Chapter 4

1. Gloria

1.1. Gerson

1.1.1. the father of Pedro Paulo

1.1.1.1. oldest son of Gloria

1.1.1.2. became one of the leaders of a drug-trafficking gang, Comando Vermelho (Red Command), in Rochinsa

1.1.1.3. died in in a shoot-out in Rochina

1.1.1.4. was in Ilha Grande Prison in 1992

1.1.1.5. a great fan of reggae music and what it stands for

1.1.1.6. believes that women should be monogamous but a man can be with as many women as he wants as long as he is able to provide all their needs

1.1.1.7. threatened to kill his girlfriend, Josilene, if she goes through with the abortion of his child

1.1.1.8. very vocal about his view on unfair minmum wage

1.1.1.9. vowed to never work a job with a minimum wage pay

1.1.1.10. got out of prison in 1995, took responsibility for his son, Raul with Josilene; later dies in a shoot out with the police shortly after his release form prison

1.1.1.11. he wanted to live "the good life" like the wealthy therefore he refused to work the kind of honest work that the people in his class do because he knows it will not give him a chance to live the "good life"

1.1.2. the ex-lover of Gloria's whom she saw at one occasion; he seemed to be in a better economic postion that they were together

1.1.3. didn't know that his son became involved in a gang

1.1.4. cried over his son's death after Glroia told him about it

1.1.5. never paid any attention to his son and never helped financially with him either

1.1.6. made fun of by Gloria for crying over a son that he didn't know

1.2. Gloria over the years would constantly lament about how her son Pedro Paulo, whom she considered the smartest of all her kids, end up becoming a criminal; believe that her business in working to earn enough to feed her children had forced her to neglect some of her parental duties which resulted in Pedro Paulo's choice oof lifestlye

2. Black Humor

2.1. during the moment of the unfortunate experience, it will seem bad; but repitition or recollection of the strory later in time can be a source of humor

2.2. telling "funny stories" about tragedy and pain

3. A Visit To Ilha Grande Prison

3.1. When Pedro Paulo was in prison there in 1992, Glroia together with the author and Gloria's 3 boys, Zezinho, Zeca, and Felix for a weekend

3.2. a long bus trip and a ride on a ferry took them to the prison isalnd

3.3. upon arrival, they were separated- men and women- and had to wait for hours to be taken into the visitor's quarters

3.4. they met a girl named Amelia who claimed to be visiting her long lost brother, Adhmar

3.5. the author was introduced to Pedro Paulo as he white daughter, filha branca

3.6. on their night of the visit, someone whom the authro thought to be Pedro Paulo at first, started touching the author when the lights was turned out and they were locked in; she threatened to tell Gloria and the perosn who turned out to be Adhmar, backed off

3.6.1. the author held off telling Gloria after they left the prison, in fear of what Gloria might do to Adhmar; she didn't to ruin the visit

3.6.2. Gloria's reputation of being a tough lady was so notorious that even criminals cowar at the mention of her name

4. Rochina

4.1. a favela/shantytown near the border of the wealthy of Zona Sul

4.2. children/people that grew up in this town see how the wealthy live all their lives

4.3. town where Pedro Paulo grew up and decided to joing the gang

4.4. Lucas, one of Gloria's sister's, Celina, son that also ended up dead because he decided to joined the "bandidos"- a gang of bandits that commit criminal activities

4.4.1. Lucas's brother's used to tease him that he joined the gang so he can have an early funeral

4.4.2. Lucas jokingly says that "Eu vou morrer cedo" or "I am going to die young"

4.4.3. Right after Celina died, he was sent to his godmother, Aparecida; but an issue of a lost money forced her to send Lucas to Rosineide whose family was much poorer than Gloria

4.4.4. Gloria looked and found Lucas and took him home with her and made Aparacida to send her food to help raise him

5. Violence on "The Streets"

5.1. the fear of the perceived violence on the streets of shnatytows, the middle and upper class people built higher walls around them to protect them from such violence

5.2. prevalence of "death squads"

5.3. an article in New York Times entitled "Death End Kids" features a stroy of a "death squad", which consisted of hooded off-duty police, killinf 7 homeless children in front of a church

5.4. Gliberto Dimenstein

5.4.1. wrote "A Guerra dos Meninos in 1990

5.4.2. this book featured how the death squads systematically assasinate children on the streets

5.4.3. these kids are percieved as innocent victims of their circumstances but at the same time, seen as a part of a growing population of irredeemable criminals

5.5. Hector Babenco

5.5.1. Argentine-born director of the film "Pixote"

5.5.2. the fil features the violence on the streets as well as the cruelty of institutions like FUNABEM or FEBEM, who are supposed to care for these children

