Cristina Tranter & Haley Robertson

Dr. Gandara

POR 383

12 May 2014

Lina Vianna’s Life Through Her Story KQM-7900

Lina Vianna, a Minas Gerais native, later moved to Rio de Janeiro when married in 1971. She was born during World War II, and is today 72 years old and currently retired from her writing. Lina has two adult children, and one granddaughter that were all born in Rio de Janeiro. Lina was married for 41 years, until 10 years ago when her husband died, and Lina now is a widow. She told us that she enjoyed spending quality family time with her daughters and granddaughter. When asking Lina about certain issues in Brazil, such as prostitution, we received vague answers. However, we cannot assume her exact opinion because she could most definitely have a different perspective and opinion. The story that we focused on was KQM-7900. We believe that this story mimics a certain perspective of her own, and further analyzed the story referring to Lina’s life.

Her hometown, Minas Gerais (General Mines), is known as Deep Brazil. It is incredibly traditional than the more flashy Rio de Janeiro. Furthermore, Minas Gerais also is more so Portuguese than the South. Minas Gerais also consists of a large population of Italians and other Central Europeans. The North has an influx of Native Americans, while the Northeast has a heavy population of Afro-Brazilians. Minas Gerais is known as one of the most religious states in Brazil, which we definitely assumed with Lina. Growing up in Minas Gerais, she was surrounded by religious culture. Furthermore, Mineiros, people from Minas Gerais, are known to have an incredibly different accent setting them apart from the majority in Brazil. Haley and I considered this accent being easily identifiable for Lina once moving to Rio de Janeiro, because she would stand out in Rio for her unique accent. Minas Gerais is known as a family-centered state and the people are considered reserved. Once researching the culture of Minas Gerais, it became evident why Lina was so constrained when answering questions about certain issues in Brazil, such as prostitution.

As studied in class, prostitution in Brazil is at a breaking peak, and expected to spike in 2014 for the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics in 2016. The “happy being a prostitute” campaign ad was recently released in Brazil to subdue the stigmatism towards prostitution in Brazil. Also, the campaign wanted to promote safe sex for the prostitutes. In one of the campaigns, a prostitute is featured saying “I cannot be seen without a condom, my love.” However, both FIFA and the Olympics are taking place in Rio de Janeiro, which is currently Lina’s hometown though she acts more as if she is living in Minas Gerais. Her response to our questions regarding prostitution was, “I confess I’m a little surprised. Are prostitutes learning English to better attend their foreign customs during the world cup? I didn’t know anything about it…” In preparation for the upcoming sporting events, the government has been having Brazilian prostitutes attend classes and learn English. According to the President’s association, Cida Vieira, their goal for having prostitutes learn English is to enable better communication between the prostitute and the client so to learn how to work out financial deals and also use a specialized vocabulary with sensual words and fetishes,” says Vieira. However, when discussing this knowledge with Lina, she was interested in learning more about the prostitution spike, and why prostitutes were learning English.

I did not understand exactly why Lina would have no knowledge about the prostitution in Brazil, we wondered if she didn’t want to discuss something as decadent as prostitution, or if she actually had no knowledge on the prostitution in Brazil.

In class when discussing the various writers that students had, Lina had reminded me of a children’s writer we were discussing, Christina Hernandez. Both “appeared” to have no knowledge about prostitution in Brazil. However, this “happy being a prostitute campaign” ad has been all over Brazil, and even been featured in an article in the U.S. My fellow classmates with the children’s writer had told them she had heard about the prostitution campaigns, but didn’t want to talk about it.   We are not exactly sure why Lina did not respond, but I believe that maybe it was all about to come as too clear why she didn’t want to talk about prostitution. Unlike some of the other writers that were more outspoken on feminism, gay rights, and prostitution. I think that when being approached by college English students, Lina did not want to talk about the darker issues in Brazil, but instead keep the conversations light and happy. Much like the children’s writer, Lina did not want to discuss these aspects in Brazil.

KQM-7900 was Lina’s short story that Haley and I read and analyzed. The story portrays a couple living in Rio de Janeiro, whose car license has been cloned. Whoever is driving the cloned licensed car, keeps getting speeding tickets, but they are instead sent to the husband and wife with the other car. After repeatedly bringing this issue to the authorities, the couple is dismissed and is burdened by this constant speeding ticket. Finally, the husband sells the car to rid of this terrible burden. However, right after selling the car, the couple is called in to the authorities because they have now detected this issue, and address that they no longer have to pay these speeding fines. At the end before talking to the authorities, the wife says that this situation will either “end up in pizza” or “end up in blood.”

