From Brick to Word: The Construction of the Subject in Vinícius de Moraes

Abstract

This article proposes a critical analysis of the poem “O operário em construção” by Vinícius de Moraes, based on the thesis that its form is not an adornment but the very mechanism that builds the protagonist’s revolutionary consciousness. The investigation unfolds on three interdependent levels: phonics, lexics, and syntactic-semantic. On the sonic level, it demonstrates how the redondilha maior meter transitions from a metaphor for alienation to a march of consciousness, while the “-ão” rhyme phonetically underpins the pillars of oppression, ultimately broken by the final negation. Lexically, the study maps the journey from a vocabulary of material concreteness to a field of abstract nouns that name the epiphany. Finally, the analysis explores how syntactic parallelism and the subversion of the biblical narrative crystallize the dialectic of class struggle. The article concludes that by inseparably merging form and content, Vinícius de Moraes not only narrates but also performs the transformation of his worker, proving that the conquest of freedom is fundamentally a poetic act of reconstructing language and the subject.