This novella was 77 pages of utter confusion. I think this is the type of book that requires multiple readings to be fully understood. It felt like I was reading a very disorganized person’s diary. I personally don’t think I fully understand this novella so this blog is going to be a little messy.

This is a book about a nobody. Macabea is unnoticeable. Why would anyone want to read a book about someone so mundane? This takes me back to a conversation we had in class at the beginning of the semester about why we read. Someone had said escapism. So why read a book about someone who is no one?  In the lecture video, Professor Jon said that the novel is doing justice to such a life. Every life has their moment of glory and Macabea’s moment of glory was her death. Not much happened in her life, she had barely begun to live when her death arrived.

In the beginning of the novel, the narrator writes: “She protected herself from death by living less, consuming so little of her life that she’d never run out” (p.24). Towards the end of the novella, after meeting the psychic, she allows herself to feel hope, more so than she ever has before: “Macabea began (explosion) to quiver because of the painful side there is in excessive happiness” (p.68). I can’t help but relate those two quotes together. In that moment with the psychic, she used up all the happiness life had allotted her and maybe that’s why she died as soon as she left.

Macabea was raised in poverty. She could afford no luxuries. She just was. She had very little education and was curious about everything. After she broke up with Olimpico, the narrator wrote: “Sadness was a luxury” (p.53), one that she couldn’t afford. When the doctor told her she had tuberculosis, she didn’t even understand what he meant, she only smiled, further playing the role of just being. Her entire being was surrounded by poverty. She didn’t have an education because she was too poor. Even impoverished, Macabea was content with her life. It made me wonder, would she have been less content if she had more knowledge? Maybe her lack of education and overall poverty allowed her to appreciate every little thing life offered. Maybe it also spared her from bigger burdens. Since she didn’t understand what tuberculosis was, she couldn’t be upset about it, she was spared from that sadness thanks to her lack of knowledge.

Question of the week:

Out of the many options, which title did you prefer for the novella?