Child of the Dark is a collection of the journal entries of Carolina Maria de Jesus dating from July 15th of 1955 to January 1st 1960 with various gaps in between. In it, de Jesus chronicles her life in the favela (slum) of São Paulo, Brazil and the many harsh realities of poverty. The book itself is a very real at the various aspects of poverty and is often hailed as one of the first works on the subject that is written by someone who experienced poverty directly. The book’s greatest strength comes from the fact that De Jesus leaves out almost none of the harsh realities about poverty. The work is an unparalleled glimpse in to the world of poverty. However, from a reader’s perspective this can be a bit grating at times. The people of the …show more content…
Throughout her life, de Jesus lives in a small shack with her three illegitimate children and spends her days picking up paper and scrap metal to sell to just barely feed herself and her children. Compared to the rest of the favela, she is one of the lucky ones. Many people in the favela are too sick to work or unable to find it. Food is so prohibitively expensive that de Jesus’ daily income is barely enough to feed her family for a day. Many married men pretend to be sick or unwell when their wives have jobs to take advantage of them. Families often have excessive numbers of children that they cannot afford to take care of, up to nine on at least one occasion . There is also a crippling lack of education, basic intelligence or common decency among the favela’s culture. Those who can barely afford to feed themselves waste money on pinga, a type of cheap alcohol that the people of the favela are often drunk on . Acts of petty and pointless cruelty are common, on one occasion an unconscious drunk has his money stolen and his documents ripped up by several people form the favela, while the theft could possibly be justified as an act of desperation due to a need for money, the destruction of his papers is just pointlessly destructive. De Jesus falls victim this this herself on at least one occasion, when several stacks of paper that she collects for money are set on fire while she is …show more content…
Child of the Dark’s author, Carolina Maria de Jesus, is quite the interesting character. Like most of the favela, she is very poor and lives a hand-to-mouth existence, with little of value to her name; as opposed to the various wealthy politicians and businessmen she often comments on or the middle class that seems nonexistent. As well as her lowly financial status, de Jesus is in the unfortunate position of being a black woman, and a single mother of three illegitimate children in a society that is traditionally patriarchal, religiously devout and with a long history of African slavery. She is literally on the lowest level of Brazilian society. But despite this, she still managed to attend two years of school; not much in most other settings but in the favela it makes her seem like a genius . Her education makes her quite critical and contemplative but it also makes her incredibly independent. While most other women in the favela are in loveless or harmful marriages, de Jesus remains single despite her three children and is ultimately better off for it, not having to worry about domestic issues common in the favela or having another mouth to feed. Her children are also noticeably more well behaved than the others in the favela, leading to criticisms from jealous neighbors, one of whom even goes as fare as accusing her son, João, of rape despite him having yet to even hit puberty. While she does have a couple men who she enters into relationships with, nothing serious
In Samba, Alma Guillermoprieto describes the Carnival celebrated every year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and explores the black cultural roots from which it takes its traditions as well as its social, economic, and political context in the 1980s. From her firsthand experience and investigation into favela life and the role of samba schools, specifically of Manguiera, Guillermoprieto illustrates a complex image of race relations in Brazil. The hegemonic character of samba culture in Brazil stands as a prevalent theme in numerous facets of favela life, samba schools, and racial interactions like the increasing involvement of white Brazilians in Carnival preparation and the popularity of mulatas with white Brazilians and tourists. Rio de Janeiro’s early development as a city was largely segregated after the practice of slavery ended. The centralization of Afro-Brazilians in favelas in the hills of the city strengthened their ties to black
Mattie is a woman who owns the Jesus Is Lord Used Tire shop and houses illegal immigrants in her home. Esperanza is in the hospital because she tried to commit suicide and Estevan is at Taylor’s house explaining why things are like this for him and his wife. He talks about their life in Guatemala and explains, “‘In Guatemala you are careful. If you want to change something you can find yourself dead’” (143). This quote from Estevan gives both Taylor and the readers a glimpse of what life was like for them in Guatemala. Mattie taking in Estevan and Esperanza puts an end to their suffering and looming death that was always present in Guatemala, even if her decision was not “right” in the eyes of law. Kingsolver further proves that morality comes over legality by showing how much better their lives have become in Mattie’s care. When Taylor and Estevan are sitting together at their picnic, they start talking about life now. Estevan explains how Mattie has created an amazing life for him and Esperanza here and how he enjoys his job. This shows that through Mattie’s morality, Estevan and Esperanza were able to live better lives. If Mattie had never brought them in and instead followed the law, they would have most likely been captured and killed in Guatemala because of the political corruption
Parents make sacrifices in order to provide an opportunity for their children to escape from Haiti to live a better life. In the short story Night Women a mother prostitutes herself to provide
His execution of imagery, diction, and dialogue throughout the text were very prominent regarding these three factors. The authors use of pathos, sickly diction, and humanistic dialogue were very important agents to bring this piece altogether and alive. Especially with the subject of poverty and how it effects not only Flavio’s family, but as the text says “Pockets of poverty in New York's Harlem, on Chicago's south side, in Puerto Rico's infamous El Fungito seemed pale by comparison. None of them had prepared me for this one in the favela o[ Catacumba.” Poverty effects a lot of people, and awareness needs to be brought up through messages like
“‘Sinister Children’” was the title psychologist Theodore Blau gave to left-handed children in the late seventies, due to their over abundance “among the academically and behaviorally challenged” and their greater vulnerability to obtaining mental diseases later in life (1). This condescending view on the left-handed population has existed for centuries. The word sinister itself comes from the Latin word sinistra, meaning left hand. In the article “Sinister Minds: Are Left-Handed People Smarter?,” written by Maria Konnikova, a psychologist from Columbia University, she explains how these outdated theories about the intellect of the left-handed community are wrong. In fact, the author elaborates how left-handed people may have higher brain abilities compared to the general population due to the
In the story “Flavio’s Home” by Gordon Parks, he draws you into a world that is very descriptive and allows yourself to imagine what it would be like if you were standing there with him. Gordon was there with Life reporter Jose Gallo to find a father with a family to examine the poverty of that particular family in Rio de Janeiro. Instead they came across a boy named Flavio, they followed Flavio up the mountain to a leaning shack. Flavio was only twelve but had worked so hard from the time he could stand that his body had taken the toll. Gordon describes the favela of Catacumba, pale by comparison to New York’s Harlem and Chicago’s south side. In so doing this gives the readers in those populated city’s an idea of how much greater the poverty
The novel begins with the author, Kurt Vonnegut, relating the story of how he and a friend returned to Dresden, the site of the most devastating firebombing in all of World War Two. This introduction, which is really the first chapter of the book, is written in first person as Vonnegut injects himself into a mostly fictional story. There are a few instances whereupon the author mentions himself being part of the action, but other than the first and last chapters, the book is mostly written in third person and tells the story of the fictional character, Billy.
