A presentation about how the Brazil dictatorship influenced Ivan Angelo to write "The Celebration."

1. PRESENTATION BY KAILEY SASSE, PIERCE COLLEGE, WA
Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

2. The
Celebration
Novel By: Ivan Angelo

3. Historical Context
■ Covers period from 1930-1970 in Brazil
■ Brazilian dictatorship was beginning to take over (1964-1985)
■ Primary sector of the economy was the exportation of coffee, rubber, and cacao
– Coffee brought a wave of over 1 million European immigrants
– Coffee planters virtually owned the country and the government for 30 years until
worldwide depression evaporated coffee demand
■ Strong social contrasts were caused by the concentration of rural land ownership, political
exclusion, and the late abolition of slavery in 1888
■ Diversity; population includedAfricans (from slavery), Europeans, Asians, Amerindian, and
Middle Eastern
– Multiplicity of cultural legacies is a notable feature of current Brazilian culture
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4. Political Context
■ Northeast was experiencing drought; few had jobs, food, or water. 2 million lived
malnourished and poverty stricken (Angelo 11)
– Fueled the migration to cities
– Military did not like this
■ From 1888 to 1930 only 2-5 percent of the population could vote
– Women were not allowed to cast a ballot
■ Political parties were made up of large national parties and the predominance of
charismatic leaders (or populists) like GetulioVargas (elected president in 1950)
despite being a former dictator.
Photo from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/124259163@N07/26909596301/in/photolist-iWx4et-6LtPYH-hC84rg-7JiP1j-5g1zCo-CKF4t1-BXQkbT-
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5. Political Context
■ Brazilian dictatorship (1964-1985)
– Coup overthrew reformist government of PresidentJoaoGoulart and established an authoritarian
regime controlled by the military
– Military called it the “revolution”
– Street protests, social movements, and trade unions were closely monitored by political police and
military intelligence services
– Censors muzzled the arts and press
– Torture
■ At an international level, given the forceful anticommunism, the coup reflected the impact of theCold
War on Brazilian society
■ Conservatives (mainly middle class) had realized the military had come to power and had a political
project to restrict freedom of expression and political representation; classic principals of liberalism
■ The coup was backed by the United States Government
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6. Cultural Context
■ Tropicalia: A Brazilian Revolution in Sound
– One of the most significant cultural movements in Brazil that encompassed music, film,
visual arts, and theater.
– Was born in 1968, lasted a little more than a year
– Leading Protagonists: CaetanoVeloso, and Gilberto Gil
– Diverse artists: David Bryne, Beck, Kurt Cobain, Stereolab
– CaetanoVeloso, and Gilberto Gil were arrested and imprisoned until they were finally
exiled in 1969
– A mode of analyzing and manipulating culture and political expression
– Rejected both sides versions of nationalism (the military government’s conservative
patriotism and left wing anti-imperialism)

7. Point ofView
■ Third Person omniscient: the novel
switches between numerous point of
views and involves numerous
characters- some go unnamed.
■ The narratives between each of the
characters are in first person, the
author adds “authors notes” towards
the end of the novel

8. Mood
■ Depressing- Many characters experienced some form of depression
■ Confusion- Not knowing who some of the characters are until “After the Celebration.”
Characters were quite confused about the government
■ Dark- Knowing that these refugees were killed because they were seeking refuge;The
mothers of the sons who “disappeared”
■ Hostile- A POV of a DOPS officer was given and he was quite hostile towards the
citizens of Brazil
■ Exciting- Roberto’s birthday party coming up and Andrea’s engagement
■ Tension-All events lead up to the refugees being killed and sent back to the drought

9. Protagonists
■ Carlos Bicalho, stood up for refugees at the train station
■ Samuel, the journalist
■ Lucio, explained what the police were doing to refugees to Samuel
■ Andrea, undeserving of all the misfortune in her life; worked in journalism
■ Roberto, stuck up businessman who threw the “celebration”

10. Plot
■ Husband andWife are experiencing hardships in their marriage, the husband is trying to kill his wife secretly; she keeps
dodging his attacks. Husband hasn’t talked toWife in years
■ Their anniversary comes and he seems normal again.Wife suspects he’s trying to kill her again- this time with poison.
■ Andrea’s pictures appear in the papers, her trial is in 1953
■ Andrea dreamed of becoming a journalist; she quit her job at the newspaper- she focused more on her column
■ Mother and Father have their son in 1941; Father wants to be the father he never had
■ Mother feels that she's losing her son in 1942- she becomes depressed very quickly, father begins to resent Mother.
■ Mother threatens to leave the house in 1946
■ Dr. Jorge reads the newspaper and realizes there is a drought in the Northeast
■ Dr. Jorge gets ready for Roberto Miranda’s party
■ The mother of Carlos grieves her son because he is never home- she worries about his safety

