“I did not come to the world to be a stone”

The useless hero in Macunaíma

Abstract

This paper suggests a study on the Macunaíma useless aspect, main
character of Mario de Andrade’s rhapsody named Macunaíma: o herói sem nenhum caráter, published in 1928 and considered the basic first modernism literary prose (CAMPOS, 1978). The research is based upon a formation and the changing of the hero consciousness in three decisive points of the narrative: the Macunaíma’s introduction in his world, the presages depicted by the São Paulo travel and the return of the hero to their original world. The objective is, therefore, to research this hero who, by becoming an other, also change their way of life and the way became by himself a useless hero. To take on this essential “uselessness”, Macunaína is able to lay down the mythic consciousness dialectics.