The Slum Passion Essay

In The Slum, life is ruled by passion. Passion causes every action, reaction, and circumstance that drives the plot of the novel along. Passion informs and causes the corruption, crime, gender relations, poverty, and work habits of every character within The Slum. Passion is inescapable and dominant, it is the overarching force of Azevedo’s work. Passion for money and status drives João Romão, passion for Rita Bahaina drives Jerônimo, passion for fun drives Rita, and passion for luxury drives Pombinha. Every aspect of urban life in the slum is driven by a character’s passion for something.

Passion creates the slum itself. João Romão is the creator and landlord of the slum as well as the owner of the tavern and bazaar that are next to it. His

João tries to cut costs wherever he can, “cheating his customers with short weight and scant measure” (4). He goes about his life “leaving his debts unpaid whenever he could but always collecting what he was owed,” (4). João’s passion lead him to steal from local construction sites to gain the materials to build homes behind his tavern that will ultimately make up the slum (4). João Romao’s passion for money is why the slum is created in the first place. The slum puts 95 houses right next to one another in a dense amount of space, creating a more urban feel in Borgata. João’s passion for money though is what leads to such utterly horrendous living conditions. The two room houses are “badly built” (). Romao's passion for money is at the core of who he is. Romao let’s one of the residents of the slum, known as Old Liborio, die during a massive fire in the Slum, so that he can steal his money. During the fire Liborio becomes so afraid “a spasm shook him, and the tavern-keeper tore the bundle [of money] from his hands” (166). Along the way though, João Romão picks up another passion, a passion for status. This changes Romao, but not entirely, money is still the

Yet over the course of the novel he falls in love with Rita Bahiana and develops a passion for her that overtakes his life. Jeronimo comes to the slum to run João Romao’s granite quarry where he produced “highly beneficial results and the quarry seemed better run with every passing day” (41). Jeronimo “rose at four every morning” and always went to bed “at nine o’clock” (42). On Sunday’s Jeronimo and his wife were invited to many dinner tables but “they politely declined, preferring to spend a quiet afternoon together as they always did” (52). One Sunday though, Rita Bahiana is dancing and “Jeronimo looked and listened, feeling his soul take flight through his enamored eyes” (61). The initial encounter leads Jeronimo to eventually fall in love with Rita. This causes problems for Jeronimo as he is married and Rita has a long time lover named Firmo. Firmo is a gangster and grows increasingly irritated at Jeronimo’s crush on Rita until one Sunday Firmo’s jealousy gets the better of him and he attacks Jeronimo, “slitting Jeronimo’s belly with his knife” (103). The fight calls the attention of the local cops who, “spread destruction whenever they entered a slum” (104). Even a fire springs up during the commotion, putting an end to the chaos. All this crime, destruction, and violence are either directly caused or made possible because of Jeronimo’s passion for Rita. After the brawl, Firmo moves to the rival slum on the