Reificação e resistência no romance São Bernardo, de Graciliano Ramos.

Abstract

This paper presents a literature review about the reification and alienation process that comes from the first-person narrator Paulo Honório in the novel São Bernardo by the Brazilian writer Graciliano Ramos, and proposes further consideration on this topic. Reification means how a person considers others as objects, in an exploitative way or as in a trade. The relationship between the protagonist and the other dwellers on the farm including his wife Madalena is an example of that. The review showed that several works have this approach as a major subject; however, we decided to revisit it and reopen this discussion, regarding the ideas and conclusions of some researchers. We here stress the importance of Madalena's attitude in resisting Paulo Honório's attempts towards submitting her to the process of reification. Finally, we noted that researchers had different opinions when it comes to how reification affects the characters in São Bernardo, a novel that addresses the contradiction between modernization and the cultural archaic practices in the rural areas of Brazilian Northeast. The methodology used was a literature review with qualitative research. Candido (2006), Coutinho (1965), Lafetá (1985), Zawaski (2015), Silva (2008) and others provide the basis for this work.