Child of the Dark

Key Facts

full title ·  Child of the Dark

author · Carolina Maria de Jesus

type of work · Diary

genre · Nonfiction/memoir

language · English, translated from Portuguese

time and place written · São Paulo, Brazil, 1955–1960

date of first publication · August 1960 (in English: 1962)

publisher · E. P. Dutton & Co.

narrator · Carolina Maria de Jesus, writing entries from July 1955 through January 1960

point of view · First person. The reader is privy to the thoughts and point of view of de Jesus exclusively.

tone · Matter-of-fact, realistic, occasionally humorous, occasionally poetic

tense · Both past and present

setting (time) · Late 1950s

setting (place) · The favela (shantytown), São Paulo, Brazil

protagonist · Carolina

major conflict · Carolina’s day-to-day conflicts revolve around providing for her three children, and the larger conflict concerns how Carolina will find her way out of the favela.

rising action · Because the diary focuses on the day-to-day details of de Jesus’s real life, there is no rising action per se, though the impending publication of Carolina’s diary does provide some forward momentum.

climax · Because this is not a work of fiction, usual narrative rules do not apply, but Child of the Dark does have a climax of sorts: the publication of Carolina’s diary in a weekly magazine.

falling action · Carolina’s diary is published and yet her life does not change.

themes · The symbiosis of the rich and poor; the value of independence; the power of words; the blindness of authority

motifs · Humor; Carolina’s threat to put people in her “book”

symbols · The golden castle; a bird in a cage; the beautiful woman with cheap stockings

foreshadowing · There is little foreshadowing. Carolina reports events as they happen, without artifice.