School in Torto Arado

a literary portrait of the importance of Paulo Freire's liberating learning

Abstract

The book Torto Arado, written by Itamar Vieira Junior, is a phenomenon of contemporary literature in Brazil. Its importance is not only in a fluid and interesting writing, but also in the current theme to which it is dedicated. One of the social issues of the narrative is the construction of a school in the  Água Negra community. From there, two questions arise: Bibiana sees in education a possibility of achieving the necessary improvements for her people and she wants to become a teacher. On the other hand, Belonísia sees formal education as a waste of time because she does not see herself as part of the school activities guided by dona Lourdes, the teacher who comes to teach in Água Negra. Both ways of looking at education can illustrate the importance of Freire's theory and the need for an inclusive and liberating education. For this work, we aimed to find  banking and humanist education in the narrative illustrations, according to Freire's theory. For this, excerpts that could be analogies for the application of the theory in question were made from the book. What was found out is a portrait of the social change theorized by Freire which happens in the narrative.