13 de dezembro de 2008

Leituras de Zabumba


Zabumba anda lendo As vinhas da Ira de John Steinbeck. O livro é sobre a época da Depressão e a migração para o oeste nos Estados Unidos.
Ao mesmo tempo que ele conta sobre uma família que, expulsa da sua terra, resolve ir para a Califórnia, a história é entremeada com capítulos com narrativas que contextualizam os acontecimentos de uma forma mais genérica. É muito interessante.
Eu gostei muito dessa passagem que copiei aí em baixo. Pra quem tiver paciência...

One man, one family driven from the land; this rusty car creaking along the highway to the west. I lost my land, a single tractor took my land. I am alone and I am bewildered. An din the night one family camps in a ditch and another family pulls in and the tens come out. The two men squat on theirs hams and the women and children listen. Here is the node, you who hate change and fear revolution. Keep these two squatting men apart; make them hate, fear, suspect each other. Here is the alange of the thing you fear. This is the zygote. For here "I lost my land" is changed; a cell is split and from its splitting grows the thing you hate – "We lost our land". The danger is here, for two men are not as lonely and perplexed as one. And from this first "we" there grows a still more dangerous thing: "I have a little food" plus "I have none." If from this problem the sum is "We have a little food," the thing is on its way, the movement has direction. Only a little multiplication now, and this land, this tractor are ours. The two men squatting in a ditch, the little fire, the side-meat stewing in a single pot, the silent, stone-eyed women; behind, the children listening with their souls to words theirs minds do not understand. The night draws down. The baby has a cold. Here, take this blanket. It's wool. It was my mother's blanket – take it for the baby. This is the thing to bomb. This is the beginning – from "I"' to "we".

If you who own the things people must have could understand this, you night preserve yourself. If you could separate causes from results, if you could know that Paine, Marx, Jefferson, Lenin were results, not causes, you might survive. But that you cannot know. For the quality of owning freezes you forever into "I", and cuts you off forever from the "we".

Ainda tem saco para aprender mais? http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_Depressão

Um comentário:

Anônimo disse...

Acho que nunca li Steinbeck, apesar de conhecer esse título desde sempre, e fiquei impressionada com a densidade do texto. É lindo e impressionante, forte. Acho que vou ficar na fila pra ar uma olhada depois, OK, Zabumba ? Obrigada por compartilhar as coisas que te tocam, e que vêm nos tocar também.