Culture Homework #2 - Roots of Brazil

The concept of the cordial man is very foreign to me. Coming from the United States, where we sing the national anthem at every event, pledge the flag in the morning, and plaster our flag over everything we possibly can, it is strange for me to think that one could not feel a sense of identity with their nation. I also grew up in New York during the post-9/11 era, so I feel a strong bond to both my state and my country, not to mention my home city of Newburgh. All of these communal qualities give me a strong sense of duty to the people around me, and that does not stop when I come to Brazil. That is why it is so difficult to see the maids working around me at the hostel or the HUB and not feel like I have to help with the dishes, or get out of their way so as to not inconvenience them in the slightest way. In the United States, one is tied to the people around them, because we are all Americans, or New Yorkers, or what have you. Therefore, having an old woman whom I do not know cleaning up my messes feels backwards. I feel instead as if I should have her take my seat and I do the work.

Yet, this is not the case in Brazil.  The Brazilians are not tethered to "clear origins or to explanatory 'centers'" as Monteiro suggests. Therefore, the Brazilian should feel no duty to take the weight off of an elderly maid's shoulders, as they feel no connection with her. The same goes for a homeless person on Avenue Paulista. Monteiro would argue that a Brazilian should feel no need to help this person because of "some abstract 'collectivity'" that a member of another culture may feel to that same person. Therefore, why should an impoverished Brazilian feel any shame in robbing or swindling a more well off person, when they feel no relation to said person? The Brazilians that I have witnessed find it normal to turn a blind eye to the elderly or the struggling. However, this is not out of cruelty or a lack of empathy, but simply because they may not recognize that person as personally important to them.

The opposite side of the cordial man persona is duty to one's family. According to Monteiro, the Brazilian is only emotionally responsible for the "well-being of a small family nucleus." This would explain why the nanny Val, in The Second Mother, feels an intense connection to her daughter Jessica, even though she was not there to raise Jessica. This connection explains why Val went through years of being treated like a second-class citizen by the family she served to provide for the daughter that she did not truly know. Likewise, when Val learned of Jessica's secret child, she wanted to bring the child to live with her and Jessica, even though it was fine where it was living. This is most likely because of her intense instinct to be a grandmother, owing to her connection with her family. Interestingly, Val also felt an intense love for the son of her hiring family, Fabinho. While Fabinho was not her blood, he was still a part of the family nucleus that she was a part of for so many years. This made him like her own son, that she was able to raise in exchange for Jessica. I believe that this was an important fulfillment for Val, and that she needed a family to be responsible for because of her cordial nature, even if she was not related.

Overall, the cordial man identity is a foreign concept to me, as I have always been strongly bound to my community, and surrounding citizens in general. This severe shift in social values feels like the difference that I subconsciously knew existed just from my time here in Brazil. I was happy to receive an explanation of this difference from both the class material and Roots of Brazil, because now it is easier to understand the actions and motivations of Brazilians around me.