Itamar Vieira Junior and the representation of slave labor in Torto Arado

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the novel Torto Arado, by writer Itamar Vieira Junior (2004), highlighting the
symmetries that exist between fiction and reality through the theme of contemporary slave labor, which is still
present especially in rural regions of the country. The work revisits the deep Brazil and serves as an instrument
for reviewing national historiography, while also highlighting the urgency of addressing labor exploitation in the
current context. In addition, it assigns to its protagonists the role of representing the resistance and religiosity of
quilombola communities, heirs of enslaved Africans who have been historically marginalized. By demonstrating
the situation of rural workers in their struggle to reclaim their territory, Itamar Vieira Junior emphasizes the
importance of traditions and religiosity as forms of resistance against the rural oligarchy and patriarchy,
underscoring the central role of women in this struggle.