Janete Santos Background
Janete Santos is a Brazilian professor and
writer from Macapa, Amapa State. She holds a major in Modern Languages by UFPA
and also holds a MA in Applied Linguistic by UNICAMP. She states that “I am a university professor,
I work in the Undergraduate Course and Graduate Courses (Master and Doctorate)
at a public institution” (Email). Along with this, she is a member in many
associations, including ACALANTO, APES, and REBRA. She has published five books
so far; in 2000 she published “Boa Esperanca-cronicas-e-contos”, in 2002 she
published “Tecendo Imagens-poemas”, in 2003 she published “Rota
Macapa/Belem-cronicas e contos”, in 2007 “Inquietacoes-poemas” and lastly in
2011 “Mosaicos”(REBRA).
Santos implies
that she had a childhood filled with sorrows, not because she grew up in a
dysfunctional household, but issues had arisen that were out of her control.
She was very ill as a child and suffered from severe asthma, which perhaps
caused her to become introspective. Along with this, she lost her mother at a
very young age affecting her deeply until this day. Due to all of this, she
found herself reading and writing rather than going out to play with children
of her own age. She would also write in order to come up with a parallel world
that would fulfill the loss she felt as a child growing up. Needing to create a
parallel world connects to other female writers and characters discussed
throughout our class.
In our class discussion, we
stated that women would use the Gothic to escape the real world and try to
renounce the world and the male society. Telles who writes the short stories
“Ants”, “Rats” and “Tigrela” uses this same idea as she tries to separate the
male and female world. Instead of writing about the problems the world contains
and finding solutions to these problems, Santos wrote to get away from her own
life and to be able to imagine her life as a fairy tale, which most women
writers desire. These writers sought a world that was different than what
society was, therefore they created their own version of their fairy tale.
Views on Marriage
Throughout the
whole class, marriage has been a major topic and we discussed the importance of
it in the Brazilian culture. It seemed that marriage and Christianity were very
closely linked. Santos states that she was raised in a Christian household and
because of this she held marriage in high regards. “I was raised by Christian
principles and that’s why, in my mind, I always kept that marriage is something
for a lifetime;”(Email). She goes on to state that this relationship is between
two people and that both of them must work through this commitment of marriage
to keep it together, which are formed based off Christian ideals that are held
in Brazil. In our class discussion from February 7, the class discussed the
idea of Virgin Mary vs. Eve. It is quite obvious that it is better for women to
be seen as the Virgin Mary. To achieve this, they would not have sex until
marriage and once married they would not get a divorce because it counters the
Christian ideals. Females did not want to look like Eve because she was the
female of the original sin plus it would bring back the idea of extreme
sexuality attributed to the native people of Brazil. I think this is deeply
rooted in what Santos is saying, that because she is Christian, marriage is a
commitment to God and it should not be broken because it would go against the
Christian faith.
Throughout
history it can be seen how deeply rooted Christian beliefs, like those of
Santos, are rooted into a woman's mind. “By such generosity the white female
not only recognized her obligations to society, but was also moved by a
profound feeling of Christian charity” (Women 8). Though this ideas was from
the colonial times in Brazil, it’s still currently very prominent in women’s
lives. We conversed as a class how a woman would rather deal with a horrible
living situation than leave since it would shame their family because it was
not the “right thing to do”. I think Carmen Miranda can be used as an example
for this as well. She had a husband that would beat her as she lived in
America, but because she was so deeply rooted in the Brazil heritage and
culture, she didn’t want to leave him. She talked about how it would not be the
“Christian thing to do” and how her mother would be upset if she divorced him.
These only prove the point that religion and marriage are closely linked for
women in Brazil.
Our last
statement might be somewhat contradictory to some of the other writers
discussed in class since there were many varying opinions about religion in
these writers’ answers. Betty Silberstein stated that “religion has no
influence whatsoever”. She has been married with children, so it seems that
even if Betty believes religion has no influence, she herself is somewhat
influenced since she was a married woman.
