Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands: A Moral and Amorous Tale: Analysis of Major Characters
"Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands: A Moral and Amorous Tale" explores the life of Dona Flor dos Guimarães, a talented cook in Bahia, Brazil, who navigates her complex relationships with two very different husbands. After the untimely death of her first husband, Vadinho, a charming but irresponsible gambler, Flor is left longing for the emotional and physical passion he provided. Despite his many flaws, including infidelity and reckless living, Vadinho's vibrant spirit remains a significant force in Flor's life.
In contrast, her second husband, Dr. Teodoro Madureira, embodies order and respectability. He offers Flor stability and care, but his romantic advances are by the book and lack the fiery passion their relationship could have. The novel also introduces a range of supporting characters, such as Dona Norma, who aids Flor in her journey, and Dona Rozilda, her overbearing mother, whose critical nature adds tension to Flor's life. Through these interactions, the narrative delves into themes of love, desire, societal expectations, and the duality of human nature, ultimately culminating in Flor's journey toward self-fulfillment. The story captures the interplay of personal and social dynamics, providing a rich tableau of Brazilian life and relationships.
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands: A Moral and Amorous Tale: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Jorge Amado
First published: Dona Flor e seus dois maridos, 1966 (English translation, 1969)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Salvador, in the state of Bahia, Brazil
Plot: Social morality
Time: The 1960's
Dona Flor dos Guimarães (gee-mah-RAYNSH), a cook of genius. Flor's Cooking School of Savor and Art attracts pupils from all over the state of Bahia, Brazil, and ensures her a measure of dignity and independence. Thirtyish, easygoing, plump, coppery-skinned, and graceful, Flor is very feminine and at the peak of her charms when her husband of seven years, Vadinho, dies, leaving her chilled and lonely in her grief, with no outlet for her sensuality and joie de vivre.She also is beset by marriage-making friends, a gigolo on the make, and her overbearing mother. Her instinct for calm, order, and propriety, however, is satisfied by her second husband. At the end of the novel, her life is complete when Vadinho is called back from death by the power of her desire to fulfill the other, hidden side of her double nature.
Waldomiro Guimarães, usually called Vadinho, Dona Flor's first husband, a gambler and profligate. The bastard scion of an important family, Vadinho lives a life that is a series of picaresque adventures. Good for nothing except making love and friends, he initially courts Flor in a cynical attempt at defloration but ends with as much tenderness as nature has granted him to give. He is a bad husband—unfaithful (even with Flor's pupils) and spendthrift (once even hitting her to get his hands on her savings)—but a wonderful lover: His peremptory bedroom demands allow her to let go of her modesty. With the proceeds of his wildest gambling spree, he buys her a fabulous necklace of turquoise and showers the bed with banknotes. He drops dead dancing the samba during Carnival at the age of thirty-one, burned out by reckless living. He returns from the shades at Flor's call, materializing naked in the bedroom she now shares with his “colleague,” her second husband. He is visible only to Flor but enjoys fixing the gambling tables so that his friends strike it rich on his lucky number, seventeen.
Dr. Teodoro Madureira, Flor's second husband, part owner and druggist-in-charge of the Scientific Pharmacy and an enthusiastic member of the Amateur Orchestra of the Sons of Orpheus. Gentlemanly and upright, he is an outstanding member of the community whose watchword is order: Wednesday and Saturday are duly designated as days to make love once Flor has accepted his completely correct written proposal. A romantic and (too) respectful lover, he tenderly cherishes his wife, providing for her financial and physical welfare and, at one memorable concert, also performing on his bassoon a solo “Lullaby to Floripedes.”
Dona Norma de Ze Sampaio, the neighborhood guardian angel, the wife of a hypochondriac shoe-store owner. She helps Flor marry, establish her school, and survive her widowhood.
Dona Gisa, an ingenuous teacher who is stuffed with book learning and incapable of even comfortable lies. Born a gringa in America but now a Brazilian citizen (her Portuguese accent is execrable), Dona Gisa keeps up a ten-cent psychologist's commentary on the events of Flor's life.
Dona Rozilda, Flor's mother, a malicious harridan with a tongue like a knife, unable to control her spasmodic outbursts of hate, particularly for Vadinho, who initially tricked her into thinking him a model suitor. Her daughter's widowhood offers her an opportunity to get Flor back under her thumb, and Flor's second marriage offers the means of basking in the social success she has bitterly craved.
Dionisia, a mulatto model and whore, a votary of the god Oxossi. Beautiful and a powerful worker of magic, she helps Flor conjure Vadinho back from the shades.