Zaíta não será esquecida: a vida em fragmentos e as crianças em Conceição Evaristo

Abstract

This study seeks to reflect on violence in impoverished Brazilian communities with a strong criminal presence, as portrayed by contemporary Brazilian author Conceição Evaristo, based on the analysis of the short story «Zaíta forgot to put the toys away» (2014). Considering the extreme form of aggression against children, such as the use of physical or psychological force to impose a will and control, this goes through a conditioning that is manifested by processes of authoritarianism, repression, segregation and social exclusion. The short story analyzes the consequences of a way of thinking, acting and placing oneself in relation to the other marked by direct and indirect experiences of violence that are replicated in a vicious circle and that result in lives that are like the mutilated and lost toy of the little girl Zaíta.