Child of the Dark

In Child of the Dark, the fates of the rich and poor are intertwined, and the rich ignore the existence and plight of the poor at their own peril. Though the rich might want to forget about the poor and push them out of sight in the favelas, the poor are as vital to the city as the rich are. When Carolina crosses the dividing line between these two worlds, she sees the contrast and connection between them more clearly. Several times, strong imagery highlights this parallel track, such as the image of the city as a beautiful woman with cheap, torn stockings underneath her ritzy clothes, and especially in terms of the image of São Paulo as a house where the favela functions as a backyard garbage dump. The rich would be lost without a place to dump their garbage, Carolina seems to be saying, and this unsettling observation provides a new perspective on the ever-present link between rich and poor.

Carolina's pride in her own independence is the central value that determines both her identity and the way she interacts with other favelados. On one level, her independence is the main guiding force in a strong set of values that she adheres to in the face of numerous threats and temptations. Rampant theft, alcoholism, and violence surround her, and to set herself apart from these scourges, she must maintain a mental distance from them. On another level, Carolina's sense of independence grows out of her resistance to, or mistrust of, other people. Manuel repeatedly proposes marriage, and when she turns him down, Carolina refers to her closely held sense of independence. She points to the subservience that other women must endure in marriage as her reason for staying alone, and since Carolina's independence defines her sense of self, giving up her autonomy would compromise not only her social standing but also her sense of identity as a writer.

Whether she is simply recording daily events or creating complex critiques of those around her, Carolina derives tremendous power and identity from the act of writing. On the most basic level, Carolina uses her diary as a weapon against those in the favela who wrong her—she threatens to put them in her book. If Carolina didn't sense that words have intrinsic power, she wouldn't bother making such a threat. There are subtler means, however, that Carolina uses to express the power of writing in her life, such as when she describes how writing makes her feel as though she lives in a golden castle. When she writes about her desire to escape the favela, she is putting words to—and therefore making more real—something she only dreams about.

Fighting back at figures of authority in both the church and the government through her writing, Carolina accuses those in power for being blind to the needs of the poor. She chides the president of Brazil for being like a bird in a gilded cage, ignorant of the hungry cats (the favelados) who are circling. She takes on rich business owners, who price common goods at a level that is out of the poor's reach. She castigates clergymen for preaching sermons that are not only out of touch with the favela but may in fact be harmful. For example, one sermon advised favelados to have more children. Throughout the diary, Carolina repeatedly calls attention to the responsibility that those in power have shirked. In that sense, her diary acts as a corrective to the neglect that the favela has endured for so many years.

Though the diary is a grim telling of the desperate existence of the favelado, humor frequently appears as well. Humor leavens some of the darkest events and gives Carolina another point of perspective from which to comment on what she observes. In explaining why she thinks that marrying Manuel would be a mistake, Carolina wonders why a man would want to marry a woman who sleeps with a pen under her pillow. Carolina's ability to poke fun at herself serves as a survival mechanism: by retaining a capacity to laugh at something, she can make it small enough to handle. Even in the midst of extremely grim circumstances, Carolina's wry observations shed light on things we wouldn't otherwise see. For example, she points out that women in the welfare office talk about their children's fathers as horses or asses, and she threatens Manuel by saying she'll begin acting like the other favela women in order to put him in line.

Carolina's constant threat to put those who do her wrong in her “book” defines her character throughout the diary. Carolina has appointed herself an arbiter of accountability, and people will have to answer for their indiscretions. Accountability is surely lacking in the favela, and Carolina thinks she can restore it through writing. With her threats, Carolina is also reminding those around her that she is a person to be reckoned with. Her assertion is ultimately born out by the facts: her threat is responsible for her publication, as reporter Audalio Dantas becomes curious about Carolina's “book” when he overhears her threatening to write about people destroying a children's playground.

When Carolina writes, she imagines she “lives in a golden castle that shines in the sunlight.” The act of writing represents many things for Carolina. Writing offers refuge from the humiliations and setbacks she experiences on a daily basis. It is also a source of illumination—it offers Carolina a place to process her thoughts and form meaningful conclusions about what she observes.

In casting the president of Brazil as a bird in a cage, Carolina implies that he is trapped in his own ignorance and is ineffectual at making changes, especially concerning the poor. The image of the bird in a cage makes diminutive a figure of presumably great power. In this construction, Carolina casts the president as a small and confined bird, while the favelados are wild and hungry cats. This symbol is especially interesting in terms of describing a shifting power relationship. She leaves uncertain the possibility of when the cats will get the bird, and doesn't specify whether or not the bird has anything with which to protect itself beyond the flimsy bars of a self-constructed cage.

By personifying São Paulo as a beautiful woman with cheap, ragged stockings underneath her fine clothing, Carolina creates a colorful, playful representation of the favela. The rich people of São Paulo must recognize that their lives are intertwined with those of the favelados and act accordingly. The image suggests two of the major themes that define Carolina's diary: the blindness of authority and the symbiosis of the rich and poor. In this case, Carolina chides São Paulo for not seeing its cheap stockings. By putting the city of São Paulo and the favelas on the body of the same beautiful woman, Carolina reveals their inherent interconnectedness.