Rhoda, Neville, Susan, Jinny, Bernard e Louis conhecem-se e
convivem desde a infância, no entanto em AS ONDAS “lemo-los” através de
solilóquios que dão conta do movimento da consciência. No extrato que segue, o olhar de alguns deles
sobre o mesmo acontecimento: ir à escola pela primeira vez.
Ludovina Pereira
‘This is my first night at school,’
said Susan, ‘away from my father, away from my home. My eyes swell; my eyes prick with tears. I hate the smell of pine and
linoleum. I hate the wind-bitten shrubs and the sanitary tiles. I hate the
cheerful jokes and the glazed look of everyone.’
‘The purple light’, said Rhoda, ‘in
Miss Lambert’s ring passes to and fro across the black stain on the white page
of the Prayer Book. It is a vinous, it is an amorous light. Now that our boxes
are unpacked in the dormitories, we sit herded together under maps of the
entire world.(…) But here I am nobody. I have no face.’
‘That dark woman,’ said Jinny, ‘with
high cheek-bones, has a shiny dress, like a shell, veined, for wearing in the
evening. That is nice for summer, but for winter I should like a thin dress
shot with red threads that would gleam in the firelight. Then when the lamps
were lit, I should put on my red dress and it would be thin as a veil, and
would wind about my body, and billow out as I came into the room, piroueting.’
