The Flophouse
A hardworking man, eager to acquire wealth, becomes increasingly obsessed with it. He gets into a rivalry with his new neighbor, Miranda, over land. They both crave to build a tenement with houses and tubs for valets. John envies his neighbor. Henry, a medical student, comes to live at Miranda’s home to finish his studies. In this house, besides slaves and his family, lives a gentleman parasite, Botelho, a former employee. D. Estela, Miranda’s wife, flirts with Henry, but they are eventually caught by Botelho. The daily routine of life in the slum goes according to the reality of its residents, where valets are the most common type. Jerome, a tall Portuguese man, offers his services to John. After some negotiation, John accepts the proposal, provided he lives in the tenement and shops at his store. The arrival of Jerome and Mercy causes comments and whispers among the laundresses. After a few months, they gain the full confidence of everyone because they are sincere, serious, and respectable. They have a simple life, and their daughter studies at a boarding school. On Sundays, they all wear their best clothes and gather for dinner, dancing, and cheering. After three months, Baiana Rita returns. The “Wow” is very well represented by Bahia and her lover Firmo at these meetings. Jerome is so admired by the agility in dancing that he loses a night’s sleep thinking of the mulatto. Dove spends these days writing letters. Henry amuses himself by looking at Leocadia, who, in exchange for a rabbit, satisfies his physical desire. They are caught by Bruno, her husband, who beats her and throws her out of the house after a scandal. Jerome changes his habits and becomes increasingly aligned with the mulatto Rita. Firmo feels jealous. Florinda, pregnant with Dominic’s child, is forced to marry or provide a dowry. There is a fuss around the tenement. Florinda is forced to flee her home. Leonie, a high-level prostitute, appears with her goddaughter Juju, everyone wonders about their wealth. Leonie is very friendly with Dove. Miranda is at a party! He has been awarded the title of Baron of Freixal by the Portuguese government. John asks himself why he has not enjoyed the pleasures of life, leaving only the savings. Faced with this, he is in a bad mood and gets involved with everyone in the tenement. He throws all of Marciana’s belongings onto the street, accusing her of being a slut, and she ends up in jail. The party is heating up, and John receives an invitation to go there, which makes him even more reviled. A forró begins in the courtyard, but a fight breaks out between Jerome and Firmo. A barricade prevents the police from coming. A fire in December raises great despair, there is a stampede, police are injured, and Jerome is stabbed. A huge rain falls. João is called to testify, and many of the tenement residents follow him to the station. Rita takes care of the sick Jerome tirelessly day and night. In the tenement, nothing is said about the perpetrators and victims. Pity cries, unhappy and desperate for her injured husband. Firmo no longer goes there, threatened by Joao to be handed over to the police. Pombinha feels unwell due to Leonie’s visit the day before. Leonie, as was her custom, showered Dove with kisses and cuddles. She was also a prostitute, a lesbian. This traumatized the child, who, by force and insistence of her mother, went to circle behind the tenement, where she dozed off, waking up dreaming and becoming a woman. D. Isabel throws a party upon learning of long-awaited news. Pombinha is preparing her trousseau when Bruno comes over and asks her to write a letter to Leocadia. He was crying. She, seeing his submission, enjoys her new sense of ownership of the female domain. She imagines the life of everyone, for her writing desk serves as a confessional. She sees that everything will continue, as there are no worthy men who deserve her love and respect. Dove, even if uncertain, marries the Coast. There is great commotion in the courtyard. A new tenement appears nearby, the “Cat Head.” A rivalry with Joao’s slum is created. Firmo stays there, with even more reasons against Jerome. John meets with his security over the guests, investing now in his visual culture, clothes, dances, readings, and a friendship with Miranda and Botelho. He and the old men are plotting something with the baron’s daughter. There is a dinner at which John is all exaggeratedly ornamented. John, at the peak of his life, sees himself in a situation where he needs to get rid of the black man, and comes to think of his death. Without even standing after his discharge from the hospital, he goes to talk to Jerome and Ze Carlos Pataca about the extermination of Firmo. The day runs, he chats with John Zulmira in the window of Miranda’s house, feeling familiar. Jerome is to carry out his plan by meeting with the other two at Garnisé, a bar opposite the cemetery. Pataca enters the bar and bumps into Florinda, who gives him news that his mother had stopped in a hospice. Firmo appears and makes out to the beach with Rita. Very stoned, they follow. There, the three beat him and throw him overboard. It was raining hard, and