Please don't judge me for this monster of a blog post...
Passage #3 offers a brief introduction of several themes begins to show the purpose of the narrator and his insights. Much like one of Lispector’s other novellas, The Passion According to G.H., the narrator serves not as an important character in the plot, but rather a means of expressing ideas. By using a wealthy, introspective man, Rodrigo S.M., to tell the story, who is the utter antithesis of poor, oblivious Macabéa, Lispector opens up the book to commentary on social class and a discussion of Rodrigo’s philosophical ideas. The first thing I noticed about this excerpt was Rodrigo’s desire not to be conventional; or, as he put it, “to be modish and invent colloquialisms under the guise of originality.” He also claims that he will try to include a “grand finale”, written in quotation marks as if to mock the traditional ideas of a good story. This sounds like Clarice Lispector shining through, as this is an experimental novel that is far from conformity. Next, the narrator discusses one of the novel’s many titles, “.As For the Future.”, claiming that the periods give it confinement. One guess I have as to why this is is that because Rodrigo is the narrator, he has total control over Macabéa and her fate, making her future finalized and impossible to change. Furthermore, once she goes to the fortune teller and find out about her supposed future success, she is completely certain of this fate until her immediate death, preventing any sort of change in the prediction of her future. Another major aspect that is introduced is the theme of social class and poverty. Rodrigo waits a long time before actually introducing Macabéa’s name, before that simply referring to her as “the girl from the North-east.” This anonymity suggests that there are many other poor, unappreciated girls like her that live in Rio, as there undoubtedly were back in the socially divided 70s Rio. Something interesting, however, is why the narrator feels that “it is my duty to relate everything about this girl among thousands of others like her.” Why does this man, so different from Macabéa, feel like he must raise awareness about poverty, especially after he previously states, “I want my story to be cold and impartial”? Perhaps one reason he wants to be “devastatingly cold” is just to show that authors are not subject to politeness and social conformity; they can portray things however they want, because they are “above all primary life that breathes, breathes, breathes.” This anaphora also seems to downplay human existence, repeating the word “breathes” as if to show exasperation with all living things. Anaphora is also seen with the word “shout”, as another possible reason that the narrator wants to shed light on the poor is because “one has the right to shout.” This reminded me of one of the other titles, “The Right to Protest.” Although one could go on and on about every detail in this passage, I’ll skip to the last paragraph as my blog post is already double the usual length. I was fascinated by Rodrigo’s claim that “this emptiness is everything that I can ever hope to possess.” It’s almost like Meursault’s passiveness; a purity of the soul in simply accepting all aspects of life. Perhaps Rodrigo is not that unlike Macabéa, who also seems to have an “empty soul”, content with her pathetic life; this may be why he connects with her through the book.
Clarice Lispector introduces the idea of existentialism in section five. The narrator writes in both first and third person, making it possible that some of the first person commentary is Lispector’s point of view. Throughout section five, Lispector references time, since experimental novels usually don’t contain a chronological or average timeline. She references time in Italian, “Allegro con brio” (Lispector 16), which means speed up the tempo. Her references to time also resemble the references to music and musical tone and speed. These references talk about the length of the story being told, “This story has no melody that could be rightly termed cantabile” (16). Cantabile means a smooth melody in musical terms, displaying the intriguing and not average timeline of the novel, that makes it an interesting telling of a story. In the opening part of section five, she introduces the idea of existentialism when describing Macabea. Macabea is described as not knowing herself and who she is, but she doesn't attempt to because she knows she will feel failure. This is an existentialist idea, because it involves the idea that she does not know herself and thinks that doing so would be a waste, since they will die anyway.
Lispector utilizes auditory, tactile, and visual imagery to create synthesia. Synthesia is the combination of senses. She combine visual and auditory imagery to create synthesia, “the words are sounds transfused with shadows that intersect unevenly, stalactites, woven lace, transposed organ music. Words, a physical object, is described as a sound, being taken over by shadows. Shadows, bring negative connotations, bringing a negative idea about the words being written. Prior to the synthesia, Lispector writes, “And what I write is like a dank haze” (16). Dank, meaning damp and cold, creates a sad depressing environment or haze where she writes. She immediately follows that with negative connotations used to describe the words she writes, displaying the sadness of the stories she is telling.
After color marking and analyzing the passage with my partners, we realized Lispector's broad use of metaphors and connections with past novels read this year. In the author's dedication section, Clarice Lispector mentions various famous musicians, including Bach and Beethoven, and dedicates her novel to the symphonies and music of these artists. She does this in order to convey the idea that music, especially classical music composed by the musicians mentioned in the passage, helped her discover herself and develop the novel. This idea can be clearly seen in “I dedicate it to (...) to all those musicians who have touched within me the most alarming and unsuspected regions; to all those prophets who have revealed me to myself and made me explode into: me”. The author, emphasizes on the idea of meditation, which we, as a group, connected back to Hesse’s novel Siddhartha. The quote “Meditation need not bear fruit: meditation can be an end itself”, stresses on the idea that, for Lispector, this practice was fundamental and substantial in her life. As a group, we discussed how the idea of meditation expressed in the book Siddhartha focuses merely on the inner self, and the search to Enlightenment. We thought that maybe the author was trying to find her enlightenment while writing this book. Another spiritual aspect of the author in the dedicatory section of the novel is her idea of believing. She states how “we must never forget that if the atom’s structure is invisible, it is none the less real”. This metaphor alludes to the fact that, even though we can’t see something doesn’t mean it is not real. Even though she mentions dwarfs, nymphs and sylphs, as a group we agreed that the author is trying to convey a very open minded mindset.
I had passage 3 in Hour of the Star and I noticed the many parallelisms introduced in this section of the novel. To start, there is a parallelism between the writing style of Rodrigo S.M and that of a regular novel, and this is noted often as the plot is introduced. For example, Rodrigo talks about having a “grand finale” to his book, but in a sarcastic way. As if this would be too cliche for him and his writing style is too good to be compared to that of an average author. The other major parallelism from my section is that between the poverty of Macabeá and the narrator, Rodrigo S.M. This opens the book up to discussion on the motive for Rodrigo S.M, a privileged man, to write on a girl living in poverty. He speaks of her at first as if she is just another girl without money, comparing her to every other girl on the East side. But why did he choose her? Why is he focusing his time on someone so insignificant to him? I believe he does this out of pity, as he speaks of Macabeá in a way that portrays her as lower than him. As if he is above her because he has wealth. He writes this book not because he wants to bring attention to the less fortunate, but rather show that he is the fortunate.
“In order to speak about the girl I mustn't shave for days. I must acquire dark circles under my eyes from lack of sleep: dozing from sheer exhaustion like a manual labourer. Also wearing threadbare clothes. I am doing all this to put myself on the same footing as the girl” In this passage we see Lispector sacrificing her own self identity for the craft of her writing. Lispector feels the needs to go to extremes in order to accurately and completely write about this character. Lispector sacrifices her own identity, or maybe adds a new identity to her own in order for her to become what she is writing about. Lispector is conversing with her own identity placing herself into the position of the little girl in order to write about her. Lispector is capable of losing her own self identity in order to further her writing. Lispector speaks of not shaving, not sleeping and wearing different clothes separate from her own identity to match that of the little girls, similar to how a method actor can spare their own identity for a role. When actors such as Heath Ledger devote their identity and entire person to a role they lose themselves, I feel this is the same situation for an author like Lispector, who is capable of giving herself to her work. Throughout the passage we read the open and flowing narrative of Lispector as she constantly goes back and forth slowly shaping her character and her writing, becoming a part of her work. Open narrative similar to that found in the novel The Catcher in the Rye. This narrative adds an entire new dimension to writing, writing that feels real, and relatable, and natural. Within this passage more than anything the reader is getting a first person experience into the mind of Lispector as she writes freely, shaping her work.
