Revisiting Victor Hugo to meet the toilers of the sea in the 21st Century

Abstract

Along the celebrations of the 150 years of the publication of Victor Hugo’s classic The Toilers of the Sea, the essay aims to evidence and analyze those who worked and work at sea, respectively in the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries, having as analytical and comparative axis the labor characteristics at sea in both periods. In order to achieve the proposed objective, the essay is structured in two secondary sections. The first of them focuses on sea workers in the 19th and 21st centuries. In the following section, the labor characteristics at sea in the both periods are analyzed and compared, aiming to identify the recurrences and singularities between them. Throughout the analysis and comparison carried out, are also discussed some subjects such as: security threats, the long work day; family withdrawal; the conditions of comfort, and the presence of women as part of the crews.

Keywords

• trabalhadores do mar
• victor-hugo
• atividades marítimas