Graciliano Ramos was imprisoned between March 1936 and January 1937, without trial, accused of being a communist, a victim of the Vargas dictatorship. When he is released, he needs to find a job to earn money to support his family. He decides to participate in a children's literature contest, as the prize would come at a good time. He then wrote the text A Terra dos Meninos Pelados (The Land of Naked Boys), a book that is discussed in this master's thesis.