O racismo em movimento: conexões possíveis entre Carolina Maria de Jesus e Flannery O’Connor

Abstract

The Brazilian writer Carolina Maria de Jesus and the American writer Flannery O'Connor present in their works a deep analysis of the social composition and the formation of the urban space in their respective countries, always emphasizing in these processes the racial relations from displaced subjects. The book Diário de Bitita and the short story O Gerânio approach, from different social perspectives, sufferings and injustices provoked by racism. Carolina Maria de Jesus, black and poor, born in the small mining town of Sacramento, rebuilds her memories from childhood, when she was still the little Bitita, until she was 33 years old when she arrived in São Paulo. The whole narrative is in this period. Flannery O'Connor, white and raised within a well-structured family in Georgia in the southern United States, brings to her characters the mark of racism on the imaginary of white American subjects. Despite the differences between their origin countries, it is possible to identify connections between the views of these two contemporary women on themes such as social mobility and whiteness in literature, in addition to racism.