Literature and educational policies: a social approach from the tale “Caminhão de Arroz” by Bernardo Élis

Abstract

This paper has as objective to realize in the short story Caminhão de Arroz, published in 1962, in the collection of short stories Ermos e Gerais, by Bernardo Élis, reputed writer from Goiás state, possibilities of literary literacy that can provide the reader with an epistemological reflection on himself and about the social environment. In addition, demonstrating the need to think about the teaching of literature in the current educational system, once literature has tuned to the humanization process of the human being (CÂNDIDO, 1995). The analysis refers specifically to a sociological study confronted with the research object: the short story. The narrative involves a character who search in the city of Anápolis-GO for the missing sister. She is a country girl and in her first appearance is in the truck body with a load of rice, the townspeople confuse the protagonist with one of the bags and totally clunky disembarks looking for information about her unseen relative. There is in his frustrated search the suffering with mockery and contempt of the people of the city, and yet, the character feels sadness and bitterness to see himself in a huge mirror and unable to recognize himself in it. The plot points to a reflection on the confrontation between the countryside and the city and the striking social disparity in the history of Goiás, configured by the disregard of how the relations between the city and the ‘roceiros’ take place. Finally, the text assumes a universal character given the social anguish of the character that ends up representing the human being in a general way. Such observations are presuppositions for the contextualization of literature teaching today.