1) What was Lispector’s purpose in writing this book? What is the theme? I think that the reason why Lispector chose to write this book is to further discover and connect the different philosophical ideas she had in her life, being the existence of life the most important. In the first 20 pages of the novel, the author slowly and gradually introduces the main character, Macabea, throughout the complex and intricate narrator, Rodrigo. The fact is that Rodrigo find it difficult and challenging to write about this girl, since he states that it is a “fairly simple” story. However, what makes the development of this narrator challenging for Rodrigo is the fact that he feels utterly connected to this character, meaning that his portrayal of Macabea is, in a way, the portrayal of himself. And how could you even describe yourself, if what you are is based off what others see? And what Macabea is is how the world and the narrator interprets it. And if he is interpreting her, he is interpreting himself. 2)What is the significance of the beginning, where Rodrigo talks about the beginning of the world? How does this relate to the rest of the story? The significance of the first few pages of the novel is that it explains Rodrigo’s view on life, which is essentially the ugly truth. He states how before prehistory, there was prehistory, and that before that prehistory there was nothing. And this nothingness creates as a sense of disillusionment and disappointment on the reader, since it realizes that there was nothing before everything. Or even worse, there was the unknown. I think that what Lispector is trying to do here is make the reader feel unvalued and unimportant in this world, because we are just a single particle from an atom that make up what we live in. We are just one out of an infinite number of people that have lived here, then why feel important? 3) Was Macabea happy? Are we meant to feel sorry for her? If she is self content, is she so pitiful after all? I think that Macabea was happy, only because she was naive and ingenuous in this world. I think that the reason which the author created Macabea is to reflect the part of ourselves, or human beings, that does not exist: that part which does not worry about problems, prejudices, and society. I think that the character of Macabea was created to mock our society, since the fact that the reader pity’s and feels sorry for her just because she is happy when she shouldn’t, reflects who we are as a person.
Was Macabea happy? Are we meant to feel sorry for her? If she is self-content, is she so pitiful after all? I think Macabea may have felt happiness inside of herself, but I do not believe that was her conscious goal. Happiness was displayed because of her lack of knowledge about other people in the world. She doesn’t necessarily see the social classes that were divided during this time in Rio de Janeiro, “The person of whom I am about to speak is so simple minded that she often smiles at other people on the street. No one acknowledges her smile for they don’t even notice” (Lispector 16). Macabea smiles at everyone, demonstrating her belief that everyone is equal and that she should smile at everyone because everyone is equal and gets along. And the narrator describes her as simple-minded for that belief. Then, it is shared that no one pays attention to her displaying that she is on the lower end of the social hierarchy and that others understand the hierarchy while she does not. We are not meant to feel sorry for her, but rather imagine ourselves or others in her spot, because it can happen.
What is Lispector’s purpose in writing this book? What is the theme? Unlike all the other novels that we have read, this one’s themes are hard to come by. The whole book is hard to interpret, making it hard to come to the conclusion about one theme. However, I think Lispector wrote this book to share her wise philosophical views as she is nearing death. It is almost like a dumping of many ideas and her feelings towards life. The death of Macabea right as life seems to start heading up hill for her may display Lispector’s general feelings toward life, like how life is unfair to some. However, considering she is near her death, maybe she uses it to express ideas about her own life. That is a guess on my part, but it seems as though there could be a comparison made. Lispector also wrote this novel to discuss the thick line dividing the social classes at this time in Rio de Janeiro. She writes about a character that doesn’t necessarily have things go her way, and readers can know that they are not the only ones going through this type of stuff. Macabea as a character seems to look at differences between people all over, and similarities.
Is Rodrigo the protagonist of the novel? Rodrigo’s constant use of first person, using “I” to discuss himself as if he were a character makes it appear as if he is the main character. However, there is a switch between first person and third person, where he tells the reader the story of Macabea. In this novel, Rodrigo uses first person typically to express philosophical thoughts, like the existential thoughts that are presented throughout the novel. Similar to other experimental novels, Lispector utilizes first person sometimes throughout the novel to convey her personal philosophical thoughts. What appears as Rodrigo’s thoughts are Lispector’s. Then, third person is utilized to tell the story of Macabea. With the narrator being all-knowing, they are able to fully understand Macabea as a character and many things about her. I believe Lispector is using third person to tell her story and utilizing Rodrigo’s first person thoughts to share her own as the story goes on. I do not believe Rodrigo as the protagonist but rather as someone making comments on the story as if it were him.
5. What is the reason for having Olimpico's character in the story beyond the obvious reason of adding to Macabea's terrible life?
I think Lispector's reason for writing "Hour of the Star" was to isolate the life of someone in such a state as Macabea, and Olimpico helped to show this. Olimpico serves as contrast to Macabea which not only makes her life seem worse, but also outlines her characterization. Macabea may be poor or ugly, but she is also lonely and unaware of her situation. Olimpico serves to question Macabea so readers can gain insight on Macabea's character.
11. Is Rodrigo the protagonist of this novel? Or is it Macabea?
I think Macabea is the protagonist of this novel. Rodrigo serves as the narrator, and though he is part of the stories' world, it is not apparent how he furs in. Macabea, on the other hand, is the primary focus of the novel. It all revolves around her and her story. Each of the characters are portrayed in relation to Macabea: Olimpico as Macabea's boyfriend, Gloria as Macabea's coworker, and so on. Macabea is the main focus of the novel, so she would be the protagonist.
7. What does Macabea's death represent? How does it fit in with the overall message of the book?
I think Lispector's purpose in writing this book was not only to show the life of those in difficult situations to the world, but also to help the world realize that we all have some suffering, and may be unaware of the suffering if it is not physically seen. Lispector wrote to convey a message that we should pay attention to people's needs and help them. Macabea describes every aspect of suffering, be it illness, popularity, wealth, social status, friendships, and more. Her death shows how painful and hurtful the suffering can be. But the most important part of her death is how unnoticed it was. Lispector shows society's indifference and unawareness of the the struggles people face to prove hire we should pay better attention.
7. What does Macabéa’s death represent? How does it fit in with the overall message of the book? The irony that culminates the end of the plot is the fact that right when Macabéa is most aware and has the strongest desire to live into the future, is when she is suddenly hit in the face with death (literally). It is even more ironic that after this dramatic, heroically portrayed event, the narrator blows it off with the light-hearted statement, “Don’t forget, in the meantime, that this is the season for strawberries. Yes” (Lispector 86). I think this has a lot of implications for the story, but most of all that life is fleeting; even at your greatest points in life, you can still die at any moment. Much like the book changed tones from emotionally intense to flighty, our life can change suddenly, and our existence will come and go abruptly.