Carolina told about two boys wandering the streets of the favela who were from shelters in the city. At the shelters, there were innocent children abandoned or orphaned, but also there were young criminals sentenced to stay there. Both groups were thrown together and treated as though they all had prison sentences. Carolina wrote, “I felt that in the State Shelter the children’s morals were lowered. […] What’s lacking? Concern for the unfortunate or money from the State?” (81). Whether it was babies dying in the favela, or children growing into poverty, the families of favelados were destined for misfortune. Carolina’s older children were still in school, but they contributed to the family income, as was common at the time, by going out to beg or to collect paper and scrap with her. Favelas of Brazil bred the destruction of innocence and children grew up quickly, such as when “the son of Joaquim went to school drunk” (130). Intersectionality of race and class was also pertinent. Racism and classism prevented poor, impoverished children from receiving any opportunities to improve their
One of the challenges of her poverty situation is the death of her mother in childbirth, and leaving behind four children. “She said she didn’t want to go to the hospital. Daddy dragged her from the bed to his truck, trailing her blood, and we never saw her again” (Ward, p. 2).
As Clarice Lispector was writing what would become her last literary creation, The Hour of the Star, little did she know that while her body was plagued with the devastations of cancer, her mental struggle for peace and grace in death would inspire her most renowned novel. Perhaps it is because of those circumstances, she created a novel with intuitive reflections on both life and death, as seen through the life of the main character, Macabea. The story is narrated by Rodrigo S.M., and although Rodrigo attempts to maintain a neutral stance, he is often conflicted by his own perceptions and feelings. At the book’s commencement Rodrigo spends quite some time explaining that while the story is mainly about a woman, having the book narrated by a female would weaken the richness of content. He explains that a woman is incapable of clearly emphasizing the harshness of reality; that she is too emotional and attempting to explain the life of a wretched girl would be hard because her emotions would not allow an unbiased depiction of the cruelties of life. Macabea is introduced in the novel as a poor girl who does what she must to survive in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. She is, Rodrigo remarks, nothing out of the ordinary. Physically there is nothing about Macabea which sets her apart from the other countless street rascals who live hand to mouth. He then provides readers with some of her early life history, including how she almost died at birth because of rickets, and how both her parents succumbed to typhoid fever when she was a toddler. Finally after their death Macabea was forced to move in with her aunt, who too eventually passed away, but not before procuring the child a job to support herself. In the course of the novel the popular culture, though vague and metaphorical at times, affects Macabea and the secondary characters personalities and actions.
At first glance, it seems that the author is going to take us on yet another journalistic ride through the land of the poor. Similar to the ones you read about, or hear in the news. However, this is not the case; the real underlying theme is what is society doing about the plight of the poor? Kozol uses the views of children to emphasize that these reports on living conditions are not being obtained by “disgruntled” adults, but from innocent, learning children whose only misfortune was being born to this particular area.
Growing up poor in the Dominican Republic strongly influenced the choices Yunior makes later in his life. In “Aguantando” Yunior recalls about how poverty was a part of his life. Díaz writes, “We were poor. The only way we could have been poorer was to have lived in the campo or to have been Haitian immigrants…We didn’t eat rocks but we didn’t eat meat or beans either” (Díaz, 70). This depiction of Yunior’s early childhood sets the stage for what is to come. Yunior’s choices as an adolescent proves that he either chooses not to or cannot better his situation instead he turns to drugs and alcohol. Yunior’s decision to partake in drugs and alcohol shows that people in poverty have nothing to live for and just live for the next best thing.
Scheper-Hughes, Nancy. Death without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil. Berkeley: University of California, 1992. Print.
“Belisa Crepusculario had been born into a family so poor they did not even have names to give their children. She came into the world and grew up in an inhospitable land where some years the rains became avalanches of water that bore everything away before them and others when not a drop fell from the sky and the sun swelled to fill the horizon and the world became a desert. Until she was twelve, Belisa had no occupation or virtue other than having withstood hunger and the exhaustion of centuries” (10).
In society one of the things Brazil is known for is its Favelas. For example, in the movie Rio, a children’s animated film by Disney. The main characters Blu and Jewel (rare blue Macaws) are stolen to be sold on the black market are taken to the Favela, where they later escape. Fernando, the boy who takes them, is a homeless child that lives on the roofs of the favela with no parents or family. He is evolved in a life of crime at an early age in order to survive. His...