CRUZ DAS almas: a BRAZILIAN VILLAGE — PIERSON 



197 



third villager, "and he's always tliinking he's so 

 much better than everyone else and trying to get 

 ahead of them." 



So intense is local feeling toward this man that 

 it almost led to violence on the occasion of the 

 last election. It did lead to violence sometime 

 later. A villager recalled : 



Miguer (the m;in in question) and Chico had a fight 

 day before yesterday. It was a terrible battle. I was 

 there in the botcqiiim when Chico's boy came in, crying, 

 and shouting that they were killing his father. It seems 

 Chico was saying nasty things about Miguer there in 

 the store, when suddenly he came in. "Did I hear you 

 say I was a calotero (one who doesn't pay his debts)"?" 

 Miguer shouted. Chico said yes, he'd said that and that 

 it was the truth. So Miguer grabbed him by the shirt 

 and struck him a blow that knocked him down. And 

 when he got up, he gave him another blow and down 

 he went again. Then Miguer piled onto him and began 

 to pound him and pound him. Just then Roque 

 (a brother-in-law of Chico) came in with a club and 

 swung at Miguer. But someone who was standing by 

 had just stepped in to try to separate the fighters and 

 part of the blow fell on his arm. But Miguer got part 

 of it on his head. Then Roque's two brother.s came in, 

 swinging clubs. But, by that time, the other people who 

 were standing around had separated the fighters and 

 someone was taking Miguer out of the store and up to 

 his house, while the others were holding Roque and help- 

 ing Chico up. I'll tell you that if they hadn't stepped 

 in, Miguer would've been dead by now ; Roque and his 

 brothers would've finished him with their clubs, right 

 then and there. 



The fight immediately became the principal 

 topic of conversation in the village. Small groups 

 of men gathered in the growing darkness to talk 

 in low tones. That this quarrel and violence, how- 

 ever, had more of the character of in-group than 

 of out-group conflict is borne out by the comment 

 of two villagers, both of whom are opposed, polit- 

 ically, to Miguel. "I'm glad Chico got it." said 

 one. He's no good, either. I don't like Miguer, 

 but he's a better man than Chico. He takes care 

 of his own life and doesn't go around looking for 

 trouble." "So far as I'm concerned," said another 

 villager, "they should not have stopped the fight. 

 If they'd done away with each other, it would have 

 been a good riddance for the village." 



Conflict with undesirable or unassimilable per- 

 sons from the outside is considered in the follow- 

 ing section. 



SOLIDARITY 



The local society is strong and vigorous, capable 

 alike of the ready assimilation of desirable new ele- 



ments as well as the positive and uncompromising 

 expulsion of undesirable new elements. The num- 

 ber of incoming migrants, as has been indicated, is 

 small, a fact which facilitates their incorporation 

 into the local society and diminishes the change 

 which they might bring. At the same time, so 

 tenacious is the social organism that it might be 

 expected to incorporate into itself a considerable 

 number of new elements without suffering appre- 

 ciable alteration. 



AVhether the new element will be assimilated or 

 cast out depends upon the attitudes and social and 

 personal characteristics of the newcomer. Local 

 inhabitants are self-resiDecting; they are proud of 

 their village and community. If the newcomer 

 gives positive evidence that he likes the people 

 among whom he has come to live, and if it is also 

 clear that he possesses the personal characteris- 

 tics which are encouraged in the community, such 

 as friendliness, modesty, willingness to oblige, 

 and conformity to the local mores, he is apt to be 

 readily accepted. If, on the other hand, he in- 

 dicates by act, speech, or other gesture that he 

 holds any unfavorable attitude toward the people 

 among whom he has come to live, or if he is lack- 

 ing in those personal characteristics which are 

 considered imperative, the organism, as it were, 

 will contract and leave him isolated on the out- 

 side. If this disparagement of local residents and 

 coinnuinity be pronounced or continued over a con- 

 siderable period of time, he may find himself not 

 only under the negative sanctions of social disap- 

 proval but actually expelled physically. To disap- 

 proval, dislike, and condemnation may be added 

 violence. It would seem that the adhesion of the 

 parts of the social organism is so great and the 

 primary I'elations which occasion it are so inti- 

 mate and demanding that there can be no middle 

 ground : either the new element is absorbed or it 

 is expelled. 



These general statements are borne out by what 

 happened, on the one hand, to the soldados Vicente 

 and Gilberto, "the pharmacist" and "the Rio- 

 grandense;" and, on the other hand, to the school 

 teacher Anita and the Japanese storekeeper and 

 his family. 



The soldado Vicente was a young, unmarried 

 man from Ceara. He had been assigned to the 

 village in keeping with the customary practice of 

 the State Government to put a police officer at the 



