Literacy and Portuguese teaching: childhood and adolescence in Graciliano Ramos’ Infancia

Abstract

I examine in this article an important work of fiction by the renowned Brazilian writer Graciliano Ramos (1892-1953). In the novel Infância published in 1945, Ramos presents an autobiography of his childhood and early adolescence. The author reconstructs the early years of his life and recalls the tragic events that he witnessed and also experienced in the hands of his father, grand-father and some of his elementary school teachers. Young Graciliano refers to his difficulty in learning how to read Portuguese. His narrative serves as a criticism of teaching material used in the schools in Northeast Brazil in the early 20th century. Infância is also a condemnation of the use of linguistic and physical violence on the part of parents and teachers in their dealings with the natural curiosity of children about the world they are born into. While the author is skeptical about human nature in general, he remembers a number of individuals who were kind to him, helped him to learn how to read and contributed to bringing him closer to humankind.