The Caldera family's plight

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The distress of the Caldera family is a book by the German author Gudrun Pausewang that was published in 1977 .

content

The story is about an Indian named Ramón, who grows up in the Andes of South America . In contrast to his relatives, he wants to achieve something. That's why he set off for the big city at the age of 19. There he got the tip that he should cut his braid in order to be considered a civilized Indian. With the money he gets for his braid, he can buy his first pair of cheap shoes. In the beginning he was lucky: he met Don Ernesto, who helped him to find a job. Black Rafaela works as a maid in Don Ernesto's household . This familiarizes him with various modern objects and also helps him to get used to the city. Rafaela becomes his wife some time later after proposing to her at a fair.

After a period of happiness (wedding, house purchase, birth of their first children), the family suffered various blows of fate: some of Ramón and Rafaela's children died and the parents lost their jobs, Ramón because he lost three fingers in an industrial accident, and Rafaela, because she is expecting a child again and nobody wants a washerwoman with many annoying children. Therefore, the calderas have to leave their homes and move to a slum by the river. When the need becomes too great, Ramón works as a thief for his former neighbor Rufinio. In one of his biggest robberies on a large villa whose homeowners are supposed to be away, he asks his eldest son Joselito to stand for him. Ramón is shot dead by two police officers passing by. The mother now has to go from house to house with the children or sit in public places and live on what they earn by begging.

classification

Like other works by the author, the book addresses the hopeless situation in which many families, children and young people find themselves in the countries of South America .

Awards

The book was awarded the Buxtehuder Bullen in the year of publication and twice the German Youth Literature Prize in 1978 .

literature