10. What is the point of Rodrigo’s introduction? The narrator, Rodrigo, spends almost as much time talking about what he will write and his identity as a writer as he does telling the actual story. This is one of the ways that this is an experimental novel, and creates a stream-of-consciousness feel, as he is constantly flitting back and forth between narration of the story and commentary. Rodrigo’s, or Lispector’s, depending on how you look at it, little side comments lend to why he/she wrote this story, and ask unanswerable questions of philosophy. One example is, “I should explain that this story will emerge from a gradual vision — for… I have slowly started discovering the whys and the wherefores” (12). This alliteration alerts the reader of the deep reflection the narrator undergoes in writing this story; it is more than just a story about a lonely girl.
14. How are the philosophical thoughts reflected in Rodrigo’s narration? One could write an infinite amount of commentary on the philosophical ideas present i this book; indeed, every sentence seems to have its own unique insights — the insights of the extraordinary Clarice Lispector. To name a few, one example is at the very end, when the narrator exclaims, “Dear God, only now am I remembering that people die. Does that include me?” (86). The narrator has put so much emphasis on Macabéa to indicate that we are all like her, and could die at any moment. But we don’t live our life this way, for how could we? Instead, we simply live in denial, and even the narrator has a difficult time facing the inevitability of his death.
1- Lispector’s purpose in this book is to portray the theme of despair. Lispector does not believe in happy endings. She is not an optimist. She believes that good guys get left behind and the glass is half empty. This is shown by the overwhelming theme of despair throughout the story. Macabea can’t catch a break, and Lispector does this because that’s how she views life. She went hungry in the book along with being verbally abused by her boss and boyfriend. She also died alone; quite possibly the most fitting way. Lispector’s purpose for having her die alone is to portray that despair is often dealt with alone. Often feelings get left inside and not shared with anyone and this builds despair. That happened in the book as little things piled on until her life was a giant pit of despair that she curled up and died in.
3- Macabea had some moments where there was opportunities for happiness. She had a boyfriend, a job, and other things going for her. But like I said, the theme is despair and she fails to see the bright side in anything or pursue anything that could make her happy. Instead, she focuses, or rather Lispector focuses, on the negatives in her life. This leads the reader to picture her wallowing away in her feelings, probably listening to sad music and eating away her sadness. While she didn’t deal with it in this way, she also didn’t deal with it at all. With no coping mechanism for the constant sadness, Macabea never found happiness in her life and died full of despair and sadness.
7- Macabea’s death had more of a meaning to me than I feel it did to most people, so that’s why I chose this question. When Macabea finds happiness in the story is when she dreams of being a film star like her role model, Marilyn Monroe. Her dreams give her happiness as she views herself as pretty and popular, but tying back to the theme of despair, everyone reminds her that she is too ugly for that and should give up on her dreams. This leads me to her death and what it meant to me. When she is about to die, she vomits up a “star with a thousand pointed rays”. This star was her finally living out her dream, or at least realizing she was right. She had a star inside her throughout her life, she just waited until her death to let it out. This moment had a lot of meaning to me because it was very bittersweet. The happiness she must feel about seeing the star must be immeasurable because she was told her whole life she was not a star and she was ugly and she proved everyone wrong. However, one more time tying it back to the theme of despair, this moment is sad as she gave up on her dreams and lived a life of despair rather than letting out her inner star. She never pursued happiness because everyone else ruined it for her. And in this moment she realizes that she lived a life full of despair and for what? She could have been a star and happy her whole life and instead she let others bring her down and suffered for it. The death’s meaning tied back to my theme of despair as to most it is a happy moment, but I thought it meant that Macabea not only suffered her whole life, but missed her opportunity for happiness.
1) What was Lispector’s purpose in writing this book? What is the theme? I think―to put it bluntly—that the purpose is to portray life. Life is a weird and uncertain collection of events and coincidences that lead us to each and every moment in our mundane lives. We, as humans who have become the product of our society and civilization, are destined to live out an existence which is dictated by the impurity of being human and of the ever-present, looming reality of death. We could be hit by a car at any moment. We can make conscious decisions to provide ourselves with the illusion that we are living meaningful and authentic lives, but the truth to it all is that we are born and we will die. Macabea is a character who begs for our pity and condescension, but we all embody her. The reader is led to believe that Macabea is a person who is rarely found, but if we were all to simplify our lives as hers is, we would find that we are much more like her than we would like to be. As far as a theme goes for this book, I think it centers around the human condition, what it really means to be alive, and the reality of the urgency of life and its grievances.
5) What is the reason for having Olimpico's character in the story beyond the obvious reason of adding to Macabea's terrible life? Olimpico’s character, in my opinion, is a part of the story to humanize Macabea. I think that her exaggerated, miserable life creates a safe, comfortable separation between her character and the reader that Lispector wanted to minimize—while still creating a person who could truly exist. Olimpico is kind of the “relatable” boyfriend character that we see all too often. He makes familiarizes us to Macabea, and even makes her situation seem even worse.
7) What does Macabea's death represent? How does it fit in with the overall message of the book? Macabea’s death is quick, fleeting, and immemorable. She is hit by a bus after hearing from a fortune teller that her life will change for the better. I believe that it’s indicative of the book’s theme of the frailty of life within the human condition. Her death comes so quickly to the reader; taking them by surprise. It leaves you going “wait, what?”. As stupid as that sounds, I think death is like that for most people. We are not ready for it. We spend our entire lives building a life only to have it whisked away in a flash of light and surprise. Again, we are more like Macabea than we’d like to be.
“After successive failures, I have reduced myself, but I still want to discover the world and its God” (Lispector 18)
Even after facing failure time and time again, Macabea still looks for hope and success. This connects to the biblical idea that humans are nothing when without God. So in order to discover herself and the world, God must be involved or she will enter nothingness. This also could be connected to the opening paragraph of the book that talks about Earth’s creation through scientific terms, but how that may not be true, and that truly the creation of Earth is a mystery. However, with many biblical references, it could be inferred that Lispector believes God could be the creator.
“She was sexually experience and there was darkness inside her body” (18)
The bible declares that people should be free from sexual experiences until marriage. Lispector reflects that idea here, because sexual experience is associated with the negative connotations coming from, “darkness inside her body”. This sentence displays that biblical idea, because by going against that believe, she is filled with darkness.
“May the gods never decree that I should write about a leper, for then I should be covered in leprosy” (39)
Leprosy, a term used throughout the bible, describes a skin disease that is visible on the skin. Usually it is associated with deformation. I found Lispector’s use of it here odd, because I am honestly confused by usage at this point and it’s overall meaning to the novel. But since it is commonly used in the bible, I found it interesting that it was used and am wondering what it could mean.
“They bled a black pig and seven white hens over me and tore my bloodstained clothes to shreds” (70).
I believe this quote represents Jesus’ death, although there is nothing to back up my belief. It seems as though there is a connection. Overall in the novel, I think it is used to forecast Macabea’s death that is inevitable and of course coming for her eventually. Primarily, I think it foreshadows her death as following her trip to the psychic.
“God is the world” (12) This quote, thrown in early in the novel, foreshadows the upcoming biblical references. It also makes it seem as though Lispector has a belief and almost a strong belief in God and religion. This is also interesting because early in the novel, the opening paragraph, Lispector talks directly about the creation of the Earth in scientific terms, although she follows it with contradicting terms about the past and history, the reader is unable to fully determine what she believes. These biblical references in the novel are very intriguing to me considering that most of the ideas expressed are existential, which when created never worked well with religion. It makes the author and narrator mysterious. The existential thoughts constantly thrown in the book, almost contradict, viewpoint wise, some of the existential beliefs.
