Cayapós, caminhantes da história e da ficção em "Guerra no coração do Cerrado", de Maria José Silveira

Abstract

This study aims to accomplish an analysis of the novel Guerra no Coração do Cerrado (2006), written by Maria José Silveira. The three parts compose the narrative and their respective chapters guide the Cayapó indigenous's life trajectory Damiana da Cunha, between 1779 and 1831, in Goiás Captaincy, now a federal state. This period referred to in the narrative coincides with the actual situation of Colonial Brazil, with the imposition of Luso-Brazilian policies aimed at indigenous peoples and with the bloody war between indigenous and non-indigenous people that had already been settled themselves in Central Brazil. The prologue refers to the Damiana‟s mythification as a heroine of the combatants and to the waged war between indigenous and non-indigenous people, causing the extermination of different people groups of various ethnicities. The epilogue presents official historiography information about Damiana da Cunha, including her death‟s date in 1831, at 56. This part includes her brother Manoel da Cunha‟s arrest and death, in Vila Boa de Goiás, now Cidade de Goiás, in Goiás state and the frustrated payment claims made by Manuel Pereira da Cruz (Damiana's widower) for the services provided to the expeditions in which he accompanied his wife. The narrative presents the protagonist, the woman indigenous Cayapó, who intentional and smartly coexists with two enemy peoples among themselves, witnessing part of the secular war between them. Feelings like fear, hatred, revenge and greed for power are present in the plot and characters‟ structure. The end of the novel allows a critical reflection of the symbolic representations brought by the plot and the war reinterpretation in the “heart of the Cerrado”. Thus, the romance analysis is an attempt to problematize themes such as colonization in Goiás hinterlands, the Cayapó people decimation and the ancient and persistent greed of different men coveting the Cerrado. The historicity that encompasses the novel, both regarding themes and characters, is thought in the Literature field, under the historical novel perspective.