Saramango Assignment - All the Names

Saramango Assignment

All the Names

The central registry's hierarchy of authority and operating procedures reflect many different institutions, such as schools and hospitals, as well as government systems. The employees of the Central Registry were ranked in order of importance. The clerks were at the lowest level. They were responsible for most of the work that came into the establishment. The senior clerks earned that title by longevity and fulfilled the tasks that were not completed by the clerks. The deputies seemed to be in charge of order and security of the building. They came to and left work in a certain order. The registrar was the last to enter and the first to leave. . The work would all have been completed by the time it reached him.

The Registrar was the highest rank in this hierarchy. The Registrar intimidated the employees of the Central Registry. One example is when the registrar looked at Senhor Jose severely; not saying a word. The registrar sat a desk in a central location with a light illuminating the area below. The cleaners even paid special attention to the area around the Registrar's desk. He was responsible for overseeing the employees and workings of the long-standing system of records management. He was looked at like a king or president might be. The registrar states, "Laws and regulations can be altered and substituted at any moment. The same cannot be said of traditions." (Pg. 173) He is said to come from a "long line of registrars" and claims that the system that they work with has been "frozen in time." There were also unspoken rules on how and when to speak to or approach one another as well as areas that were off-limits. Again, this is true of traditions and rules in government systems, as well as other establishments with hierarchy of employees.

When Senhor Jose realizes that he has accidentally acquired the card of the "unknown woman", he is at first shocked and then becomes intrigued with her and wants to know everything about her just like the "famous" people in his collection. He may be looking to make this woman important by researching the life of an ordinary person. This may also make him feel "important", as he lives alone and has no family or friends to speak of, although when he is sick, the registrar tends to his needs.

His destiny begins to unfold when he begins his research. He also chooses to research this woman's life "the hard way" and in some type of chronological order. His search begins with finding her record that included the dates of her birth marriage and divorce. He then visits the place where she was born and lived as a small child. He meets a young woman and then an elderly woman who gives him information that helps with his search. He continues to obtain information from a school where she attended as a child and, as he finds out later, taught as an adult. His search goes in a new direction when he finds that the unknown woman has died. This leads Senhor Jose to the home of her parents, her apartment and eventually to her grave.

Senhor Jose had many opportunities to change his destiny in this novel. Every decision that he made was well thought out. He constantly questioned his actions; going over the consequences of is actions and different scenarios and how each meeting may play out in his mind. Each decision led him to another obstacle or discovery. In the end, his actions lead to his being discovered by the registrar.

Fear, timidity and anxiety affect Senhor Jose's thinking and behavior in this story in many ways. His behaviors at work, as a single person and in his interactions with people in society are all areas that his personal insecurities are evident.

Jose has many fears. He has a fear of heights with vertigo and claustrophobia. He works at a job where he is frequently climbing up a high ladder to retrieve files and going into the dark confined spaces where the records of the dead are stored. At one time, a genealogist got lost for days in the labyrinth of records that the central registry holds. He thinks about falling to his death and plays out the scenarios in his head. He also has a fear of being caught throughout the novel. Although he is not hurting anyone, Senhor Jose knows that the things he is doing are not morally or legally right. He claims to "act valiantly about some things and