Pereira is an older man who is overweight, stuck in the past, and somewhat cowardly. Antonio Tabucchi’s stylistics choices and use of diction help us to see deeper into the mind of Pereira; to see why he does not always acknowledge crucial events in his life. When Tabucchi writes without quotation marks or writes with comma splices whenever a character is speaking, it can only prompt me to believe that it is crucial to the overall theme of the story. Pereira wants so desperately to express his dislike for the government of his country, and the Dictator of said country, Salazar. How can he do so, though, if he is too afraid to let his opinions be known? Tabucchi’s use of words such as “death” and “Pereira declares” adds onto the question at hand. The imagery that is used, too, including moments where Pereira sweats, leads us to believe that there is a deeper meaning behind Pereira’s lack of attention. If we look closely at Tabucchi's use of flashback and contrasting images in this passage, as well as at Pereira's body language during his interactions with Monteiro, we see that Pereira desperately wants to go against the totalitarian government but is afraid to. This is important because it suggests that his zest for life is stronger than his obsession with death.

Pereira always seems to sweat at the most inconvenient times, but the reasons can be easily deciphered. From the evidence of the following quote, “Pereira declares that as he was saying this he felt a trickle of sweat running down his spine” (23) Pereira clearly did not understand the reason as to why sweat was coming from his body. If you look at evidence from previous chapters, Pereira wants so desperately to speak up and go against the totalitarian government. When he looks at Monteiro Rossi, he sees himself but he knows deep down that Monteiro would be much more willing to say something about the government than he would. When we look at the quote said directly after, “Why was he sweating? Heaven knows” (23) we realize that if Pereira paid attention to his inner thoughts and feelings, he would notice that he actually likes Monteiro Rossi’s writing and sees a rebellious version of himself in Rossi. Rossi is also beginning to extract a side of Pereira that involves an interest in the subject of life. Normally, Pereira is stuck on the subject of death, but he is starting to realize through Rossi that life is a way more interesting topic to spend time on. Pereira is so afraid of admitting these feelings to Rossi, let alone anyone because he does not want to find himself in trouble. This is why he sweats after he tells Rossi he does not like the piece he has written; he is afraid his words could be held against him.

Tabucchi’s repetitive use of the phrase, “Pereira declares”, represents how Pereira will say something that is almost the exact opposite of what he feels. This is important to the story because Pereira is constantly caught between saying how he feels and protecting his own life. If he shows even the slightest interest in Monteiro Rossi’s rebellious writing, he could get into serious trouble, or Rossi could even turn around and report him. Pereira does not realize this on the surface, though; he has almost completely convinced himself to reject his deeper feelings. This is evident in earlier chapters where he almost seems unaware of the deaths happening around him. When Pereira is speaking to Rossi about getting something to eat, the narrator tells us, “This, he declares, he cannot presume to say” (24). Pereira wonders why he could not tell Rossi “no” because he cannot understand how he could possibly ever accept Rossi and genuinely enjoy his writing. This is the part inside him that rejects the totalitarian government coming out and fighting back. It also shows that Pereira is truly more interested in the subject of life, as he would rather listen to Monteiro Rossi’s writing than he lets on.

When Pereira looks at Rossi and Marta, he thinks about his past life, specifically his life with his wife, through Tabucchi’s use of flashback. Pereira’s past life with his late wife is a time that he can actually say he enjoyed. Pereira can look at Rossi and see himself in Rossi; a young man who has his whole life ahead of him, and is not afraid to have a different opinion. Tabucchi says in the following quote, “And for some reason his heart stood still, maybe because in that young man he seemed to recognize himself, he seemed to rediscover himself as he was in his Coimbra days…” (11). It shows how Pereira connects himself to Rossi in a way that he does not want to recognize. When Pereira was younger, he was more open to giving his opinion, just like Rossi is now. If we take a look at the following quote, “Pereira declares that it made him think once again of his own past life, of the children he had never had, but on this subject he has no wish to make further statements” (15) it also shows how, when he looks at Rossi and Marta, it prompts him to think about what life could have been like if he had children. This leads us to believe that he is more interested in the subject of life than originally presumed; bringing a child into the world involves life.

Tabucchi’s use of flashback and contrasting images leads us to the conclusion that Pereira’s interest in the subject of life is stronger than his interest in death. He sees himself in Monteiro Rossi vividly, but he cannot admit this because he cannot accept that he is different from other people and actually wants to speak out against the Totalitarian government. He also wants to prevent Rossi from finding out that he could possibly be more interested in the subject of life than death; this would influence Rossi, even more, to continue with his writing. Pereira wants to truly live life, even if he is not aware of it. He is too busy thinking about his obsession with his death that he does not realize he shows signs of being full of life. He wants kids, he wants to help Rossi, and he wants to stop the Totalitarian government. Though he might not realize it now, soon enough Pereira will discover he is more passionate about life than he thought.
