ENEM 2020 · questão 3

A Mother in a Refugee Camp No Madonna and Child could touch Her tenderness for a son She soon would have to forget... The air was heavy with odors of diarrhea, Of unwashed children with washed-out ribs And dried-up bottoms waddling in labored steps Behind blown-empty bellies. Other mothers there Had long ceased to care, but not this one: She held a ghost-smile between her teeth, and in her eyes the memory Of a mother’s pride... She had bathed him And rubbed him down with bare palms. She took from their bundle of possessions A broken comb and combed The rust-colored hair left on his skull And then — humming in her eyes — began carefully to part it. In their former life this was perhaps A little daily act of no consequence Before his breakfast and school; now she did it Like putting flowers on a tiny grave. ACHEBE, C. Collected Poems. New York: Anchor Books, 2004. O escritor nigeriano Chinua Achebe traz uma reflexão sobre a situação dos refugiados em um cenário pós-guerra civil em seu país. Essa reflexão é construída no poema por meio da representação de uma mãe, explorando a(s)

O poema constrói o campo de refugiados pelo que se sente: o ar pesado com cheiro de diarreia, crianças sujas de costelas aparentes e barrigas vazias, a mãe banhando o filho e esfregando-o com as palmas nuas, penteando o cabelo cor de ferrugem. Essas impressões de cheiro, visão e tato formam a reflexão sobre os refugiados, centrada na mãe.