De Jesus' Child Of The Dark

De Jesus' Child Of The Dark

Factors Shaping De Jesus' Life in Poverty

In my opinion, the first factor in shaping Carolina life in poverty is her illegitimacy. This is the most prime factor which caused and created numbers of problems in her life since childhood. The second factor which contributed in her poverty to a greater extent was her two illegitimate brother sister. This added in her troubles, and they were thrown away by the society, even by the catholic church of that time. The third factor is discrimination suffered in Sacramento, being black and poor. She observes that “Brazil is predominated [sic] by the whites. For many things they need the blacks and the blacks need them”. She notes that “the world is the way the whites want it. I'm not white, so I don't have anything to do with this disorganized world”.

The fourth factor contributed to her poverty is domestic and societal violence (p.55-83). As being discarded by the society, she had to go through the harshness and bitter realities of societies. Once in her diary, she said to God “I dreamt I was an angel. My dress was billowing and had long pink sleeves. I went from earth to heaven. I put stars in my hands and played with them. I talked to the stars. They put on a show in my honor. They danced around me and made a luminous path. When I woke up I thought: I'm so poor. I can't afford to go to a play, so God sends me these dreams for my aching soul. To the God who protects me, I send my thanks” (p.125-145).

The case of Carolina Maria de Jesus is a good example of the action of fierce determination also the operation of the indeterminate and the ensuing emergence of new imaginary. Her own writings have survived almost by accident. Also, sometimes deliberately, some by their own determination, she has violated the codes that sustained immobility, permanence and reproduction of social inequality in the country, thus creating other social imaginary significations.

“They say that Brazil has been good. But I'm not good at the time of Brazil. Today ... I went to look in the mirror. I was horrified. My face is almost equal to that of My wistful mother. And I'm toothless. Lean. Been able to! Fear of dying hungry! (Carolina Maria de Jesus)” (p.212-225).

A fundamental part of daily Carolina refers to hunger, a subject treated by renowned psychologist Abraham Maslow in his hierarchy of human needs. For Maslow, the physiological needs are the most powerful, the most powerful of all needs. This means that a person who lacks food, distinctly feel the urgency of food, more than anything else. Maslow says it is then fair to characterize the whole organism by saying just who is hungry, since consciousness is almost completely emptied by hunger. All capacities are at the service of the satisfaction of hunger. The receivers and transmitters, intelligence, memory, habits, everyone can ...