Carolina Maria de Jesus: one of the best names of Brazilian literature

Written by: Tatiane Almeida

“Brazil should be governed by someone who has starved, because hunger is a teacher as well” (JESUS, 1960). The author of this sentence is Carolina Maria de Jesus, a Brazilian black woman who was born in 1914, in a rural community in the interior of Minas Gerais. Her parents were poor and illiterate. At age 7, Carolina went to school, where she learned to read and to write, falling in love with books. She went to school only until grade 2. Unfortunately, Carolina had a sad childhood. with a long record of mistreatment.

After Carolina’s mother passed away, in 1937, she moved to São Paulo. Living at Canindé — a poor community, Carolina worked as a waste picker and in her free time, she wrote about the day-to-day life in that community, on notebooks that she found in the garbage. She wrote over 20 notebooks! She also worked as a handmaid, when she could read many books from her boss’ library. About her job, she wrote: “I pick paper up, but I do not like it. So, I think. I pretend I am dreaming” (PASCALE, 2018).

Carolina’s talent was discovered by the journalist Audalio Dantas, in 1955, who worked for the former journal “Folha da Noite” — which became the current journal “Folha de São Paulo”. He found Caroline when he visited the community of Canindé. Dantas wrote about Carolina and quoted part of her diary. This was published at Folha da Noite. After that, Carolina’s story and her work attracted the attention of other journals and magazines. Audalio said that Carolina had a power that could be perceived on 10 lines of her texts; she had an unusual talent.

Part of her diaries became a book, “Quarto de despejo — diário de uma favelada”, published in 1960. This work was sold in 40 countries and translated to 16 languages. In this book, Carolina tells us about the period of modernization of the city of São Paulo and the emergence of the suburb, a cruel and perverse reality for poor people. Carolina’s work is considered denunciation journalism and it is a current one since we still have the same problems nowadays.

Because of her success as a writer, she moved to a better place still in São Paulo. Carolina also wrote “Pedaços de fome” and “Provérbios”. Despite her success, Carolina had to move back to a humble home and worked again as a waste picker. This happened because she did not please politicians and rich people. They made all efforts as possible to take her off any visibility.

Nevertheless, since her first book, Carolina has been known as one of the best names of Brazilian literature. She had three kids, and never stopped writing. She passed away in 1977 on account of an asthma crisis. After her death, other books were published from her notebooks and annotations.

This impressive woman wrote especially about the suffering, pain, and hunger of poor people. “The dizziness from hunger is worse than that from the alcohol. The dizziness from the alcohol takes us to sing. But that from the hunger makes us tremble. I realized it is horrible to have only air into the stomach” (PASCALE, 2018).

She criticized the social inequality in the state of São Paulo. Carolina named the place where she lived as a dump room because poor people were being evicted from collective houses at the center of the city to peripheral areas on account of the growth of the housing market. She said: “Rich children play at the gardens with their favorite toys. Poor children follow their mothers to ask for charity on the streets” (PASCALE, 2018).

Carolina has inspired theater performances, lyrics, documentaries, researches, and expositions but she is still unknown for many people, including those like her — black, poor, woman. She was a remarkable woman, intelligent, critical, and visionary. It is marvelous how she could write pretty well without concluding elementary school.

References

FOLHA DE S. PAULO. Available in https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/webstories/cultura/2020/07/quem-foi-carolina-de-jesus/. Accessed on October 9th, 2020.

JESUS, Carolina Maria de. Quarto de despejo: diário de uma favelada. Organização e apresentação de Audálio Dantas. Rio de Janeiro: Livraria Francisco Alves, 1960.

PASCALE, Ademir. 7 citações impactantes da escritora Carolina Maria de Jesus (2018). Available in http://www.revistaconexaoliteratura.com.br/2018/02/7-citacoes-impactantes-da-escritora.html. Accessed on October 9th, 2020.

FUNDAÇÃO PALMARES. A vida e obra de Carolina de Jesus, um manifesto para a literatura periférica e afro-brasileira. Available in http://www.palmares.gov.br/?p=53353. Accessed on October 9th, 2020.