“To end up in pizza,” simply means that even as serious as the situation may be, nothing will be done, and the guilty people will just go out and eat pizza not caring about the serious situation. “To end up in blood,” insinuates that there will be a lot of drama and fighting. However, Mr. XXX, a policeman who has done a wrongdoing, ultimately frees the couple of this ongoing burden. The wife overjoyed after leaving the station, notices flamboyants, a red flower in Brazil. This beautiful flower symbolizes emancipation in Brazil. The flamboyants symbolized freedom and being emancipated from this terrible burden from the government. In the end, the wife says, “the story had ended up in blood, the beautiful blood of the flamboyant flowers.”

When analyzing KQM-7900, Haley and I wondered if this short story was relating to Lina’s life when moving from Minas Gerais to Rio de Janeiro when she had married in the early 1970’s. What Haley and I took from this story after analyzing was that the government was corrupted and the authorities were not helpful and also corrupted. The give away for my reasoning was when Lina introduced the character, Mr.XXX. Mr.XXX symbolizes a police officer that is corrupted and has done some wrongdoing. This character represents corruption and because Lina included this character, it made Haley and I question what message Lina was trying to get across to her reader.

Lina introduces an innocent couple living in Rio de Janeiro, just trying to get by and start a life. However, they soon become burdened by this ongoing driver that continues to speed and give the couple payments that they do not deserve. As the reader, I assumed that once going to the police station, their dispute would be figured out and the situation would no longer be a problem. However, it became evident that there was some sort of corruption or lackadaisical attitude amongst the policeman in Rio de Janeiro when the couple is ignored. They submit paperwork over and over, but they are never appeased until finally having to sell the car because it was the only to rid of this curse. The theme that was most clear was government control. The couple feels that they have no option in fighting this situation, but only to give in to the government. Their only way out was having to sell the car. Ironically, right after selling the car, then police officials call the couple in to address their problem. It is already too late for anything to be resolved now, but ultimately the couple is freed from this burden. The wife is appeased and calmed by viewing the flamboyants. She realizes there is nothing to be done or fought, but just to move on in life.

In KQM-7900, Lina makes it known through her writing that at this time when the story was written in the 1970s, there is some distaste towards the authorities and government. The couple knew that they would not be helped immediately, and it took some time until they were completely freed by these burdens. Haley and I wondered if this was Lina trying to illustrate herself through her writing as a young woman in the 1970s that had just moved to Rio de Janeiro with her husband. It all added up, and showed that Lina had a negative opinion of the government at that time.

However, as readers we cannot always assume and allow our initial judgments to determine the reality. Haley and I do not know exactly if this story is referring to Lina’s personal experiences or even her mindset about the government. Most female writers in Brazil that we have studied showed their ideals towards feminism, prostitution, and government through their writing. When analyzing Lina’s text, Haley and I noticed the negative representation of the government. However, the story exhibited a positive representation of husband and wife trying to solve this issue together.

At this time in Brazil from 1964 to 1985, a military government had been introduced. They addressed one of their goals to end government corruption. However, the people feared this new government because one of their main instruments of control was the fear of torture. Many people that that had been arguing against this new government, and thousands had been taken. Left-wing opponents were either kidnapped, imprisoned without trials, or the dictatorship used arbitrary arrests, thousands were taken. They were tortured, and many were raped or castrated. Many of these bodies were dismembered and hidden. To reinstate, this kind of military government, which utilizes torture stroke a fear amongst people in the 1970s. After doing research, one learns that in the 1970’s when KQM-7900 was written, there was an incredible fear from the civilians towards the government. No one wanted to be that next missing person who was being tortured by the government. In KQM-7900, we read how the couple consistently addresses the police, but the couple never becomes angry or annoyed towards the authorities. They remain respectful, which indicates they are not showing anger towards the government, in order to stay of the radar and just hope for the best with their situation. After meeting with police officials and resolving the issue, the wife feels a great deal of emancipation symbolized through the flamboyants. This is because now they no longer have to have any contact with the authorities and government for the time being, and she feels freed for the moment.

Through KQM-7900, Haley and I gained a great deal of knowledge about the military government in Brazil during the 1970’s. Our author, Lina Vianna exposed a piece of herself through her writing, which I really enjoyed. However, when confronting Lina directly with specific questions, she was vague. Doing research on Minas Gerais and the military government in Brazil during the 1970’s showed me more what Lina had lived through and what had ultimately affected her writing.

Resources

Benedetti, Ana. "Brazilian Prostitutes Prepare For World Cup 2014." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 18 June 2013. Web. 12 May 2014.

Dassin, Joan, and Jaime Wright. Torture in Brazil: A Report. New York: Vintage, 1986. Print.

Lispector, Clarice. The Hour of the Star. Manchester: Carcanet, 1986. Print.

Brocchetto, Marilia. "Brazil Drops 'happy Being a Prostitute' Ad Campaign." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 12 May 2014.

Lina and her daughter