O heroísmo singular de uma operária submissa em Os Famintos, de João Grave

In 1903, a year of huge conflicts between workers and employers, João Grave made his debut in the Portuguese literature with The Hungry Ones, a novel whose action takes place in a workers suburb and in a factory, in Porto. This novel may be interpreted as a modern epic that tells the story of a young woman who lives in this suburb and acts as a puppet of destiny. In addition to symbolizing the lack of political awareness among female workers, Luísa, the main character, engages in a struggle for life and tries to overcome successive setbacks, namely her father’s death, the factory, the strike, mendicancy, prostitution and alcoholism. In the end, the strikers remain in the suburb; Luísa, who was submissive to power, moves to the countryside and improves her life. Throughout its four editions, this dystopian novel endures the Republican Implantation and prefigures the “Estado Novo”, a regime that will also diminish workers' activism, so as to dominate an orderly proletariat. With this feudal perspective of the polis, perpetually divided into rich and poor, an ultimate message is conveyed by The Hungry Ones’ heroine: all working-class members can be happy should they respect power and fulfil their duties.
Keywords: João Grave, The Hungry Ones, singular hero, Status of Women, working-class.