Carolina Maria de Jesus - Perspective

Perspective

One of the characteristics that differentiated Carolina Maria de Jesus’ from her neighbors in the Canindé favela was her unique perspective of life. Carolina was a woman who, although may have lived among the lowest classes of Brazilian society, had dreams and aspirations like those who lived most comfortably in Brazil during the mid 1900s. Some would argue that all members of society, regardless of social or economic status, have goals and ambitions of some sort. However, Carolina Maria de Jesus was a woman who believed that her dreams could be realized, and against great odds, many of them were. She created a paradigm unlike any of her favelado counterparts, and lived accordingly until she was finally able to move her family into the modest middle-class neighborhood of Alto de Santana in São Paulo.

At no point in Carolina’s life did she accept the class of society she was born into. The activities that Carolina used to occupy her free time, her decision to avoid the many vices present in everyday favela life, as well as her choice of sexual partners, all indicate that while she was physically in the favela her mind was elsewhere. For instance, “what set Carolina apart in Canindé was her penchant for spending several hours a day writing” (Levine 41). Although writing may not seem like an extraordinary practice, among a highly illiterate neighborhood it was a particularly rare event. She wrote poems, novels, and stories. In the early 1940s, Carolina began taking many of her literary works to editors in an attempt to get them published (Levine 42). Carolina persevered until 1960, when Brazilian journalist Audalio Dantas published Carolina’s diary Quarto de Despejo (Garbage Room).

One of the many things that Carolina chose to write about in her diary were the other people living around her. Carolina describes herself as being very different from the other favelados that she writes about. For example, Carolina claimed that “she detested other blacks from her social class” (Levine 23). While Carolina watched many of the people around her succumb to drugs, alcohol, prostitution, violence, and robbery, she chose to stay loyal to her children and her writing. Carolina was consistently able to provide for her children by recycling used trash for money or foraging through garbage cans for food and clothing (Levine 40). By saving some of the paper she collected, Carolina had the material she needed to continue her writing.

Another atypical part of Carolina’s life concerned her choice of sexual partners. Although it was not unusual for faveladas to seek lighter skinned partners, because light skin was associated with a higher economic status, Carolina never used any of her relationships to better her own situation. The fathers of Carolina’s children were all white foreigners from places like Italy, Portugal, and the United States (Levine 37-39). Many of her lovers offered to marry Carolina but she never accepted any of their proposals, even though they would have lifted her out of poverty. A possible explanation for this may be that Carolina did not want anybody to compromise her way of living. Regardless of the reason, Carolina stayed true to her beliefs and would not submit to the way of life that the favela offered her.