O diálogo entre o fantástico e o real em O Meu Pé de Laranja Lima.

Abstract

The present study has an interest in revealing how the imaginary of a child and reality can be closely related. The object of the study is My sweet orange tree, by José Mauro de Vasconcelos. Specifically concerned with Zeze's childhood, the study investigates the period marked by significant pain and loss, but also by a fantastic world created by Zeze’s own imagination, and from this viewpoint, it was based on the contributions of Held (1980) regarding the fantastic in childhood, the conceptions of Damazio (1994), which enabled this work to make considerations about childhood, as well as Brait’s (1985) studies, which contributed to a reflection on the character. In this context, the aim of this study is to analyse and demonstrate how Zeze’s reality affects the creation of a fantastic world, in order to understand the purpose of fantasy in the life of the boy. The social context affected Zeze’s family, more specifically the adults, who discharged their frustrations and anxieties in the boy through beatings and heavy words, which made him bitter and mature early. Zeze has consequently become a child able to understand and feel the pain of adults. In addition, the study found that the adults were not able to understand childhood as the stage of discoveries, for that reason they considered Zezé’s attitudes and action as disruption or mischievousness, and that such behaviour must be corrected by means of physical violence.