Canne al vento: summary by chapters and plot of the novel that won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1927 for the author Grazia Deledda.
Reeds in the wind
Canne al vento is a novel by Grazia Deledda . Originally published in installments in L’illustrazione italiana in 1913, it was later published in a single volume. In Canne al vento , Deledda recounts human fragility and the pain of existence over 17 chapters, which earned the author the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1927. Let’s see the chapter-by-chapter summary together.
Reeds in the Wind: Chapter by Chapter Summary
Chapter 1.
Efix is the servant of the ladies Pintor Noemi, Ester and Ruth. After work, he retires to the hut that seems to serve as his home. Suddenly Zuannantò arrives, a young man who warns him that the mistresses want him to go to town the following morning because they have to talk to him about an urgent matter: a letter has arrived and it is thought that it could be from Giacinto, son of Lia, the fourth sister who ran away from home years before and led Don Zame, the violent father who locked his daughters in the house as nuns, to death.
Chapter 2.
Efix then leaves at dawn the next day and arrives at the residence of the three mistresses, who discover that their nephew will arrive there in a few days. Donna Ester is in favor of hosting him but Donna Noemi and Donna Ruth are not of the same opinion, although they think that, once hosted, if he had behaved badly they could always throw him out; Efix takes on this task. The three return to their tasks and subsequently the servant exchanges a few words with each of them, reassuring himself of the decision made. Efix seems to care a lot about the young man’s arrival and so, to make a good impression on him, he decides to go and buy himself a new cap. On the way he stops at the house of the loan shark Kallina to borrow another scudo, in addition to the 8 he has already asked to borrow. At the shop he stops to talk to the owner’s mother-in-law, a woman who is not noble but a friend of Donna Ruth.
Chapter 3.
When Giacinto arrives at his destination, only in May, Ruth and Ester are at the feast of Our Lady of Remedy while Noemi is at home alone brooding over the past and the memories of her sister Lia and her father, accompanied only for a short time by the company of old Pottoi. She welcomes the new arrival, tall and pale, who looked like a worker, like an exemplary hostess: she makes him sit down, prepares him a meal and chats with him, cheered by the news announced by the boy that he would soon be going to Nuoro to ask for work in a mill.
Chapter 4
Donna Ester and Donna Ruth meet Giacinto only later, who had stayed for dinner with Efix. Giacinto is welcomed with affection by everyone, except Noemi. Grixenda, a girl from the village, cannot help but notice the beauty of the young man.
Chapter 5
Giacinto’s uncle, who is also the cousin of the Pintor ladies, is convinced that in order to support the boy they will be forced to sell all their possessions and confesses to the servant Efix that he is interested in buying the farm, if they sell it.
The two arrive in town and Efix admires Giacinto and Grixenda joking with each other and Noemi, Ester and Kallina busy sewing.
Efix returns to the party after three days. That day is a continuous fun with music, dancing and shouts of joy and Giacinto seems carefree. He also has a more or less secret relationship with Grixenda and confesses to the servant that he intends to marry her.
Chapter 6
Efix meets Don Predu again, who reiterates that he is interested in his mistresses’ farm. Giacinto, meanwhile, frequents the Don and Milese more and more often and confides in the servant that he feels guilty for weighing everything on his aunts’ shoulders. The boy would like to find a job but they don’t want him and also forbid him to marry Grixenda, because the girl is not noble.
Chapter 7
Efix discovers that Giacinto had gotten into debt with Kallina the loan shark, falsifying the signatures of Don Predu and Donna Ester. In this way Donna Ester, Ruth and Noemi, paying all the debts will be forced to beg and Giacinto decides to go to Nuoro to find work, thus forced to abandon his beloved Grixenda.
Chapter 8
Before leaving, Giacinto goes to the loan shark to get more money for the trip, promising her that he would return it to her within 2 weeks. Afterwards, he goes to greet his uncle, Don Predu. The two men convince the boy to play cards with them and another man and in the game the boy loses all the money lent to him by Kallina.
Chapter 9
Aunt Potatoi, Grixenda’s grandmother, convinces Noemi to give her approval to the union between Giacinto and Grixenda. But Noemi’s benevolence towards her nephew ceases when a communication arrives at home in which the usurer requests the promissory note forged by Giacinto with the name of Donna Ester; the latter decides to go and talk to Kallina to convince her to grant more time. The other two women remain at home with Don Predu but Ruth does not feel well and dies.
Chapter 10
Since Giacinto left, Grixenda has suffered greatly and the same situation applies to Donna Ester and Noemi, who have lost their sister. Under the incitement of the two mistresses, Efix goes to look for the boy, telling him that he must no longer return to their house. However, the two begin to argue and the servant ends up feeling bad, since Giacinto does not want to tell him how he already knows about Donna Ruth’s death. Efix also makes an important confession: it was he, years ago, who killed the father of the three mistresses, who had discovered that he was helping his other daughter Lia, Giacinto’s mother, to escape and wanted to kill him in turn.
Chapter 11
With all the debts to pay because of Giacinto and the death of their sister, Noemi and Ester no longer leave the house and do not even pay Efix anymore.
One day the servant finds himself talking to Don Predu and the latter, also worried about his cousins’ finances, convinces Efix to go and talk to the mistresses, in an attempt to persuade them to sell him the farm.
Chapter 12
Surprisingly, the women accept Predu’s proposal. Efix continues to work on the poor man and the new master becomes more generous and apprehensive with the two women. One day the servant goes to speak to Noemi on behalf of Don Predu to ask her to marry him, but the woman refuses. Efix tries in every way to convince her but fails and, overcome by despair, leaves.
Chapter 13
The old Potatoi dies of old age and begs Efix to convince Giacinto to keep his promise of marriage to Grixenda, since the young woman is becoming increasingly depressed. So the servant goes to Nuoro and after various events meets a blind beggar who has just lost his life companion and decides to join him.
Chapter 14
Efix begins to go around the various festivals in the area together with the blind man named Istene. The two beg and the old servant is increasingly disturbed by the fact that he is not sure that the decision he made to leave is the right one. In a square the two see two beggars, one of whom, to earn more, pretends to be ill with cancer, Istene reveals the truth to everyone and ends up in prison and Efix resumes his journey with an extra companion, the one who had fought with Istene.
Chapter 15
The three go to many parties earning a fairly substantial amount of money even if Efix perceives this condition of begging as a punishment to atone for his sins.
One night, however, one of the two blind men steals the bag and the next day the other follows him: finally Efix frees himself of their burden and returns to his little farm. However, this has passed into the care of Zuannantoni. Grixenda then informs him that she will marry Giacinto and that Predu and Noemi will also get married.
Chapter 16
The old servant goes to greet Noemi and Ester, having dinner and telling his adventures, Efix realizes that Ester is happy about his return while Noemi a little less: in fact, she seems annoyed and does not want to talk about Don Predu. After dinner she clarifies the situation with Efix, decides to marry her uncle and the servant has the task of bringing the news to the groom so that their marriage takes place before that of Giacinto and Grixenda.
Chapter 17
Efix returns to work on the farm for a while but realizes that his last days of life have come and decides to spend them in the company of the mistresses he has served all his life. He remains in their house delirious for many days until he confesses to the priest freeing himself from the enormous weight that has oppressed him all his life, the murder of the father of the three women, and dies.
