My Sweet Orange Tree: Zezê’s Sad Story Plot and Summary

Reading books contributes to the development of people’s brains, as well as developing their imagination and social intelligence. There are also such books that manage to touch people’s emotions. Here is the novel “My Sweet Orange Tree“, a short book in terms of page count but with such an emotional impact.

Written by Brazilian author José Mauro de Vasconcelos and published in 1968, the book is a masterpiece that is among the unforgettable works of not only Brazilian literature but also world literature. According to the rumours, the author wrote “My Sweet Orange Tree book” as a novel with autobiographical elements and inspired the book by his own childhood memories.

The novel tells the hopeful and sad story of a child named Zezé, who grew up in a family struggling with poverty in accordance with the conditions of the period and met the cruelty of life at an early age. Despite his childhood spent in the shadow of poverty, domestic violence and discipline, our main character leaves deep marks in the hearts of readers with his imagination and sensitivity.

The book is shaped around basic human emotions such as friendship, love, imagination and the pains of growing up. Zezé finding a friend who understands him, the loss of childhood innocence and facing the realities of life form the cornerstones of the novel.

In this article, we will try to analyse the plot, summary and characters of the book “My Sweet Orange Tree” in detail. Please add this book to your list of books to read first. Believe me, if you follow this advice, you will not regret it, both because of its fluent style and because it is a short book.

My Sweet Orange Tree Plot and Key Themes

The novel My Sweet Orange Tree is the story of our main character, little Zezé,’s need for compassion, beauty and love, the subtleties of a child’s soul and his encounter with the realities of life. Despite his young age, our little main character is an intelligent, curious and imaginative child. However, due to his family’s financial difficulties and his father’s unemployment, he is frequently exposed to violence at home.

After a while, Zezé becomes more withdrawn because he cannot be understood by his surroundings and begins to create a world of his own and his dreams. The sugar orange sapling in their garden becomes his best friend. He believes that he can talk to this tree, shares his secrets with it and tells it his dreams. In his eyes, the tree is a living being just like a human being and he approaches it with compassion.

However, the most important turning point in Zezé’s life occurs when he meets a man named Manuel Valadares. This man, known by the nickname Portuga, leaves a deep mark on his life with the love and attention he shows him.

The main subject of the My Sweet Orange Tree; It is the feeling of “compassion” that little Zeze, who is not even six years old, encounters thanks to the sugar orange tree he makes as a friend under difficult living conditions and his friendship with his much older friend Portuga, whom he meets through a painful event. Zeze, who is a member of a poor family in Brazil at the time, is a naughty child and as a result of this naughtiness, he gets beaten a lot by his sisters and mother and father. Sometimes this situation reaches quite advanced levels and his brothers start beating him even when he does not deserve it.

Introduction to the Book

You will experience very different feelings while reading this short novel. In addition, we should state that; it will sometimes surprise the reader that so many feelings and thoughts are included in this short book of approximately 170 pages. Perhaps this is one of the important reasons why our author and his valuable work have made a worldwide impact and become popular.

In the work, which sometimes contains feelings of love, sometimes compassion and a lot of sadness, looking at the cruel world through the innocent feelings and eyes of a little child will be a different experience for the reader.

In-Depth Summary and Character Analysis

First of all, it is important to state that; My Sweet Orange Tree is not a children’s book, but a world classic that also contains important messages for adults.

After giving this important detail, let’s move on to a brief summary of the work. The My Sweet Orange Tree book begins with the mischievousness of our little hero Zezé. The little boy, who is a very curious child, manages to attract the attention of those around him in a short time. However, since his family is struggling with financial difficulties, he does not receive enough love and attention. Zezé, who is frequently punished and beaten at home, starts looking for a friend after a while. This friend is the sugar orange sapling in the garden.

Our main character believes with his imagination that this tree is a being that can talk, listen to troubles and befriend him. However, in real life, the person who gives him the greatest support is Portuga. Portuga is a father figure in his life and teaches him a lot. Zezé really loves Portuga as a father and becomes attached to him.

In fact, in one scene, after being severely beaten by his father, he says the following to Portuga, a very mature and profound sentence for his age: “No, I am not talking about physically killing him. I will kill him and his love within me, little by little, over time. In the end, he will no longer be my father.”

However, Portuga’s death in a tragic accident shakes him deeply. The bond he establishes with him, along with the pain of his loss, matures him and grows him up all of a sudden, teaching him that pain is inevitable in life.

Zezé, Other Characters and Influential Figures

Since the book My Sweet Orange Tree is a short novel, it revolves around a narrow character structure. On the other hand, getting to know these characters will make it easier to understand the work. In order to ensure this, we will now briefly introduce the characters of the book to you in our article.

• Zezé: This child, the main character of the novel, appears to be a curious, dreamy and intelligent character. Despite being a child, the pain he experiences matures him at an early age. On the other hand, he is known throughout the neighbourhood for his mischief.
• Portuga (Manuel Valadares): He is one of the most important figures in our little hero’s life. He is one of the rare people who shows him love and affection. Oddly enough, this character, who pulls our hero’s ears and arouses hatred towards him at the beginning of the plot, will become like his father towards the end of the work.
• Zezé’s Family: His mother, father and siblings are a family struggling with financial difficulties and have strict rules. Zezé is often punished at home for his mischief and sometimes even for no reason, and feels a lack of love. Gloria is his favourite sister. She has a loving, understanding and protective attitude towards him. Our hero sees Gloria as the only person he feels affectionate towards at home and feels a deep attachment to her.
• The Sugar Orange Tree: The sugar orange sapling, which is a part of Zeze’s imaginary world, is his best friend and is like a haven for him

Finally, it should be noted that this novel offers its readers the opportunity to empathize, understand the power of love and grasp the impact of childhood traumas on human life. While the difficulties Zeze experiences remind many people of their childhood memories, imaginary friends and inner worlds like the sugar orange tree show how children hold on to life.

In addition, the friendship between Zeze and Portuga is a powerful metaphor that shows how valuable true love and understanding are. The pain he experiences at the end of the book is not just a child’s growing pains, but also a universal emotion that the reader feels deeply. For this reason, “My Sweet Orange Tree” will continue to remain as a work that offers an emotional journey for readers of all ages and is engraved in literary history. Finally, we can say that Because it is an emotional book, it is very possible to compare this book to The Last Day of a Condemned Man in terms of style.