Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Oswald De Andrade
In the Portuguese Mistake, while it is speaking a specific instance in time, it is very easy to relate to. Its whole idea is based on the idea of timing and how it plays such a large role in how things play out, which is true to the life we lead today. Just the weather alone determines our fate of that day, what we will do, where we will go, what will happen to us, and he captures that in this short poem that is specific to one encounter yet pertains to the lives of everyone.
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4 comments:
Also, I think that he is emphasizing the random nature of events that we often see as causal. We often take for granted the logical 'civilizing' outcome of the Spanish/Portuguese conquest. de Andrade places a much greater emphasis on something that is totally haphazard like the weather on the day that the first ships arrived.
That arbitrary nature of dramatically significant events in history is really interesting. In the poem it is, obviously, an exaggeration, but it can be cool to look at alternate history theories and to see the various seemingly random events that, when altered, would violently change the course of history. That made sense, right? Just interesting, I think.
Yes, i agree, i believe that rather than saying how the rain actually affects an event as huge as Portuguese conquest. I believe what he is doing is commenting on our reaction to such events or historian's explanations of such.
Who are we to say why things happened in past, not only do we have no clue what was going inside the heads of most, but we are living in a different world where different things are acceptable. To portuguese the natives were not "people". today we are much more critical and call them racists.
Andrade probably did not mean for me to think of it in this way particularly but whatevs. tot's
I agree with Matti that this poem makes the point that fate is sometimes unpredictable and little things can effect much larger events. I think "The Portuguese Mistake" is not only meant to evoke a humorous attitude but also a somewhat tragic one. As Matti said, I also agree that the poem is very relateable. It makes the reader think about events in their own lives that have been changed or altered based on small events. After fully understanding the poem it makes the reader realize how many other horrible things have happened that may have been avoided if something as trivial as it not raining had happened.
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