4 - The Indianist

Summary

In the first three chapters I have shown how Floresta constructed an image of idealised womanhood, and how that image was fundamentally tied to a concept of national identity and standing. I shall now turn to the writer's engagement with a more traditional symbol and representative of Brazilian national identity: the indigenous population. The primary focus of this chapter will be A Lágrima de um Caheté, published in Rio in 1849. This poem is arguably Floresta's most unusual and surprising work, her only concerted use of poetry as a medium, and her only overtly political, anti-establishment publication. The poem laments the defeat of a Pernambucan nativist uprising, of the same year, but its central figure and ‘hero’ is a Caeté Indian. For this reason the poem is generally referred to as an example of, and Floresta's only contribution to, Indianist writing.

This definition is problematic, however, because the text differs from the norms of the Indianist movement in a number of fundamental ways. I will therefore analyse this work closely to consider how Floresta borrows from and manipulates this popular and influential genre to suit her very specific literary and political purpose and to assess the validity of the text's Indianist label. To do this, I shall first look at the development of the wider Brazilian literary and social movement known as ‘Indianism’, and the ideologies behind it, before looking at the political motivation of Floresta's poem and how it shapes the text and sets it apart.