“Meanwhile the clouds are white and the sky is all blue. Why so much God? Why not a little for men.” I found this quote interesting because of the two very different translations of the phrase. I don’t really know what Lispector is trying to get at here, but I interpret it as white clouds and blue sky are such commonly known objects, just like God. No matter how innovative and experimental the narrator tries to be, there are so many things that are just universal and unoriginal, as God created everything for us to share; why is God prominent in everything?, basically. Then, the translation I connect with most is “Why not a little for men.” I see this as, if God has all the answers, why can’t we as humans have a little bit of that power so that we aren’t always trying to answer our questions about life and meaning.
“passed (it strikes me that this God was extremely merciful to her: He gave her what He took away).” Again, the narrator seems to use contradictions, because the basic theory of existentialism is that life has no meaning, and the universe is indifferent, and yet here, he is claiming that God had reason to be ruthless towards her, like the harshly indifferent universe, and yet He apparently showed kindness to her. These constant contradictions are almost necessary to the book’s underlying themes, as life doesn’t have any answer or meaning; it’s nonsensical, and one can believe in something or that something’s opposite, and none of it matters. That’s why it is fitting that so many opposite ideas be present within this novel.
“And when there is no word, it must be invented. This God of yours who commanded us to invent” (17). I enjoy this quote because it’s one that most directly questions religion and the existence of God, the narrator almost skeptically or comically stating “this God of yours”, to imply that God belongs to the people because he was invented by and believed in by them. Furthermore, the irony involved with the word “invent” is the question of whether a God created everything or humans did within our own minds; that something exists just because we invented it. A similar idea is expressed by the quote, “She believed in angels, and, because she believed, they existed.” I also like how this first quote describes the importance of language, as it is our only real means of communicating our ideas to others, and sometimes the right word just simply doesn’t exist, especially in the realm of philosophy.
What is the significance of dying a virgin? Losing your virginity today has significantly lost its significance over time; today it does not mean as much as it did to the previous generation, and for that generation before. However one thing it does not loose is its symbolic, metaphorical, and often emotional significance. In classic human writing “loosing your flower” has shown its symbol meaning most obviously through its embodiment of the idea of loss of innocence, from “A chronicle of a death foretold” to the birthing story of Jesus, the idea of virginity has been seen as a stage of purity before someone has entered the next phase in their life.
Why did Macabea love Olympio?
I believe Macabea loved Olympio because Macabea was an orphan. She longed for the parenting and role model influence that he provided for her. She found something in him that she had been longing for since the death of her parents. Macabea most likely felt safe and as if she was furthering her life, making progression in an otherwise stagnant life when she was with Olympio. Olympio also seemed to care greatly for Macabea, maybe not in the most romantic and flirtatious way, but in a somewhat compassionate and wanting to help way, attracting Macabea to these parent like qualities.
What does Macabéa’s death represent? How does it fit in with the overall message of the book? Macabea’s death is symbolic in how the book has a heavy focus on both the insignificance of life and the random acts of life and nature. By being hit by a car right after receiving positive news and finally feeling happy for once in her life, it keeps the feeling forever, it freezes her rarely occurring happiness in time forever. The reader expects the fortuneteller’s prediction to come true due the natural style of storytelling, this book breaks this, and shows the truth to reality and the sometimes misfortunes of the world.
“She believed in angels, and, because she believed, they existed”
Angels, obviously a biblical reference to the Angels that can be found in the Bible, represent a higher power to Macabeá. It's something beyond her power to believe in; to look forward to. With this belief, she is able to overlook the sadness in her life a little bit as she looks up to these Angels.
“To eat communion bread will be to taste the world's indifference, and to immerse myself in nothingness.”
I'm not religious enough to know a whole lot about communion bread and Google didn't help a lot either, but I do know that this was a biblical reference, probably talking about how there's no purpose to religion and to eat the bread would be immersing oneself into a situation with no meaning.
“Meanwhile, the clouds are white and the sky is blue. Why is there so much God? At the expense of men.”
She asks “why is there so much God?” as in why is there so much beauty and so many miraculous things in this world that must have been created by God. She is making a comment on how many things in this world are so beautiful that there is no other way except for that it was created unnaturally by God himself.
“I just remembered a time when to warm up my spirit I prayed: movement is spirit. Prayer was a means of mutely and hidden from others reaching myself. When I prayed I achieved an emptiness of soul - and that emptiness is all I can ever have.”
This quote talks about how prayer helps with internal happiness and how prayer is the best way to reach oneself. In order to have a clean soul, one must pray and clean themselves not in the presence of others, but to just start over with a clean slate. Emptiness is how Macabeá lived, and this quote explains that Macabeá might have been happier than we thought. She may have been more peaceful than upset.
“God belongs to those who manage to get him. God appears when you’re distracted.”
God is not someone who you can just ask for and receive. He comes in the most when one is not asking for him, but still needs him. He will come to you if you need him and prayers won't affect if he shows up. He will show up where he pleases whenever someone truly needs his help. Macabeá never really asks for God, but gets a few breaks from him throughout the book.
“Everything in the world began with a yes. One molecule said yes to another molecule and life was born.” This introductory quote to the book appears somewhat biblical to me. Speaking of creation and the properties of the universe. This quote says the world started with the allowing for events to happen, what's interesting about this quote is that the reader can hear the quote which ever way they believe in the world's creation, this quote can be taken in a religious aspect, or in a scientific way. The quote is very much open for interpretation depending greatly on beliefs.
“The anonymous girl of this story is so ancient that she could be described as Biblical. She was subterranean and had never really flowered. I am telling a lie: she was wild grass” (30). Here Rodrigo is describing his character Macabea as very old school, or old timey, she acts as if she was an ancient character of the bible. This could mean she was someone who very much stuck out around other people, not belonging, or she was seen as very different or special like a biblical character would be, people believed to be close with god. Maybe Rodrigo means Macabea is close with God, like so a religious figure from the bible, perhaps a modern day religious figure from a bible written in her time.
“At the hour of death you become a celebrated film star, it is a moment of glory” (28). This quote seemed very religious to me for how it references/ foreshadows the events of the book. I believe what it means when it says after death you become a film star is that at the moment of death the only thing that matters to you is your own life. Because without your own life you can not perceive that of other people's lives. You are the only person you know, or have truly in the world, it's just yourself. Everybody dies alone. It is very sad, but I believe Lispector understood this sadness well, she writes how a moment of glory is granted to us at time of death, as we become the only relevant thing in the universe, the only thing that has been relevant to ourselves our entire lives, who we are, ourselves. When Macabea dies, she is happy, she has no reason to be otherwise as her life is turning around the way she wants. Things are going her way, and they won't and they can't forever, but she finishes her life with that feeling as if it could.
“Do not mourn the dead. They know what they are doing.” Lispector here is saying that it makes no sense to mourn the dead because they are more experienced, they know what happens after death, which no one amongst the living could ever know. They know what they are doing, basically saying that feeling it is important to also be very happy after someone has passed and celebrate their life, after they have died they still had a life that was completely lived and even in death nature knows what it’s doing, so no one amongst the dead would need anyone mourning for them, that's what the quote sounds like it is saying, sometimes this book can be very mysterious, but we can only dissect it based off of intuition.
