A socio-critical approach to Capitães da Areia by Jorge Amado

youth on the margins of society

Abstract

In literature, youth marginalization is a recurring theme that reflects social inequalities. This study analyzes the novel Capitães da Areia, by Jorge Amado (2009), through a Sociocritical approach based on authors such as Edmond Cros (1973), Pierre Barbéris (1989; 1997), and Antonio Candido (1995; 2012). The research aims to understand how the work represents marginalized youth in Salvador during the 1930s, highlighting power relations, social control, poverty, and exclusion, and how these issues remain relevant in contemporary society. The study adopts a qualitative, basic, and exploratory approach, using bibliographic procedures and content analysis of selected passages from the novel. We have observed that Jorge Amado constructs a narrative in which street children are protagonists, exposing institutional violence, social inequality, and social invisibility that shape their lives. The novel demonstrates that marginalization is not accidental but the result of social and cultural structures that perpetuate exclusion. Therefore, Capitães da Areia functions as an instrument of social critique and humanization, inviting readers to reflect critically on social injustice and empathy toward marginalized individuals.