A CONDIÇÃO ONTOLÓGICA DO INDÍGENA EM “MEU TIO O IAUARETÊ” DE GUIMARÃES ROSA: HOMEM OU FERA

“Meu tio o Iauaretê” by Guimarães Rosa presents a setting of violence that erupts in a hidden corner of Brazil, addressing the plight of Indigenous peoples who have been suffering for centuries, stripped of their human rights. The protagonist Bucuriquirepa, a metaphor for the oppressed and dehumanized man, engages in a dialogue-monologue with a mysterious outsider whose enigma intensifies throughout the narrative, while revealing to the reader beliefs and myths that are part of Indigenous culture, often perceived as inferior or insignificant. This article highlights the significance of the Indigenous perspective on nature, animals, and the other, fulfilling a reflective and ontological purpose regarding the circumstances of the marginalized and animalized Indigenous individual driven to commit crimes. For this study, theorists such as Agamben (2013), Nunes (2007), Deleuze, and Guattari (1995), among others, provided the foundation for a document-based and interpretive analysis methodology, enabling a comprehensive exploration of the rich universe depicted by the Brazilian author, as well as the complexity of Indigenous culture and its long-neglected and/or disregarded society by white man. The study concludes that the animal residing within man finds no other outlet but further violence against its oppressors, as from the very beginning of its interaction with the other, it encountered nothing but mistreatment and prejudice, being regarded as an untamable being. Ultimately, Rosa’s short story delves into the struggle for survival within a savagery that only intensifies in postmodernity.