going home, Jerome gives up and goes to Rita’s home. The meeting was seething by both parties. Everything was resolved, they would run the next day. Pity, the hours wore on, the more desperate she became. At dawn, she cries and sobs in the courtyard, but nothing more is heard about Jerome’s disappearance. The death of Firmo is already known in the courtyard. Rita is with Jerome. He, dreaming of starting a new life, writes to the landlord immediately dismissing him from the job, and promises to pay only for the college girl. Pity and Rita are attacked when they leave. The whole tenement and more people come and enter the fray. It was a tremendous uproar, just like a national contest. Neither the police had the courage to enter without reinforcement. The Cat’s Head also enters the fray. The war is waged, the struggle of rival capoeiristas increases gradually when the fire bursts on the 88th, bloodying the air. The cause was the same as before, a Machiavellian desire. The old woman, considered a witch, burned her house, which was burned and buried, laughing drunk with satisfaction. With all the excitement, water rose on all sides and only put an end to the situation when firefighters, as heroes, arrived. The old Liborio, a beggar staying in a corner of the tenement, would escape amid the confusion, but John followed him. The old man had eight bottles filled with notes of various values, which John stole and fled, leaving the burning glow. The Witch, the daughter of Augusta and Liborio, and many wounded died in the fire. For John, the fire was seen as profit because the courtyard was safe, making expansion plans based on the money of the old beggar. Bruno ended up in the hospital due to the fire, where Leocadia went to visit him, so they reconciled. The reforms have expanded to the warehouse, and the changes in John’s style also reached a higher social level. Fortified by the friendship with Miranda and her family, he asked for Zulmira’s hand in marriage. Bertoleza, broken and worn out from that life, hoped for her only shelter in her old age. Jerônimo becomes Brazilianized. With all the customs of Bahia, he is delighted to live happily with the mulatta Rita. Pity, with bleak sadness, accustomed to drinking, began to receive visitors on Sunday, her daughter (nine years old), who soon captivated the whole tenement, confirmed by all as “Senhorinha.” Finished by the misfortunes of life, Jerome and Mercy no longer harbor rancor towards each other. Both are estimated jointly owned and only look after their daughter. Jerome regretted it, but would not go back. He gave up drinking, too. The slum no longer seemed the same. Now, shoes are bright and tidy. The landlord’s house had also not stayed behind in the reforms. Albino, a homosexual washerman, stood out with the fitting of his home. Life unfolded, and new residents arrived. They no longer read under the red light at the door of the tenement Estalagem de Sao Romao, but “Avenida São Romão.” No longer did the “Choradinho” and “green cane,” the fashion was now forrobodó at home. In one of those in the house of pain, Pity filled his face, and Pataca, who had company, wanted to grab it, then to hear their cries, but the rum had an effect (vomiting), and nothing happened. Joao did not preach his eyes, thinking of what to do to end the Creole Bertoleza. Augustine, son of Augusta, had suffered an accident at the quarry and had been totally trashed. There was desperation in the courtyard. Botelho was talking to John early on. Bertoleza, hearing about the situation, stood before them and demanded her rights. They discussed the issue and resolved nothing. John was annoyed and had the idea of sending her back to the owner, offering this service to Botelho, who incidentally got him to pay for what he paid. Around the restlessness and malaise of John, the store prospered, and Bertoleza saved wind, increasing the level of customers and goods. His avenue was now frequented by people with thinner possessions, such as tailors, laborers, artists, etc. Florinda, still in mourning for her mother Marciana, was involved with an agent now. Machona, Augusta, had broken her genius after the death of Augustine. Baby tidied up her suitor. Alexander was promoted to sergeant. Pombinha joined Leonie and shot herself into the world. With so much grief, D. Elizabeth, Pombinha’s mother, died in a nursing home. Mercy received help from Dove to survive, as she estimated Senhorinha, despite knowing that the end of this poor little girl would be like hers. Yet Pity was dumped and took refuge in the Cat Head, which had clearly become a real Rio slum. There was a meeting at a bakery in Rua’s ombudsman, among the family of Miranda, Joao, and Botelho, and they began to chat. In turn, towards the Largo São Francisco, John and Botelho chose to stay in town to talk about the end that would give the Creole. It was right, its owner would get it near the police. When that happened, now that she is dead, spirited away, with the same knife that shelled and cleaned fish for John, her belly ripped Bertoleza overall. At that very moment, Joao received a bachelor partner worthy of the abolitionist commission. |