“So long as I have questions to which there are no answers, I shall go on writing.” To me this quote seemed to demonstrate Lispector’s desperate search for answers, her constant struggle. She writes because in a world that she writes, she’s god, she has the answers and chooses life for other people. She killed Macabea, or at least she had Rodrigo do it for her. This type of paradox reminds me of the novel Sophie’s World in which Sophie is unaware of her own fictionality within the book. Similar could be said for Macabea unaware that she is a fictional character, and perhaps her author Rodrigo unaware that he is a fictional author.
“She often dreamed about sex, she, who to all appearances was completely asexual” (33). Sex, especially in the high-energy, densely populated regions of urban areas, is a major part of human existence. The fact that Rodrigo describes her as “asexual” shows that sexuality is yet another aspect she is lacking, and relates back to when the introduction when Rodrigo discussed that poor girls sold their bodies, their only real possession, and Macabéa didn’t even have that. It is also ironic that despite her innocence and ignorance, she dreams about sex; perhaps this is just yet another one of the narrator’s contradictions, or perhaps she is dreaming about it just passively and out of curiosity, not really having an opinion on it, like she is with the res of the world. Indeed, maybe her passiveness is what dehumanizes her.
“Macabéa was undeniably a primitive creature while Olímpico de Jesus saw himself as a man about town, the type of man for whom all doors opened” (46). This quote seems to directly deal with how wealthy members of society are worthy, while the poor, invisible ones who are marginalized aren’t even humans, but rather “primitive creatures.” I think this idea could be broadened to the fact that man views anyone below his status as inhuman, because he is no longer treating him as an equal, so he is no longer a human at all. Since Macabéa was so pathetic and socially inept, she could not even be considered a s a person to bother oneself with.
“He — Why the fuss? Aren’t you a human being? Human beings talk about other human beings. She — Forgive me, but I don’t believe that I am all that human. He — Everybody’s human, dear God! She — I’ve never got used to the idea.” (48) I like how Macabéa seems oddly contented and calm all the time while Olímpico reacts like a normal, annoyed human being, hastily claiming that everyone is human. He seems to regard his comment as nonsense while it is truly insightful without her even knowing so; this is what puts her apart from other people, and perhaps it is this difference that dehumanizes her in this case.
“ [Macabéa] — I’m sure I can sing that music. La-la-la-la-la. [Olímpico] — You look like a deaf-mute trying to sing. Your voice is like a broken reed” (51). The fact that Olympico so blatantly insults Macabéa, not to mention calling her dehumanizing names, is dehumanizing in itself. This reckless mistreatment reflects how the social system in Rio allowed the wealthy to be completely oblivious to and even disgusted with the poor.
“Olímpico concerned himself with important things but Macabéa only noticed unimportant things such as herself” (51). Again, living as a poor person in an urban society would make one feel extremely insignificant. Even here in Portland, the homeless are often ignored by passersby. Not only did Macabéa feel unimportant as a poor female virgin in a social caste, but this also made her focus on other small, unimportant things like her radio and an advertisement for face cream. I also like the oversimplified language Lispector uses here; using terms like “important things” makes the logical sound childish, making Olímpico’s “manly affairs” seem trivial and actually unimportant, like all of human existence.
“ — And you’re the color of mud. What makes you think that you’ve got the face or the body to become a film star? — Am I really so awful? — Take a good look at yourself in the mirror” (53). This continues the theme I discussed from previous lines, as he dehumanizes her by comparing her to urban beauty standards. however, this quote is extra special because of the mention of being a film star, foreshadowing to the end of the book and the meaning of the title, “the hour of the star.” Just as her hour of fame was unheroic, as she pathetically lay dying on the pavement, this mention of her desiring to be a lil star but being hopelessly ugly reflects the utter absurdity of her miserable life. And yet, she does seem to be happy as in the rest of the book, because she merely makes the nonchalant, honest comment, “Am I really so awful?”
"I am a man who possesses more money than those who go hungry, and this makes me in some ways dishonest" (1.31). Rodrigo’s character is described as wealthy, with more than enough money to keep him satisfied. Rodrigo who has created Macabea as a fictional character -who is the complete opposite of Rodrigo; she is very poor-feels guilty and untruthful to his writing due to the fact that Rodrigo likes to place himself within the shoes of whoever he is writing about, at least we know this is the case for Macabea, as Rodrigo claims he did not sleep for days and changed the way he dressed all in order to better write Macabea's story. These polar characteristics of these characters could be a source into Rodrigo’s pain in writing the story, he might feel he cannot completely connect himself to the lower class that Macabea is in, compared to the more upper class lifestyle Rodrigo find himself in.
"aware of her own unhappiness. The only thing she desired was to live. … Perhaps she felt there was some glory in living. She thought that a person was obliged to be happy. So she was happy" (3.58) While Rodrigo writes Macabea as an unfortunate and poor character, he does not write her in as an unhappy one. This quote shows how Macabea was poor, but her class or ranking in her society did not influence who she was, or her level of happiness. Rodrigo writes that she was infact aware of her own sad situation, however that did not get in her way of living, and as long as her only desire was to live she was happy, regardless of her social situation or class. This is a strong passage because it is a social comment to how life should be lived in the eyes of the author; to be alive to live, and not to be something or reach a class.
“Only once did she ask herself that traumatic question: Who am I? The question frightened her to such an extent that her mind became paralyzed.” (3.75) Macabea was not written as a person people enjoy being around, nor liked very much at all. I like this quote because here Macabea is asking herself a very serious and frightening question that we all ask ourselves, the question of her entire existence, why she is and who she is. Macabea created to be such a sad and gloomy person also is written to be a very indepth, and a frightened person. Macabea is scared by either that fact that she doesn't know who she is, or she is too frightened to find out.
“Why should I write about a young girl whose poverty is so evident? Perhaps because within her there is seclusion. Also because in her poverty of body and soul one touches sanctity and I long to feel the breath of life hereafter.” (2.39) Rodrigo created Macabea to be sad, poor, in this quote Rodrigo describes why he is writing about Macabea and why he created her character. Rodrigo writes that he feels so lost within his own wealth, and he feels that there is almost a sense of enlightenment within being poor, having so little, the body and soul, relying on just the basics and not being diluted by the money or non-meaningful possessions. Rodrigo might feel that he lost in his life of privilege and can only find happiness in the poor and un-liked, supposedly the opposite of himself. By creating a character with a terrible life he feels he can be happy with his own life, and find a form of sanctity.
“At least the girl didn't have to beg for food. (There were others who were even more abandoned and starving.)” (3.67) This quote is very important because all throughout the book the reader is constantly told and reminded of Maccabees poor situation, but this quote shows that there are still people with much worse lives, and Rodrigo is just choosing this class to exploit, while there are still classes of people far worse off than Macabea. This quote is cool because it reminds the audience that having a bad or unfortunate life is all just a matter of perception, because there will always be people who appear worse off when you compare your lives in the exact same way, but could be much happier.
“giver her a good scrubbing and a plate of hot soup, kiss her on the forehead and tuck her up in bed. So that she might wake up to discover the great luxury of living.” (4.275) Rodrigo claims to want to take Macabea in, give her soup, kiss her, and make her feel happy. This quote reminds the readers that Macabea lives a life that is emotionally fractured, she doesn't get love or treatment like this evert within the book, and most likely never within her fictional lifetime. What is also sad is how this could never happen for Rodrigo is just making her up, but the way he cares for his made up character like a parent is very beautiful and completely makes the character come to life in a very honest and emotional way. (it would not let me post it all in one)
“And that nobody cares a damn about their existence” (Lispector 14)
This is a general statement used by Lispector to describe the population in Brazil that is similar to Macabea. This resembles the class division in Rio at this period, because there was a large division between all of the classes. Lispector or even Rodrigo, it is hard to determine in this quote, seems to be at the top of the social hierarchy looking down upon the girls in society that may not be as wealthy as them. It is dehumanizing to Macabea and the other girls they are referring to, because they almost describe them as so undesirable that no human even cares about their existence, especially the higher classes.