11. Plot
■ DOPS officer thinks his vulgarity is okay because he is just doing his job
■ 2 unnamed characters in a bar talk about a novel about the coup; the author plans to hide the actual meaning of the novel so it won’t get
censored
■ Unnamed neighbor finds out about Roberto's party
■ Carlos’s wife calls Samuel looking for her husband.The police ransacked their house and said her husband was arrested.She asks for his help
■ Samuel calls Mr. de Fernandes (Carlos’s lawyer), asking for help. De Fernandes refuses to help, says Carlos is a “pain in the ass”
■ Samuel leaves a drugstore to the Plaza to write an article about the refugees
■ Samuel arrives and counts the amount of police
■ Samuel interviews an investigator at the Plaza
■ Lucio gets Samuels attention and explains what is really happening to the refugees
■ Viriato (a refugee) reaccounts his journey through the crowds at the Plaza
■ Samuel buys a refugee family food and milk
■ The refugees and soldiers rest

12. Themes
■ A nation falling into darkness
– Using the stories of numerous people, how their economic status affected them
throughout it (poor were more affected, rich went on with their daily lives)
– Worry (numerous stories of mothers grieving their children who were “lost” but they
really weren’t.
– The hatred of (usually) the men towards the government, the author didn’t say one good
thing throughout the novel, neither did any of the male characters
– Journalists jobs began to be useless because of the censor; wanted to write stories about
the Northeasterners but they had slim chances of being published
– Reoccurred throughout the whole novel; you can tell when things became really bad
because it was brought up more often

13. Themes
■ A mother’s love never dies
– Multiple stories about mother’s grieving who their kids once were
– Mother 1: grieved the baby she once had, she didn’t like that he was growing up and
hated that he was closer to his father; she wanted to leave but her heart still
wanted her baby boy
– Mother 2: Her son was in college and was away all the time, he always came home
very late at night. She hated other girls, and didn’t want her son being with
someone who wasn’t a virgin. She wanted control but couldn’t have it anymore; but
still cared for her son more than anything
– These stories were significant because they were the longest and most in depth in
the entire novel

14. Themes
■ The strength of a nation
– Despite hardships everyone carried on
– The wealthy gave some food and drink to the suffering refugees despite police
orders
– Even though many were trapped at the train station, there was still hope because of
Carlos

15. Symbols
■ The Celebration:Although it seems there is a party (and there is one in the novel) the celebration
seems to be the act of the military setting fire to the train cars that the northeasterners arrived in, the
police brutally controlling the group (firing guns at point blank range, clubbing, isolating on
horseback)
– Calling it a “celebration” makes it seem less dark than it actually was.When we think of a
celebration, we think of something happy.
■ Grieving Mothers:Although their children weren’t really gone, their grief and how they were
“looking” for their sons to come back to them really symbols the mothers whos sons disappeared and
died during the coup.The mothers never stopped looking for their sons
■ Author’s Notes: Although very straight forward, he added his thoughts about the government to
really show how his characters were feeling at the time. He lived through the coup himself and gave
more insight and understanding to the story through his notes.
■ Unnamed Characters: Shows the impact of those who died who are still unnamed, only their families
know that they are missing.The government still doesn’t care to find these people.

16. Interpretation
I feel that in this novel Angelo was painting a picture of what it was like to live during the Brazilian coup; most importantly, how social
status affected the people who lived during this time.
The Celebration gives numerous point of views of people who lived during this time. It gave insight of how the poor were more affected
and repressed through stories of those like the Mother, Father, and Son stories.The Father didn’t talk good about the government at all,
and the Mother grieved her son, even though he as still alive and well.The mother represented the mothers who ‘s sons disappeared during
the coup and never returned home It gives perspective from Roberto, who was more fortunate and didn’t seem to realize what was going
on around him. Whenever a character went unnamed, it reminded me of those wo were taken and the government refused to
acknowledge it. It showed how “unimportant” the people’s lives were to them.
The point that I believe Angelo was trying to make while writing this novel, was to show the hardships that everyone faced in their daily
lives, and their fear of the government. An example of this is Andrea’s story, she lived a life where no one accepted her or took her
seriously, when her dreams cam true of becoming a journalist. But as a journalist, Andrea had to worry about being censored and possibly
tortured or killed.
Every character in Angelo’s story represents almost every part their society that was affected by the coup: Journalists, doctors,
businessmen, trades workers, students, mothers, fathers, kids, homosexuals, poor, rich, middle class., and a DOPS officer. I believe he
wanted readers to see the differences in the things that they were afraid of and how it affected their daily lives.
The stories at the beginning of the story were pre-coup, the middle of the story was when tensions of the government were beginning, and
the end of the novel was about the injustices of the injustices of the coup.
Angelo does an excellent job at representing those affected by the coup, and of sharing the stories of those who passed away in the Plaza
the day the refugees came. He even includes an index at the end sharing the stories of all his characters after the “celebration.”

17. Works Consulted
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