This week’s book, despite being short, was very powerful and so far one of my favorite novels in this course. “The Hour of the Star” by Clarice Lispector narrates the story of Macabea, a poor, uneducated girl from northeastern Brazil who moves to Rio de Janeiro. The novel follows Macabea’s process of adapting to life in the city and the new relationships she builds with people that she meets along the way. A reason why I liked this book is because of the way that Lispector explores the meaning of personal identity through the significance of the life changes that Macabea undergoes. This made me reflect on the importance of adaptation and realize how sometimes the process can be challenging and overwhelming. Accordingly, one of the ways this theme is explained is through the difference in social classes, and the adaptation of a marginalized person in a new society. The novel highlights the struggles of marginalized people in Brazilian society and the difficulties of living in a large, modern city coming from a poorer, remote area.
Macabea’s character is shy and introverted, and she seems to have a difficulty in connecting with others, which makes her experience overall more challenging. Despite her efforts, she is often treated with indifference or hostility, making it hard for her to find a sense of belonging. One of her main relationships in the novel is with her boyfriend Olimpico, who is portrayed as a selfish individual who takes advantage of Macabea’s vulnerability and lack of self-esteem. Despite Olimpico’s abuse, Macabea innocently continues to love him and believes he is in love with her. Another significant rcharacter in the novel is Madame Carlota, who offers Macabea guidance, which provokes a development in the main character and her way of reflecting about the meaning of life. Moreover, in my opinion, the fact that one of the main relationships of Macabea was a fortune teller also highlights her vulnerability and sometimes blind trust on people.
Through her struggles and experiences, Macabea ultimately achieves a kind of transcendence as she develops and better finds “herself”. Overall, I found this novel a powerful meditation on the human condition through the exploration of themes such as identity and poverty.
What did you think of the character of Macabea and her way of overcoming difficulties throughout the story? Was this character and her story inspiring u-in any way? Why?
It’s true, “Macabea’s character is shy and introverted, and she seems to have a difficulty in connecting with others, which makes her experience overall more challenging.” It reminds me, the way you write it, of a character in a movie that was very famous, “Faraway, So Close!” by German director Win Wenders. In the plot, an angel becomes human to save a person, but his life is complicated because he is taken advantage of because of his innocence. (Although it is a drama later they made a romantic version in Hollywood). There is also an “angelic” feel to Macabea except for her sexuality. In other words: Macabea is a very complex character, even though her existence lasts only a few pages. To me, this shows the mastery of Lispector.
Hi!
Good question. Although I’m not sure Macabéa’s way of overcoming adversity, for example when she is broken up with, is necessarily a healthy model to adopt, I do think her mindset is admirable. She only sees and believes that which she is immediately surrounded with and in some ways is there anything else that really matters anyway? Life would be a lot simpler if we lived a bit more like Macabéa but then again taking things at face value can also lead you to believe in things like the fortuneteller’s proficies, which could also make you unbelievably unhappy.
Hi Julia,
I really enjoyed reading your blogpost, to answer your question, I think that Macabea’s way of overcoming difficulties in my opinion was very human. It was a very realistic way in which a ot of women deal with difficulties, specially in Latin America. She thought that a man would save her, and unfortunately that is the way a lot of women think in Latin America. That is why I loved this book, it doesn’t romanticize how women tried to save themselves.