
In Pereira Declares, author Antonio Tabucchi creates a very complex and interesting character in Pereira. Throughout the novel the reader is repeatedly told about Pereira’s thoughts on death and how lonely he is. The most obvious reason for these thoughts of Pereira’s is the fact that his wife passed away a few years before the novel takes place. Most people think that this is the main reason for these dark thoughts, but I argue that it is not the death of his wife that makes him think this way, but rather, the state of Europe in 1938. During this time Europe was filled with tension and it was on the verge of collapsing into all-out war. Many readers overlook this when analyzing Pereira’s behavior. Throughout the opening of the book it can be seen that the cause of Pereira’s depressing thoughts is the political state of Portugal and Europe in 1938 rather than the death of his wife.

At this point in history the European continent was in a very complex and fragile state. In February of 1938, Hitler had abolished the War Ministry and created a new entity that gave him full control of the German military. Hitler had many people that were in opposition of his opinions fired from their governmental positions. Shortly after, in March, the German military occupied and annexed Austria. Italy was also in a growing state of aggression. Benito Mussolini started to gain more and more power at the very same time as Hitler. A civil war was raging in Spain as different parties fought for power in the country. All of Europe was feeling the tension. Many countries feared that the fascism and conflict coming out of Germany, Italy, and Spain would come to their country, and this certainly included Portugal, which is where Pereira resides in Pereira Declares. The civil war in Spain, the growing threat of war throughout Europe as a whole, and the growing oppression from governments in the region had taken a clear toll on many people’s mental health, including Pereira’s.

The first instance where we find Pereira thinking about dying after mention of society in 1938 is in chapter two. Here, Tabbuchi states “meanwhile people were dying and the police had things all their own way. Pereira broke out in sweat, he was thinking of death again. And he thought: this City reeks of death, the whole of Europe reeks of death” (6). In some instances, the mentions of the state of Europe are hard find, but this quote clearly shows that the political state of Europe is causing Pereira to have these depressing thoughts. Here, Tabbuchi is coming out and saying that it is not only the death of Pereira’s wife that causes him these thoughts, but also political and social issues. Things are much more complex for Pereira than most people see. There is much more going on in his mind than than just the longing for his wife.

The excerpt from the previous paragraph is not the only time political issues and Pereira’s thoughts are interconnected. If there was no more mention of this, then the cause of Pereira’s depression could mostly be contributed to his wife’s death and the fact that he is in poor health, but again in chapter five we see Pereira getting worked up when he is talking about war “I don’t know whether you are aware of it, my dear Monteiro Rossi, but at this moment there’s a civil war raging in Spain” (Tabucchi 23). While talking to Monteiro about an obituary that he has written, Pereira gets very upset about the mention of politically controversial topics, such as the ones in Monteiro’s obituary. It gets to the point where Pereira begins to sweat, which is a sign of him getting flustered. We can see this in chapter two “Pereira broke out in sweat, he was thinking of death again” (Tabucchi 6). Although at the beginning of the novel Pereira did not pay attention to stuff outside of his own small world, by the time we get to chapters three, four, five, and six, we see Pereira start to grow into a more mindful character. Unfortunately, with this mindfulness we see him think of the sad things that come along with the outside world.

Lastly, towards the end of the sixth chapter, Pereira thinks of saying something about the world around him that I find quite depressing “The problem is that the whole world is a problem and it certainly won’t be solved by you or me” (Tabucchi 27). This quote seems similar to the others that I have given before. It states that Pereira has a problem with the world, but what is more depressing is what he says during the second half of the sentence when he states “and it certainly won’t be solved you or me” (Tabucchi 27). With this, it seems as if Pereira has given up all hope for Europe. This is the tipping point where it becomes clear that it is not only the death of Pereira’s wife that is making him lonely, sad, and depressed, but also, and more importantly, the political climate of Europe at this time in history. The answer is clear that the constant talk of war and politics has sent Pereira to a dark place.

In chapter two Pereira thinks to himself “this City reeks of death. The whole of Europe reeks of death.” (Tabucchi 6). This statement sets up a theme, but this theme is overlooked and put in the shadow of other sad events in Pereira’s life. Although sometimes subtle, these examples prove that the European political climate of the late 30’s contribute a large amount to Pereira’s poor mental health. It will be interesting to see how or if this changes in the chapters to come.
