O Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma by Lima Barreto
Published 2006 · 176 pages · 48,400 words · about 3 hours at an average pace · Literary Fiction, Satire & Humor, Postcolonial Literature
How hard is O Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma to read?
O Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma scores 40 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it moderately challenging. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 35 out of 100
- Barreto writes in plain, journalistic Portuguese with occasional bureaucratic and period terms and Tupi references. It is far easier than Machado de Assis and sits near The Great Gatsby in accessibility.
- Sentence structure: 33 out of 100
- Sentences are short to medium and direct, with a clear narrative voice. Like Orwell's 1984, it demands little grammatical effort.
- Abstraction: 50 out of 100
- Ideas about nationhood, language and agriculture are shown through Quaresma's concrete projects and failures. Ideas drive the plot, but always through events.
- Information density: 45 out of 100
- The novel references Brazilian politics, folklore, farming and military events in short chapters. It is lighter than Anna Karenina, but historical context adds weight.
- Narrative indirection: 45 out of 100
- The narrator comments openly, but readers must infer Barreto's critique of Brazilian elites. Quaresma's naivety is clear, though the full satirical target takes inference.
- Symbolic density: 45 out of 100
- Tupi-Guarani, the farm and the major's library carry clear national-allegorical meaning. The symbols are signposted rather than hidden, close to the clarity of 1984.
- Ironic distance: 60 out of 100
- Barreto's tone is tender yet satirical toward Quaresma, and savage toward bureaucrats and officers. The gap between Quaresma's hopes and what the narrator shows is constant.
- Resolution withholding: 25 out of 100
- The plot closes with a bleak, definitive ending. Quaresma's disillusionment is complete, leaving little ambiguity beyond the political meaning.
- Structural complexity: 25 out of 100
- The three-part structure moves in clear chronological order from Rio to the farm to the revolt. It is as straightforward as 1984's three parts.
How O Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma is regarded
O Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma holds a literary regard score of 69 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.
Where the story of O Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma takes place
- Rio de Janeiro, early First Republic, 1891–1894 (1891 to 1894), the main setting