Child of the Dark Literary Elements

A Memoir, Autobiography, Novel.

The setting of the novel is Sao Paolo, Brazil during 20th century and the story has been written in the context of the hardships and trials faced by poor people.

The narrator of the book is Carolina Maria de Jesus and the story has been narrated from her point of view that is from first person's point of view.

Optimistic, Grave, Pensive, Sad, Miserable.

The protagonist of the novel is Carolina who was a poor writer and a mother of three children while the antagonists are her neighbours and the political system of her society.

The major conflict in the story is between Carolina and her poor circumstances. She didn't want to live the life that she was living but her circumstances does not allow her to live the life that she wanted so she strives hard to change them. Another conflict is between the politicians and Carolina because she thinks that their policies are against the poor.

The climax in the story comes when Carolina gets her work published.

The search for white shoes foreshadows the extreme poverty in which Carolina was living. Her passion for writing and her activism foreshadow that she will succeed in publishing her work.

The understatement in the novel is the sufferings of poor and the relentless struggle. Through Carolina's character, the author has understated that one should never give up because unflinching struggle may lead to success. A person possess the potential of altering his/her circumstances.

There are allusions to poverty, life in ghettos, endless struggle, political exploitation of poor, Communism, Realism, the process of writing, diaries, autobiography, shoes, desires, single parenting, individual governance and sufferings of poor.

The author has demonstrated the poverty and the miseries of life through Carolina's account of her life. There are images of Carolina finding foid for her children in the garbage. The story begins with her endeavour of searching for shoes to gift her child.After struggling for hours, she finds a broken pair of white shoes in the garbage. There are also images of Carolina participating in political campaigns and various other matters. She reaches the Congress and questions a politician in the bus regarding his policies of increasing the public transport fare. The author has portrayed her as writing about all the matters of life and then contacting the publishers for publishing her works.

There are images of Carolina fighting with the neighbours for her children because they were putting accusations on her son. Carolina has demonstrated through her struggle that it is in man's hands to change the course of life. From extreme poverty, she moves away from ghettos for a better life just because of her writing abilities.

The paradox in the story is that Vera's father was rich and he was living a luxurious life but he doesn't take his daughter along with him. Instead, he gives a little money to Carolina for raising her.

There is a parallelism between rich and poor life and this parallel has been drawn by demonstrating Vera's father's life and Carolina's life. The miseries of poverty gas been depicted where a person has to rely on fate on daily basis for food and basic necessities of life while a rich man takes these things for granted.

An example of metonymy is Carolina who represents all the people who strives to change their lifestyle. An example of synecdoche are the white shoes through which the author has alluded towards the miseries of poverty.

Poverty and writing have been personified in the book.