da Silveira faction by the government’s action. Da Silveira is forced to stand trial for the murder of Juca, but the trial, staged more to clear the colonel than to find him guilty, is a mere formality.
The district quickly settles down after the great feud ends and the new government starts its operations, but there is to be one more assassination. While going through his dead wife’s effects, da Silveira discovers the letters Cabral wrote to her. He is horrified and embarrassed to learn of her infidelity, which he did not suspect, and his lawyer’s duplicity. After thinking about the matter for some time, he sends a gunman to clear his honor by killing the man who made him a cuckold.
To symbolize the new peace that comes into the frontier district, the Church makes the city of Ilhéus the seat of a newly created diocese and sends a bishop to officiate as its representative there. As if to show the value of the former jungle land, the cacao trees planted there produce a crop in the fourth year, a full twelve months earlier than usual.
Bibliography
Brower, Keith H., Earl E. Fitz, and Enrique Martínez-Vidal, eds. Jorge Amado: New Critical Essays. New York: Routledge, 2001. One of the essays, “Bitter Harvest: Violent Oppression in Cacau and Terras do sem fin” by Sandra L. Dixon, focuses on The Violent Land. Other essays analyze Amado’s early work, his critical reputation, and Brazilian popular music in his fiction.
Chamberlain, Bobby J. Jorge Amado. Boston: Twayne, 1990. A study of Amado’s major novels. Chamberlain places the author’s fiction in a biographical and bibliographic context, offers critical analysis, and lays the groundwork for a reevaluation of the author’s novelistic output. Discusses The Violent Land as the forerunner of the later novels. Includes chronology and annotated bibliography.
Ellison, Fred P. Brazil’s New Novel: Four Northeastern Masters. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1954. An insightful study examining style, theme, and characterization in Amado’s early fiction. Includes a discussion of The Violent Land. One of the earliest studies in English of Amado.
Lowe, Elizabeth. The City in Brazilian Literature. Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1982. Characterizes Amado’s depiction of Salvador, Bahia, as “picturesque exoticism,” and his portrayal of the urban poor as “carnivalization.”
Pescatello, Ann, ed. “The Braziliera: Images and Realities in Writings of Machado de Assis and Jorge Amado.” In Female and Male in Latin America: Essays. Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1973. Compares Amado’s female characters (including those in The Violent Land) with those of Machado de Assis. Detects a preoccupation with class and race in both writers’ characterizations of women.
Schade, George D. “Three Contemporary Brazilian Novels: Some Comparisons and Contrasts.” Hispania 39, no. 4 (December, 1956): 391-396. Compares the structure, theme, and characterization in The Violent Land with Graciliano Ramos’s Ang stia (1936; Anguish, 1946) and Rachel de Queiroz’s As três Marias (1939; The Three Marias, 1963).