The broken body: torture and suffering in prisons

Abstract

Psychic suffering is part of the human condition and is represented in several Brazilian literary works. One of them is Baptism of Blood: the Dominicans and the death of Carlos Marighela,written by Frei Betto, which depicts the trajectory of the Dominican friars and their relationship with the revolutionary Carlos Marighela. The work is composed with an author/narrator, Frei Betto, who speaks in the first/third person, but makes room for other enunciators, such as torturers and tortured. This article aims to analyze the work and psychic suffering of the young Dominican Friar Tito, imprisoned, tortured and who after his banishment from the country and exile in France goes mad. The work has the function of reporting the history of those who were defeated during the dictatorship and insert this version of the facts in the official history by pointing out the traumas suffered by them.
Key Words: military dictatorship - torture - madness - prison - body