“I have a restless character on my hands who escapes me at every turn and expects me to retrieve her” (22).
I saw this quote resemble a description of a dog. Similar to walking a dog, who runs around as you are trying to walk them. Then, the dog simply runs away, hoping the owner will make an attempt to find him. By comparing her to a dog, Lispector is declaring how minimal her importance is to mankind. She clearly describes her as a human who has to be watched, similar to any animal. Once again, that displays the large social divide between the classes.
“She merely exists, inhaling and exhaling, inhaling and exhaling. Why should there be anything more? Her existence is sparse” (23).
Here, Rodrigo is describing Macabea as barely even existing as a human. He discusses how she only breathes, and does nothing else, similar to how Macabea does nothing for society in his upper class view. He almost makes the reader believe that her existence is almost relevant to mankind. This can be generalized to his view on the lower classes, during this time.
“The girl knew lots of things just as a dog knows how to wag its tail or a beggar how to feel hungry” (28).
These traits listed by Rodrigo are common feelings or actions completed by those people, or animals. So, he is describing how Macabea has no real knowledge or just about anything, besides the basic generic information for all humans. Most likely, he is referring to her ability to speak and listen, and is probably almost saying that she has no knowledge at all. Declaring that someone knows nothing other than the basics is dehumanizing for someone who has lived some of their life, where supposedly people learn everyday.
“A creature from nowhere with the expression of someone who apologizes for occupying too much space” (26).
Lispector directly refers to Macabea as a creature. She flat out describes Macabea as something other than human, and a creature. This is a perfect example of Rodrigo dehumanizing Macabea, and it really demonstrates the large line dividing social classes. Prior to this, there has been instances that could reflect the social class, but here when declared not even a person, it displays the higher classes thoughts on those less worthy.
“No one paid any attention to her on the street, for she was as appetizing as cold coffee” (27). Lispector describes Macabea as being unworthy of people’s attention, and long with that, people didn’t give her attention because she is not worthy of it. And it seems as though there is no way to exit this cycle. Lispector uses a simile, “she was as appetizing as cold coffee” to display the overall dislike her for. This dislike is generalized, so it seems as though no one in the world likes her. Although I would believe that there are people out there that can relate?
“...But it was not so awful for the girl knew lots of things just as a dog knows how to wag its tail or beggar how to feel hungry,” (pg 28). Here, Rodrigo makes a direct comparison between Macabea and subhuman lives. A beggar is constantly looked down upon by the general public and dehumanized, brought to the level of existence which a dog or cat may occupy. Through not only ironically making the statement that “the girl knew lots of things” but comparing those things to trivial, brainless activities, Rodrigo effectively sets himself (and the reader) on a level above that of Macabea.
“She was so backward that when she typed she was obliged to copy out every word slowly, letter by letter,” (pg 15). Similar to the previous quote, Rodrigo makes a habit of belittling and patronizing Macabea’s habits and activities. The narrator had the option to approach the topic of Macabea with more sympathy and compassion, but as he states multiple times throughout the introduction, he aims to tell the story as cold and as heartless as possible; thus raising the question: If the purpose of Rodrigo’s writing is to tell the story of Macabea as bare and as unaltered as possible, and he does so in his cold manner, can we assume that Lispector believes the natural state of humans is to be cold and unfeeling?
“She merely exists, inhaling and exhaling, inhaling and exhaling,” (pg 23). This quote particularly dehumanizes Macabea because not only does Rodrigo strip her of any emotions or experiences, but he reduces her to just a body--a body whose sole purpose is nothing more than breathing. This raises another question: Why does Rodrigo not want the reader to empathize with Macabea? Is Macabea truly a person so naive that they lack the basic human qualities of emotion?
“She had been born with the legacy of misfortune, a creature from nowhere with the expression of someone who apologizes for occupying too much space,” (pg 26). Whenever someone refers to someone else as a “creature” I think that that’s an automatic red flag for dehumanization. However, this quote almost contradicts itself through describing Macabea with “the expression of someone who apologizes for occupying too much space”. This not only implies that Macabea can have real emotions which materialize on her face, but that she may feel like she occupies too much space. This emotion is one that I believe is felt by every person at some point in their lives. It’s difficult not to ever feel like you are a burden to both strangers and people close to you, and Macabea is no exception.
“...She has clung to my skin like some viscous glue or contaminating mud,” (pg 21). Do I even need to elaborate? Not only has Rodrigo lowered Macabea from human to inanimate, but he as compared her to irritating and disgusting substances. Mud and glue are just viewed as nuisances and as things that get in the way. This may connect to the previous quote where Rodrigo describes Macabea as feeling like she occupies too much space.
“She was Subterranean and had never really flowered,” (pg 30). This quote really obviously dehumanizes Macabea through first calling her “subterranean” which, literally translated, means “below earth”. Rodrigo quite bluntly states that Macabea is no longer human, she is not even inhabiting the same level of existence which we are. The narrator also describes Macabea as having “never really flowered”. This may be a reference to Macabea’s naive and primordial state of being, or it may be elaborating on her pure, virginal qualities. As the reader learns, Macabea is still a virgin, and she does not have any romantic or sexual desires (made known to the reader). Although she does have a boyfriend, their relationship is not romantic in any way, and he constantly abuses her.
“Macabea had ovaries shriveled as a cooked mushroom. [...] Macabea didn’t have the strength of breeding, she was a subproduct.” (50) The quote shows the dehumanization of the urban world, or the lower class citizens by portraying the women as weak and infertile. I think that the fact that the author chose to show Macabea as unable to breed shows how delicate and fragile physically and mentally these people are, and paradoxes to the function of the female body: to breed. Macabea is so useless and ineffective that she can’t even do the number one thing all women are destined to: give birth to a child. This shows the authors undermining of the urban world, as she portrays them as weak and impractical. I think that she is trying to show how people actually view the poor, as a class that has no use in the mechanics of the system, and that just even might cause problems.
“ Killing had made him a man with a capital M.” (37) [...] “He had kept his crime an absolute secret, which gave him the power a secret gives” (49). In this quote, the author is, once again, dehumanizing the urban world this time focusing on the more social aspects of it, like the crimes. Having lived in a South American country, I can strongly agree that a lot of the crimes are due to the lack of education and poverty of many social sections of the big cities in these countries. And I think that Rio de Janeiro is a good example to show and portray the insecurity and high crime rates seen in the favelas. What the author is trying to show through Olimpicos excessive pride is that he actually feels this strength due to the crime he has committed: he killed a man. What Lispector is trying to show here is the ignorance of these people, and how many do not care about the important things in life, but instead construct their values and power through things such as violence and delinquencies.
