
For this essay, I chose to write about a paragraph that really stood out to me in the beginning of Chapter Three. This paragraph has multiple descriptions of Pereira’s surroundings as he becomes amazed by the city that he lives in. The very first sentence of the third paragraph stands out the most. It states, “In Praca da Alegria, there was no sense of being in a besieged city. …” (Ch. 3, para. 3). This sentence gives the initial reaction that Pereira has towards his city when he goes out and sees what is happening. I also believe that this first sentence really shows a developed side of Pereira as a character. This sentence tells us that something is going on within or outside of his city lines. Later in the paragraph it was revealed that the country of Praca da Alegria was in a war with Spain. Overall, I get the feeling while reading the third paragraph that Pereira spooked over how quiet his city is despite the war going on with Spain.

The initial thing that I noticed about this paragraph was the multitude of the descriptive vocabulary. The author chose to use sentences such as “The whole place was decorated with paper festoons and coloured light bulbs, green and yellow, hanging on wires strung from window to window. There were a number of tables out in the open and several couples dancing. …” (Ch. 3, para 3). These two sentences paint a picture in the reader’s head of what the town of Praca da Alegria looks like through the eyes of the main character, Pereira. In my opinion, if America was at a major war with another country, I would think that everyone would be in a state of emergency and distress. There would be no decorations hung, colored light bulbs or especially couples dancing. It is almost like the people were happy about the war going on, which gives a sense of foreshadowing. It makes you think…what are they so happy about? Is Praca da Alegria the victor of the war? The artistry of the words in this paragraph is superb and is excellent at painting a picture in my mind of what Pereira’s town is like. 

The third paragraph of Chapter Three also shows who Pereira is as a character and puts the spot light on his feelings about his country. He, like me, is amazed that people in his country are having some sort of celebration when their Portuguese troops are in Spain. There are people dying, and all that they seem to be doing is sitting around having a party! There is also some mystery in the first part of this paragraph; Pereira is confused about why the people in his country are partying. But, “then he noticed a banner stretched between two trees, and written on it in enormous letters: LONG LIVE FRANCISCO FRANCO. And beneath this, in smaller letters: LONG LIVE OUR PORTUGUESE TROOPS IN SPAIN.” (Ch. 3, para. 3). At this point, Pereira figures out that the people in his city are celebrating for their troops deployed in Spain. 

In this chapter the police are not like the ones one might see in the United States because the police seem to be “ only a night watchman who appeared to be drunk, dozing on a bench.” (Ch. 3, para. 3). The second sentence of the paragraph, the one above, is very surprising and also funny to me! The reason it comes across to me as funny is because of the fact that someone usually would see a police officer keeping the party under control or at least looking over the situation. Instead, this police officer, or “night watchman”, decided he wanted to join in on the party with the townspeople. If I saw this in the middle of my town, I would be surprised to see a police officer at a public function that had had a few too many to drink. 

The last thing that I noticed about the paragraph were the last few sentences, “Then he noticed a banner stretched between two trees, and written on it in enormous letters: LONG LIVE FRANCISCO FRANCO. And beneath this, in smaller letters: LONG LIVE OUR PORTUGUESE TROOPS IN SPAIN.” (Ch. 3, para. 3). The questions that came to my head were “Who is Francisco Franco?” and “Why is he important?” My guess is that Francisco Franco might be the army general or the leader of Praca da Alegria. He is definitely someone who is liked by the people in the town or at least by the people who are throwing the party. The partygoers obviously also care about their troops in the other country because they made it on the sign as well, although they seem to be less significant since their support is written so much smaller than the one man.

Finally, Pereira is so used to seeing so many police officers all over his town, mainly on every street corner, except this time. There were hardly any in sight. The country that he lives in is currently in a war with Spain and a lot of the country’s male population is overseas defending Praca da Alegria from Spain’s grasp. I believe that Pereira was so used to being in a scared, and defenseless city that he did not know what to think whenever he stepped outside and saw everyone throwing a party and the fact that they seemed to be happy about the country’s current situation. Lastly, I like how he explained everything he saw in great detail because it made me feel so much more connected to him.
