The novel Pereira Declares, by Antonio Tabucchi, is about a depressed, overweight man whose literary work for the Lisboa, a small public newspaper, is hindered due to fascism during the Pre-World War II era. In chapters three through six the main character, Pereira, meets a young writer Monteiro Rossi who becomes his apprentice. Rossi works with Pereira and learns firsthand the struggles with freedom of speech while working with Pereira at Lisboa. Tabucchi uses literary elements such as foreshadowing, tone and symbolism to portray Pereira’s life during the 1930s. 

The weather is mentioned consistently prior to conflict in the book. Tabucchi develops this correlation with the weather and conflict through the use of foreshadowing. This use of foreshadowing builds suspense by developing the mood and imagery of the event. Sometimes the weather will be calm and peaceful, such as when he met Monteiro Rossi to discuss a job opportunity, “the sea-breeze was rising again from the Atlantic and the evening was cool, everything seemed to him lovely,” (11). The evening was peaceful when Pereira met Monteiro Rossi. Pereira saw a lot of himself in Rossi which helped him decide he wanted Rossi to work with him. After the singing and dancing was over from the meeting, Tabucchi added how great Pereira felt, he had a lovely night and he enjoyed himself. However, in a different situation, when there is conflict between Pereira and Rossi, “he reached the door he was drenched in sweat, it was a real scorcher,” (21). Again, prior to the event occurring, the weather was mentioned helping the reader to anticipate what will happen. Rossi consistently writes things that Pereira cannot publish. Pereira confronted Rossi about his work, “Monteiro Rossi got to his feet as if the word struck the fear of God into him, backed towards the door, stopped, came forward a step and said: But I thought I’d found a job. Pereira did not answer, he felt a trickle of sweat down his spine,” (23). Every time there is any sort of uncomfortable situation in the novel, Pereira feels an overwhelming heat and he breaks out into sweat. These examples show the correlation of weather and conflict between Pereira and the government and Pereira and himself in chapters three through six of Pereira Declares.

Tabucchi’s pessimistic tone helps emphasize Pereira’s life and the daily struggles he is forced to endure. The pessimistic tone emphasizes Pereira’s depression. In the novel when Pereira first meets Rossi, his typically morbid tone changes into one of hope. Before his meeting with Rossi you can clearly view Pereira’s depression when he does not want to talk about his feelings and stays in isolation. “Has no wish to mention, because he declares [his thoughts] belong to him and him alone and have nothing to do with that evening” (10-11). In this quote his isolation portrays his depression. However, before Pereira meets Rossi, he hears a singer (Rossi) and describes his voice to be “a song full of passion and vitality, limpid and beautiful… and everything seemed to him lovely” (11). The change from isolation to enjoying life is brought on by his meeting with Rossi. He sees a lot of himself in Rossi, he reminisces back to when he was in shape and had women falling for him, bringing back happiness in his life. The tone progresses from pessimistic to hopeful or joyous, the developing tone can be described as nostalgic. 

Throughout chapters three through six, Tabucchi symbolizes death via various mediums. Tabucchi symbolizes death through his description of a scarf around the necks of the Salazarist supporters. When Pereira arrived at the festival he was overwhelmed and afraid when he noticed “a lot of people were wearing the green shirt and the scarf knotted round their necks. He hung back in terror… several things flashed into his mind… he thought of the Alentejan carter who shed his blood all over his melons… he thought this as he flopped down” (10). The scarf knotted around their necks symbolizes a noose, and the events following are similar to that of a hanging, life flashing before your eyes, thinking of death, and then flopping down. The diction used develops a deeper meaning to the passage. The word choice makes me feel like in the near future there will be a big turning point or death in the novel. The death of the man operating the cart led to a lot conflict within the few chapters. I believe that this death was just the beginning of the despair involved in this novel, due to the immense foreshadowing of what could be death. 

All in all, the literary elements tone, symbolism, and foreshadowing enhanced Tabucchi’s depiction of Pereira in his life before and after meeting Monteiro Rossi. Foreshadowing helps to reveal the conflicts in the passage. The change in tone provides the reader insight to the internal sentiments of Pereira. The symbolism throughout the passage serves as an example of Pereira’s obsession with death. The literary elements that Tabucchi utilized were an important median for communicating emotion, thoughts and details in regards to Pereira. 