This book analyses the literary work of Mia Couto: O dia em que explodiu Mabata bata (1986), where the cultural identity of Mozambique is presented in a lyrical way, entangling the socio-historical reality and the mystical in a symbolic game. Within this perspective, we will analyze how the literary work of Mia Couto is present in the approach to the texts: "Literature and Social Life" by Antônio Cândido and "Who Needs Identity?" by Stuart Hall. In the short story, Mia Couto uses his inventive creativity to transform the reality of Mozambique's war, which lasted for fifteen years, into fiction. Conflicts that were part of Mozambique's history marked society with landmines and racism, but did not destroy the strength of cultural traditions. Entrenched in the memory, history and daily life of Mozambicans, war and death met in the tenacity of dreams for peace and freedom.