“ - [...] What does culture mean? Culture is culture, he continued sulking. You like putting my back against a wall. Because there are so many things I don’t understand. What does “per capita income” mean? Oh that’s easy, it’s something for doctor. What does Count of Bonfirm Street mean? Whats a Count? Is that a prince? A count is a count, for God’s sake. I don’t need the correct time because I’ve got a watch.’’ (41) Through this dialogue between Olimpico and Macabea, we can see the ignorance and lack of knowledge these two possess. I think that the author tried to use the most known and easy aspects of life to show and portray the extent of their lack of knowledge. This is another criticism of the urban world, or the lower class society seen in one of Brazil’s biggest city, since their lack of education and knowledge makes these people, not only unvalued in the world, but also incoherent with many aspects in life. As mentioned in the quote prior to this one, Olimpicos lack of education and guidance led him to commit crimes, which he has come to learn and acknowledge as something virtuous and ethical. I think that Lispector is critizing the uneducated society, and how brutal this can be.
“I have a restless character on my hands who escapes me at every turn and expects me to retrieve her” (22)
This quote makes it almost seem like she is inhuman and that's why she escapes him. He cannot understand her and her ways, thus making her sound inhuman. She expects him to retrieve her in the way that he’ll start to understand her. It is in this way that it is seen that she has inhuman qualities.
“The girl knew lots of things just as a dog knows how to wag its tail” (28)
The comparison to a dog is pretty straight forward. Dogs are not human and therefore this is a dehumanizing comment that creates a lack of sympathy in the reader. It also makes her sound dumb as wagging a tail seems easy and you have to think about Macabeá being too dumb to wag her tail.
“(She) scarcely has a body to sell; nobody desires her” (14)
By saying she scarcely has a body to sell, it is being said that her body is so unattractive that no one would buy it. This dehumanization is used to show the lack of interest on everyone's part when it comes to Macabeá. This is clear dehumanization of our main character.
“They aren't even aware of the fact that they are superfluous and that no one gives a damn about their existence” (14)
He says that there are many of them. Basically saying they're all the same. There's so many of them that they're basically just insignificant robots, not real humans. They're all programmed to be the same and act the same in the eyes of Rodrigo. This shows the dehumanization as they all coexist in the same way and style as each other.
“She merely exists, inhaling and exhaling, inhaling and exhaling” (23)
He is saying that she has no purpose on this life, otherwise saying that her only duty is to breathe. She's basically a plant, as her only function is that of a plant. No human is only good for breathing and this is what painted into Rodrigo’s mind.
“She has clung to my skin like some vicious glue or some contaminating mud” (21)
She's now being compared to mud and glue. She's never being compared to other humans, as the goal is to make her seem less than human and it will ultimately lead to the reader
All of these comparisons show how Rodrigo feels about Macabeá. She's not worthy of being called a human and Rodrigo rolls with that every time.
The Hour of the Star; being an experimental novel, is one the major reasons I really enjoy discussing and reading it. Not many books are like this one in the sense that discussion is open and free with no strict guidelines. One major way this book is seen as an experimental novel is in how the author, Lispector, is writing as an fictional/alternate author, writing a story about a fictional character. This unique writing style allows for Lispector to write her book the exact way she chooses, she can say somethings as herself, somethings as Rodrigo and some things as Macabea. This makes for an interesting dynamic of true expression in Lispector’s thoughts. As the author, I alone love her. I suffer on her account. (3.58). Lispector writes Rodrigo as a character who wishes to be in the shoes of his characters, possibly connecting this style and thought process of communal suffering with Lispector herself. Another way Lispector writes her novel as an experimental novel is in its raising of questions dealing with the purpose of life and God. “One cannot prove the existence of what is most real but the essential thing is to believe.”(8) Hour of the Star focuses heavily on what the meaning of life is, why we are here, and puts a lot of emphasis on the question of whether life is a account of random events, or events that all have a meaning. This aspect of the book would definitely allow the book to be considered experimental, for as most books focus on the themes found within the plot, this book focuses on themes found within all of life, not necessarily found within the plot, but the ideas Lispector writes about adds to the book instead. Another way Lispector creates her novel into an experimental novel is the book's use of social class. The book deals a lot with social classes and the differentiation classes create. One example of this is in Rodrigo’s writing/creation of the character macabea. I am a man who possesses more money than those who go hungry, and this makes me in some ways dishonest" (1.31). In this quote from the novel, Rodrigo feels as though he cannot properly write his novel as the character of Macabea because it makes him feel dishonest, and he feels to different from the mindset of the character. I believe this is Lispector's way of pointing out the extreme difference between the classes, as being so severe that he feels “dishonest” even writing about a character within a lower social class than himself. Finally a way Lispector writes her book as an experimental novel is how it is written as a flowing stream of the narrator's consciousness. Similar to writing style of The Catcher in the Rye, Lispector writes her novel as conscious ideas jumping from one idea to another. I like this form of writing style because it is read easily, makes the narration appear much more honest and interesting than perfected and refined thoughts in a non experimental novel.
The Hour of the Star resembles an experimental novel, because it is written in a peculiar way that is different from many of the novels I have ever read. The altered and non-conventional timeline that Lispector utilizes is important to the experimental novel aspect. The narrator even seems confused on the story or that he is making it up as he talks, “I ask myself if I should jump ahead in time and sketch out an ending immediately” (Lispector 16). Rodrigo flat out states that he is altering the timeline as he goes, because he wishes he could write the end already. In the next sentence, he discusses his difficulty with understanding time, which allows the reader to infer that the timeline will be abnormal and confusing, so definitely not chronological. Also throughout this novel this narrator is very involved and has conversations with himself during his telling of the story. He even discusses his own personal writing style, “I tend to write with bold, severe strokes like a painter” (17). He utilizes a simile to discuss his own writing style, something that is not relevant to the telling of the story, which leads the reader to believe that their is a stream of consciousness occurring. Rather than strictly sticking to the story, the narrator shares his thoughts as they come, also a key component of experimental novels. This stream of consciousness is also present when he presents questions to the readers, about himself, “Why do I write?” (17). Honestly it is just odd to see this in a novel, where typically telling the story is the main objective of the narrator, where here the narrator discusses with the reader, by sharing his thoughts. In the novel dedications pages, page 9, prior to the actual start of the novel, Lispector shares her possible titles for the novel. Typically experimental novels are out of the ordinary and usually novels do not have thirteen different titles. The Hour of the Star comes second in the last of names. This really confused me because I don’t understand it’s placement. Also, Lispector signed her name under the title, The Right to Protest. Since her name is signed under only one and there is a space between it and the next title, it could be the title she wanted or had originally wrote. Having multiple titles demonstrates experimental novel characteristics, because that is really not normal compared to other novels. Overall, it seems, in general, like an experimental novel due to it’s original style of storytelling along with commentary from the author and narrator.
"Everything in the world began with a yes" (11). This quote sets the tone for the experimental style of this book. It shows the philosophical side of Rodrigo as he gives the reader something to think about right off the bat. This quote can be talked about for hours as people go back and forth about experiences in life and if they truly started with a yes. Unlike most who probably skipped over this quote, I put a lot of thought into it and realized that I believe it to be true. Every decision I've ever made, I had to choose to make that decision and tell myself “yes I want to do that”. Nothing is subconscious and everything starts with a conscious yes. That conclusion came from thorough thinking and that is the goal of this experimental novel. To make the reader think.
