A linguagem da representação: um estudo sistêmico- funcional do livro “Quarto de despejo: diário de uma favelada”

Abstract

The general aim of this research is to investigate the lexical-grammatical resources used in the novel "Quarto de despejo: diário de uma favelada", written by Carolina Maria de Jesus, in order to understand the representations of poverty outlined in the text. More specifically, the aim is to answer the following research question: how is poverty portrayed through the transitivity system? To this end, the theoretical framework of Systemic-Functional Linguistics was adopted, as advocated by Halliday (1978, 1994) and Halliday and Matthiessen (2004, 2014). The methodology adopted consisted of a thorough reading of the work, followed by the identification and selection of passages that showed semantic relationships with poverty, both physical and emotional. These passages were then categorized based on the transitivity system. Through a detailed qualitative analysis, the meanings were interpreted, providing a deeper understanding of the representations present in the work. The results obtained revealed the predominance of material processes and relational processes throughout the text, elucidating the way in which these elements contribute to the construction of representations of poverty. Unveiling the underlying meanings of the lexical-grammatical resources employed by the author leads to an understanding not only from the textual surface, but also from the complex layers of meaning and social context that permeate the book. In the text, the linguistic choices highlight physical poverty through the extremely precarious living conditions in the favela. The text highlights the lack of basic resources, such as food, adequate housing and access to health services. Despite these difficulties, the text reveals the character's strategies for survival, thus circumventing physical poverty. Poverty as an emotional impact is demonstrated by loneliness, the lack of emotional support and the incessant struggle for survival, having a profound effect on her mental and emotional health. Writing is one of the ways of dealing with emotional poverty. Therefore, the linguistic choices that have been highlighted throughout the analysis using the transitivity system as a driver provide a more detailed understanding of the literary text, since the contextual aspects in which the text was produced are also taken into account.