“The Letter” is a short story by Laura Bulger, a Portuguese writer who later moved to Canada. It’s about a Portuguese man who’s been living in Canada for over eighteen years who’s writing a letter to his parents back home. He only tells them positive things and tries to give the impression everything is going well. The narrative lets us in on what his life is really like. Here’s a summary of “The Letter”.
“The Letter” Summary
Note: The text in parentheses is a summary of what Domingos writes in the letter. The rest is a summary of what he really thinks.
Domingos, living in Canada, writes a letter to his parents in Portugal. (“They” are fine.) He doesn’t really include his wife, Adelaide, whom he’s been married to for eighteen years. They were never really in love.
(Carlos has grown up and worked this summer. He still picks up odd jobs. It keeps him from bad company. The business is doing well. Tininha is too young for a job but helps her mother at home.)
Domingos and Adelaide hardly talk anymore. Adelaide talks back in English and complains a lot even though she has a house and car and other things. She comes home late from work and talks on the phone for hours. Domingos slaps her sometimes and that makes her behave better for a few days. She’s gotten worse since her father’s death. Her mother has moved in and the three generations of women are all against him. The youngest son, Eduardo, doesn’t side with them.
(Eduardo’s marks are good and he knows English well. He takes after his grandfather.)
Domingos got a loan from Adelaide’s father and in return, he married her. Sometimes he wants to tell Adelaide that he was conned, but he just slams the door.
(Do they like the present the children sent? He heard from his friend Chico, who visited Portugal, that Aurora has gotten married.)
He remembers Aurora, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty. She cried when he left home and he was going to send for her. He got engaged to Adelaide. Aurora later worked as a maid in the city. Domingos never saw her again.
(Domingos can’t visit this year because the house needs some renovations.)
Dominogos writes this every summer. He doesn’t want his parents to see how things are with Adelaide. Carlos is old enough to understand.
(Carlos will visit one year even though he doesn’t speak Portuguese. He’s going to be a doctor.)
Carlos doesn’t work hard enough. He’s become withdrawn over the years and only answers in English. He listens to loud music in his room. His friends never come over. He works in a restaurant after school and comes home late. Adelaide screams at him but he doesn’t respond. Carlos caught his father kissing a woman in a cubicle behind the workshop. He let Domingos get himself together and didn’t say anything about it. He respects his father, unlike Eduardo.
(Eduardo and Tininha want to visit their grandparents. Domingos wants to take the car when they go, like Chico did. He had a great time and drove a lot.)
Shortly after returning, Chico was fired after seven years at the factory. He’s barely getting by with the welfare money. Lots of people have it hard and there’s no one to help. Domingos is his own boss, but he doesn’t have enough to help Chico. He has his own bills and doesn’t need any more staff. However, he has a duty to his parents.
(Domingos is going to send the money for them to buy Uncle Zé’s land, and they’ll build a modern house on it. He can send more money if they need it. He doesn’t know when he’ll be able to visit because of all the work at his own house.)
He doesn’t know if he’ll ever go back. He needs to talk to the kids about how their grandparents are getting older. Portugal seems far away and they’ve gotten indifferent here. The letter is getting too long.
(He signs off with a message of longing and nostalgia for home and love for his parents.)
I hope this summary of “The Letter” by Laura Bulger was helpful.