5.5.3. Pixote is a scrawny little boy whose in a goverment instition who witnessed a rape of of another boy by older and stronger boys

5.5.4. at the end of the film, Pixote became a full blown criminal that had killed 3 people, trafficked drugs, and pimped out people

5.5.5. the "real" life Pixote died in 1988 ina tun-in with Brazil's law enforcement

5.5.6. the film captures and reflex the middle and upper class feelings- sympathized with these unfortunate children

5.5.7. however, the film didn't capture the feelings of those who raised these children nor the context of the everyday violent lives due to the poor ecomomic conditions and the criminilizations of the poor by the middle and upper classes, as well as by the police

5.6. the children on the streets

5.6.1. these children are often recruited by the gangs to do dirty work for them in exchange for payment

5.6.2. some of the middle and upper class population will allow these kids to do littles things such as watch or wash their cars while they shop

5.6.3. other middle upper class people however refuse to give money because they feel like these little favors they do for these children will not solve the issue therefore participating is a moot point

5.6.4. these little coins that these children earn helps their family's financial tremedously; these children are called "nurturing children"

5.7. homicide is the leading cause of death for young men between 15 and 24 in Rio's poor towns/neighborhoods

6. Mirelli's Story

6.1. Gloria's favorite goddaughter and cousin

6.2. born in Rochina but spent her youth in FUNABEM

6.3. she lives with a man whose parents live in Colony for people with Hansen's disease or Leprosy

6.4. Mirelli's father lost her mother to a card game; the mother had to sleep with the man the father lost to

6.5. Mirelli'd mother became an alcoholic as a result and slept with other; in turn the father also became an alcoholic

6.6. since the alcoholic parents couldn't hold down jobs and feed their children, Mirelli, the middle child and her 2 other sisters Josefa and Desine had to find food in dumpsters of fine hotels at times

6.7. the mother died when Mirelli was 6

6.8. she was almost taken in by one of her mother's former lover whom Quiteria, their granmother, thought would only use them for sex later on

6.9. felt that she never really had a childhood

6.10. her mother often lived on the streets passing from one man to another so the 3 girls would be sleeping in the houses of these men too

6.11. girls that are living in the streets, without a protection of a man, are vulnerable to sexual predators as they were seens as "mulheres", or sexually iniated women

6.12. Quiteria, still raising some of her own children, had to send the girls to her oldest daughter Maria Antonia who grew up in an upper class household as not entirely a daughter

6.13. because of the strict upper class ways of Maria Antonia, the 3 girls were sent off to FUNABEM

6.14. the first few monts while waiting for placement, they wer pun in a temporary "triagem" or selectiona nd sorting place; the triagem has very nice facilities and ammenities;

6.15. they were later on place in a FUNABEM facility in Zona Norte; the place was dirty and overcrowded and the girls were abused, aslso sexually, by the women who were supposed to care for them

6.16. after she was able to leave, she left and stayed with Quiteria and Gloria for a while until she started having children at 14 years of age; later on in n life, she found herself in a stable relationship with a man for six years and raising 5 children

7. Gloria's Children

7.1. in the morning, they children woke-up, eat bread and coffee, and do chores before going to school

7.2. the boys- Tiago, Alexandro, and Lucas before 8 grade, left school and worked small odd jobs in mecahinic shops

7.3. Soneca attend evening classes so she and Anita care for the younger ones; clean after them and make them lunch; Soneca also took care of Elis's child Nesinho; Soneca gets monetary compensation for the job

7.4. Zensinho, Gloria's lover at that time lived with them and his 6 children; his wife left him for a policewoman; he spends his own earned money in alcohol; his sons Aguinaldo and Emilio, would skip school andwork small odd jobs at grocery stores and give their wages to their father who spent it mostly on himself

7.5. Emilio and aguilnaldo would often give their money to Gloria on behalf of their father; soon after Gloria and their father split, the 2 boys with Gloria and continued to refuse school and kept working on "the streets" to contribute to the household

7.6. Glroria threw out Filomena, one of her daughters out on the street after throwing a shoe at Alexandro that cut him in the head

7.7. Filommena was the second daughter that Gloria threw out of her house, Fernanda was the first- she was thrown out for flirting with Gloria's lover at that time

8. Gloria's Punishments

8.1. her punishments when the children were much younger was considered to be very strictly and bordering cruel

8.2. Lucas was asked to eat his poop once after pooping in the bed

8.3. Tiago was made to walk around town while caryying and sucking on the sheets that he peed on the night before

8.4. Alexandro's hand was burned on the stove before as a punishment for stealing money

8.5. her reasons for strictness is that she wants them to grow up to be honest workers and not live on "the streets"