Views on
Discrimination
Santos states
that discrimination is hidden a lot more in Brazil than it is in America. She
goes on to state that this is even bigger now because of the minority groups
being able to explain themselves better and reaching a vast population because
of social media. Another major issue is the discrimination with prostitution in
lower income areas. Though she states that “What I know about prostitution is
what I see in the news…. like most Brazilians, see prostitution, which is a
universal practice, as a difficult social problem to solve, because it exists
either because of economic problems that weaken some people in society making
them vulnerable to the appeals of pimps” (Email). Most of these problems are
hidden by the government which blindfold Brazilians themselves from these
struggles.
The “Happy
Prostitution” campaign promoted by the media showed how prostitution shouldn’t
be viewed as bad. The government had brought in prostitutes and had them speak
about how they were happy that they were prostitutes. This may not be
completely accurate and our class discussed, “That
these women feel an obligation to appear happy because they are being filmed on
the television” (Class discussion 4/9/2014). The government is trying to clear
discrimination for both racial and social issues in Brazil and Santos is seeing
this through watching the television.
Santos
wrote a novel called “TRIPS”. The novel discusses how there are too many people
in the world, and because of this, the government sends people to the moon,
mostly being the misfits of the world. I believe this relates back to the
government of Brazil since it tries to cover up the “misfits” of their culture
by either hiding them or showing them in a better light. This is contradictory
to the rich culture where they have more of an attitude of don’t ask don’t
tell. “I do not know which video clips of "happy" you're talking
about, but the Brazilian government has been fighting prostitution, but
unfortunately it is not an easy problem” (Email), she goes on to state that if
they are talking solely about adult prostitution, then it’s the woman's
decision to do this so it’s not the government’s fault. If it’s child’s
prostitution being discussed, then it needs to cease, as it is prohibited by
law. I think this shows the misunderstanding of a section of society that
believes it’s the woman’s decision. Since the government is trying to cover it
up, it becomes the prostitutes’ problem and not the government’s. The sad
reality is that a lot of the women do not have the ability to support
themselves or their children without prostitution.
In “TRIPS”,
Santos states “stop the ever-increasing proliferation of crime in every field of
activity and human relationship” (Santos). I believe that this shows her
opinion of the government trying to conceal racial discrimination as displayed
when the misfits are sent away since the world is overcrowded. The
reality of Brazil resembles “TRIPS” since the government is trying to hide
crime to make Brazil look like a better country to the rich eyes for the
Olympics and World Cup. I think it also shows the idea that most people in
Brazil are learning things from the television or internet, and the government
is trying to hide these issues by cleaning them up with better or “happier”
ads.
Difference between
Rural and City People
Santos states
clearly that the difference between rural and city people is, “an aspect that
sets them apart is that individuals from rural areas are more conservative
while city dwellers are more liberal”(Email). I think this makes a lot of sense
after all the class discussions we have had over this idea.
In class we read
an interview from Daphne Patai that read “how the rich have money while the
poor have love.” We discussed how this meant that socially money can cause more
problems and more stress. Poor people may find this idea reassuring: “Politically,
the government is not imposing the desire to be poor, but rather the Catholic
church” (Class Disscussion 4/4/2014). This shows how religion not only plays an
important moral role in people’s lives, but also an economic role as well.
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| Sara Fagan |
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| Emma Everly |
Bibliography
1."Emma And Sara."
Message to Janete Santos. Apr. 2014. E-mail.
2."REBRA - Rede De Escritoras Brasileiras." REBRA -
Rede De Escritoras Brasileiras. Trans. Cecília Nascimento. N.p., n.d. Web.
12 May 2014.
3.Santos, Janete. "TRIPS." Trans. Cecília Nascimento. TIRPS.
N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. REBRA. Web. 12 May 2014.
<http://rebra.org/escritora/escritora_eng.php?assunto=texto&id=1343>.
4.Women and Society in Colonial Brazil A. J. R. Russell-Wood
Journal of Latin
American Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1 (May, 1977), pp. 1-34
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