Essay Example on PMBC: Exploring Literary Devices to Simplify Message

In PMBC, the author used a variety of literary devices to convey his message to the readers. The use of literary devices simplifies the message to help the reader to understand, interpret, and appreciate the literary work. The author employed various literary tricks such as the use of a dead narrator as the protagonist of the fictional memoir. Machado made use of descriptions, literary references, and his method of recounting scenes to pay homage to the European tradition of the time. Besides, the author used typography to transform the memoir into a visual experience. This paper aims to explore how the author employed various literary devices in the novel, PMBC, to bring the memoir to life.

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The author used the idea of a dead narrator as his point of departure from the concept of literary realism. Machado made use of a dead narrator, Bras Cubas, so as to free himself from the living condition and thus gain the freedom to express what he wanted to express freely. He noted that death frees him 'from the responsibilities of the living. Death offers him the indolence of eternity' (p. 209). Being free from the living condition allows the author to describe with ironic sarcasm the hypocrisy and the folly that permeate the society. In addition, the fact of being already dead, allows the narrator the freedom to sharply criticize the society with no fear of retaliation 'the gaze of public opinions, that sharp and judgmental gaze, losses its virtue the moment we tread the territory of death. I'm not saying that it doesn't reach here and examine and judge us, but we don't care about the examination or judgment' (P.52). In death, the narrator reflects on his disillusionment, with no fear retaliation or feeling of remorsefulness.

In PMBC, the author challenges the conventions of literary realism. Firstly, the memoir deviates from the traditional form of novel writing which used a convincing plot and a captivating narrative to passively draw and pull along the readers. The author disrupts the realistic conventions by frequently freeing himself from the text by making startling observations about the novel and its style. In Chapter LXXI, Machado castigated the readers for loving direct and continuous narrations "the main defect of this book is you, reader....You're in a hurry to grow old and the book moves slowly. You love direct and continuous narration . . . and this book and my style are like drunkards, they stagger left and right, they walk and stop, mumble, yell, cackle, shake their fists at the sky, stumble and fall ..."(pg. 111).

The influence of European tradition is evident in the PMBC novel. The author used the style of freewheeling narrative through the use of descriptions, literary references and his method of recounting scenes. In the introduction, the narrator confessed to having "adopted the free-form of a Sterne or a Xavier de Maistre" in the writing of these Memoirs. In chapter CXLIX 'Praise of Vanity', the narrator makes direct reference to Robert Burton's book Praise of Folly. Through the use of typography in the composition of the memoirs, the author had indeed captured the European tradition, down to the experimental font and calligraphy.

The memoir is craftily written with the use of a variety of literary devices. The author employs the idea of a dead narrator so as to gain freedom from the living conditions. In PMBC, the style of narration goes against the grain of literary realism as it contrives the realistic conventions of writing. In summary, the author pays homage to the European tradition through the use of literary devices such as descriptions, references, and quotations.

Works Cited

Machado, Joaquim Maria, et al. The posthumous memoirs of Bras Cubas. Oxford University Press, 1999.