THE ORDINARY AND THE EXTRAORDINARY IN “A MENINA DE LÁ” BY GUIMARÃES ROSA

Abstract

Guimarães Rosa's short story "A menina de lá" apparently points to a recurrent reading in relation to Rosa's work: the presence of magical elements in the text. However, we believe that this story shows how an ordinary situation can be rendered as extraordinary by both the characters and the story's narrator. In the narrative there is a mix of fables and religious elements evoked for us to understand the speech and actions of the protagonist Maria, called Nhinhinha. The characters insist that the girl perform miracles - this is the key element of the story - although we realize that all episodes seen as miraculous could in fact be thought of as ordinary events when we look at the mix of fables and religion the child's imagination is exposed to. In this story Rosa explores the power of ordinary events and the different ways of dealing with them.