“The Hour of the Star” is written by Brazilian author Clarice Lispector. First of all, I love Clarice Lispector’s way of having a male be the narrator- that being Rodrigo, rather than it being herself. Lispector’s thinking and reasoning for every small detail from the title to the philosophy all over the book fascinated me rather than the story itself. Since, last class when Dr. Jon Beasley-Murray mentioned how people tend to write the same things. I will try my best to take a different approach to show how I understand the book. 

What I took away from the plot was how this book follows the life of Macabéa, an uneducated woman that is a typist. She’s extremely poor (paid below minimum wage) and lives in Rio de Janeiro. 

She’s a young woman, similar to the ages most tuniversity students are right now, that’s forced into growing up. Definitely the economic situation of Brazil did not help with her life, causing her to live in poverty. Despite all of this though, Macabéa never fails to be in touch with her dreams, has a heart filled with so much love, and passionately does everything she does like being a typist. She’s what many Gen-Z women and girls aspire to be like, she has an irresistible and relatable charm without Macabéa purposely making this her persona. She paints her lips to look like Marylin Monroe, catches up on the ‘culture’ on the radio, cuts pictures out of culture magazines, dresses very femininely, and fantasies the day she’ll get married. I have never seen a woman out of all these books that seem so alike to me, but at the same time not. She struggles in life in such a serious way, like not having basic necessities to live. Although her playfulness and youthfulness is something I just understood! The way in which she acts is just so real. I also love Coca Cola haha. Practically everyone in the book is annoyed by her childish- like tendencies, except for the narrator that sounds like he’s in love with her. I find it so odd that people had such a problem with her. She’s just a girl. 

Anyways, to continue with the story, Macabéa meets a very cheating and manipulative man named Olímpico.  He mistreats her with having an affair with a co-worker, but Macabéa being the this loving girl is still infatuated with Olímpico. 

Again, in so many ways there are women with so much forgiveness and are so blind-sighted like Macabéa. However, can we judge her? Personally, I have experienced women in my life that are just like her. Just so kind and sweet that they’re easily taken advantage of. It’s unfortunate. I will say her character archetype reminds me of  “the maiden,” that’s essentially the embodiment of  innocence and seeing the good in people. They are often young girls but some take this childishness with them even in adulthood. Examples of other characters I’ve noticed having these characteristics are: Daphne in Bridgerton, many Disney Princesses, Princess Anne in Roman Holiday (honestly almost every Audrey Hepburn movie character), and there’s so much more.

Towards the end of the book, Macabéa’s story tragically ends. Her entire life was seeing the world as such a happy place and from her lens, she looked with so much hope. She goes to a fortune-teller where she depicts that her life will get better by meeting a “foreign white man” (how funny) the second she gets out of the door. Instead, she is killed in a car accident by a taxi. I was sad when this happened, but I couldn’t help but laugh a little. Lispector I believe had the same intent when writing this scene. 

Overall, I genuinely enjoyed reading this short book and it was a little bit of a break from all of these women that take life so seriously. Yes, I think that the struggles of every woman throughout these books we’ve read is so horrible and serious. But, I’m a reader who enjoys a little bit of playfulness in a book even if it’s so incredibly traumatic. I think Lispector has done a beautiful job in writing Macabéa’s character. 

Do you think Clarice Lispector was influenced by her youth to write Macabéa’s portrayal of innocence? Since the last few years she was alive, she appeared the complete opposite of how Macabéa is in her book?