Lispector’s novel The Passion According to G. H. was a peculiar, eerie, and illuminating read. The plots of the novels we have read in this class have been rich with events, details, characters, and so on. I enjoyed Lispector’s story because of its simplicity. Despite describing uninteresting events and portraying very few characters, the author is able to show the significance of a spiritual journey through G.H.’s thoughts. The stream of consciousness makes it very easy to feel engaged in the narration and the honesty with which the main character expresses her reflections gives a bit of lightheartedness to the book. One thing that made me realize how captivating G.H.’s reflections were to me was the structure of the different chapters. The fact that every chapter starts with the last sentence from the previous chapter almost felt like a brief pause in the main character’s thoughts, like a deep breath before a speech.
G.H.’s spiritual awakening was initially hard for me to grasp, but by the end of the book, I understood the message that Lispector was trying to convey. The main character’s development from being imprisoned in her superficial life to gaining a broad understanding of the universe reminded me of The Shrouded Woman and Bonjour Tristesse. We have seen characters that – due to situations they find themselves in – start a process of change towards a deeper perception of the world. In this case, though, what sparked G.H.’s development was a very uninfluential situation. She finds herself in a “room [that] was the portrait of an empty stomach” (43) and the act of killing a cockroach is enough to send her into a deep psychological crisis. This is was makes this character distinctive from the ones in the other novels. Although the reader doesn’t get to know a lot about her life, it seems like her spiritual awakening had been long-awaited.
Lastly, I liked the parallels that the author creates in the story. The way in which the death of the cockroach is connected to G.H.’s passivity when she goes through an abortion shows how shaking the event is for her. Killing the bug – which would usually be considered an insignificant act – makes the main character realize things about herself and her past that change her. Similarly, the parallel between the silence in the maid’s room and her past relationships tells the reader a lot about the weight of G.H.’s realizations.
My question for the class is: why does the author choose a seemingly insignificant situation to be the trigger of the main character’s spiritual journey?
– Bianca
Hi Bianca,
I also enjoy Lispector’s novel, although I found it to be very intense and not something I’d want to read before bed. I would have to agree with you that the story does have a simplicity about it because there are no other characters and the reader feels like a participant in this journey of self-discovery. To answer your question, perhaps because things that we find to be insignificant or despicable may be the very objects or things that humble us and allow us to transcend our egos and lower selves in order to find our higher self.
I’m not sure about Bonjour Tristesse, but I find the comparison with Bombal to be interesting. Is what G. H. undergoes a sort of death… a social death, at least? Except that, unlike the shrouded woman, she somehow comes out the other side?
[Oh, but do use categories (“Lispector”) and tags (“spirituality”? “development”?) for your posts. Thanks!]
Regarding your question, I think it has to do with what Jon talks about in his lecture, that is, Lispector destabilizes the scales of the small and the large or infinite. Likewise, the use of undesirable animals or insects (similar to, for example, Kafka’s mice) presents us with the different (or the other), expressed in the emotions of disgust. At the same time, I think she wants to transcendence that.
Great analysis. I also liked how each chapter started with a line from the last page, and after a while, I almost began to compare it to scripture; each chapter is a new revelation, or a suspended thought which is expanded upon.
I find your comparisons to the other books to be very interesting. Also I personally think this particular situation was likely chosen due to the symbolism of the cockroach and also just because of how impactful surrounding an entire spiritual awakening around something so small is in general, it could’ve been almost anything and a similar effect may have been acheived.