“Just as I am writing at the same time as I am being read.” (12). This quote is another one that is truly a thinker but in a different way. It's very experimental in the way Rodrigo talks in first person about his experience writing the book, but also about experimental topics. This thought can be ignored or really thought about. This is being read as he talks about his writing, so he says he is writing as he is being read. It is almost a paradox that will kill a reader's brain if they think about it too long so let's move on.
“I have no desire to be modish and invent colloquialisms under the guise of originality. So I shall attempt, contrary to my normal method, to write a story with a beginning, a middle, and a ‘grand finale’” (13). Rodrigo, again experimentally talking about his own writing in first person, talks about how experimental his novel will be. He says he will not be writing anything just to sound original, but instead plans to just write. He will not have a “beginning, middle, and end” because he will just start and the book will end when he is done. He doesn't believe in introductions or conclusions. He believes in putting ideas on paper and just writing until you're done. He also mocks the “grand finale” found in most books as he sarcastically puts it in quotes. He will stop when he wants to stop and he makes that clear.
“I have no idea how this story will end” (16). This quote connects greatly to the one mentioned before as he doesn't even know when he will finish the book. He will write until he thinks he wants to be done. This is very experimental in the fact that no one ever does this. That's what outlines are for and rough drafts too. Authors plan out where their book is going to end in order to make sure it's perfect. Not Rodrigo! He makes it clear he will end when he feels he is done writing. Very experimental but it works out for him as “he” wrote a classic!
“I now realize that poverty is both ugly and promiscuous. That’s why I cannot say whether my narrative will be — will be what? I can reveal nothing for I still haven’t worked up enough enthusiasm to write the story” (21). The given description of “the Experimental Novel” implies that the protagonist or main character of a story is purposefully made to be boring and unheroic. Since the narrator spends so much time talking directly to the reader about what he is writing, and is so vital to portraying the major themes and philosophical thoughts of the novel, he could be considered a main character, which is why I picked a quote about him. He is definitely not heroic and likable, as he bothers the reader by fussing over the difficulties of writing and conveying ideas and won’t even start the story because he hasn’t “worked up enough enthusiasm.” However, through all his relfection, we get the “deep unconscious sources of his nature”, as he reflects upon life and the meaning and struggles of writing, an unusual technique that makes the novel experimental.
“Dear God, only now am I remembering that people die. Does that include me?” (86) Again, we can see the lack of heroism of the narrator, as he is ordinary like everyone else, because he fears death and often forgets about it, as one cannot simply live each moment like they are about the die. Although this is a lack of heroism, it reminds the reader how we as normal humans behave, and reflects upon the inviolable truths of life; including that we will all die someday.
“The girl did not know she existed, just as a dog doesn’t know that it’s a dog. Therefore she wasn’t aware of her own unhappiness” (27). As for Macabéa, her poverty, uneventful life, and oblivion to her misfortune seems to make her the total opposite of a hero and awesome main character. However, despite her utterly simple life, the narrator “only achieves simplicity with enormous effort,” reflecting the fact tat experimental novels are often simple in plot but complex in thought. Hey that rhymed, yay! Anyway, claiming that she didn’t even know that she existed and comparing her to an animal makes her seem pathetic, but the quote continues to include that she wasn’t aware of her own unhappiness, uncovering her deep psychological reality and suggesting that she isn’t ordinary; despite being invisible to society, she is one of the few people who is content and at peace for she never aspires for anything more than mere existence.
“The moment she stepped off the pavement, Destiny (bang) swift and greedy, whispered: now, quickly, for my hour has come! And a yellow Mercedes, as huge as an ocean liner, knocked her down” (79). Macabéa’s death is perhaps the height of her comedic absurdity, because right after she begins to hope for a future, as she had just visited the fortune teller, she dies a completely pointless and non-epic death, making her very unheroic once again, and even more mainstream because she was killed in a common car accident. Yet under the obvious lies a beautiful complex layer, as the “hour” of the star doesn’t just mark the time of Macabéa’s death, but also the hour that destiny strikes; the narrator makes Destiny like alive character this way by capitalizing it and adding dialogue, making it sound almost comedic, as if the narrator is making fun of “fate”, for it doesn’t exist in existentialism, or because of his power to make an overdramatic ending. Either way, there is a lot of complexity that comes out of observing an ordinary, non heroic human being, reflecting that particular statement about experimental novels.
dis me stayin straight boolin The Hour of the Star is a weird book. It’s weird in every sense of the word, and to me, is impossible to categorize. However, the tragedy in my opinion is that this book is categorized―grouped into the exclusive “experimental novel” club. My problem with this, is that the second you label something, you give it a tangible and finite identity which, by nature, makes the book no longer experimental. Thus, the concept of the “experimental novel” is a myth. However, for the sake of this post, I will agree for half an hour that this book is an experimental novel, and that experimental novels can exist (in spite of their inherent irony). Clarice Lispector’s unconventional approach to a narrative and her use of obscure diction create an ethereal atmosphere within the world of Macabea, and continue to remain relevant topics to plague humanity with. Lispector begins the novel asking the reader a question: “How does one start at the beginning, if things happen before they actually happen? If before the pre-prehistory there already existed apocalyptic monsters? If this history does not exist, it will come to exist,” (pg 3). Questions like these, provoking existential thoughts (which the reader simply is not prepared for, like, come on this is on the very first page of the book), densely populate the story. I believe that Lispector’s purpose in this was to not only keep the reader on their toes, but to reinforce the idea that the universe, and the existence of a ‘self’, is an unbounded question whom no one has the answers for. These unanswered conflicts allow The Hour of the Star to embody the essence of an experimental novel, and are timeless in their existence. Life and death are the two things which humans will never be able to control. You can only understand death once you die, and of course that is only a theory, and that is only if you believe that you can retain your consciousness beyond life. There are a lot of directions that these questions can be taken in, and I don’t believe that Lispector wrote this novel to be defined in a certain measurable way. Additionally, her manipulation of the narration allows for her to inject certain viewpoints and perspectives wherever she pleases. Lispector can create the world of Rodrigo, to create the world of Macabea. In whatever way Macabea is described, a piece of Rodrigo is revealed. This raises the question of whether Lispector is writing from a perspective different or the same as hers. My opinion: the world will never know.
Please don't judge me for this monster of a blog post...
ReplyDeletePassage #3 offers a brief introduction of several themes begins to show the purpose of the narrator and his insights. Much like one of Lispector’s other novellas, The Passion According to G.H., the narrator serves not as an important character in the plot, but rather a means of expressing ideas. By using a wealthy, introspective man, Rodrigo S.M., to tell the story, who is the utter antithesis of poor, oblivious Macabéa, Lispector opens up the book to commentary on social class and a discussion of Rodrigo’s philosophical ideas.
The first thing I noticed about this excerpt was Rodrigo’s desire not to be conventional; or, as he put it, “to be modish and invent colloquialisms under the guise of originality.” He also claims that he will try to include a “grand finale”, written in quotation marks as if to mock the traditional ideas of a good story. This sounds like Clarice Lispector shining through, as this is an experimental novel that is far from conformity.
Next, the narrator discusses one of the novel’s many titles, “.As For the Future.”, claiming that the periods give it confinement. One guess I have as to why this is is that because Rodrigo is the narrator, he has total control over Macabéa and her fate, making her future finalized and impossible to change. Furthermore, once she goes to the fortune teller and find out about her supposed future success, she is completely certain of this fate until her immediate death, preventing any sort of change in the prediction of her future.
Another major aspect that is introduced is the theme of social class and poverty. Rodrigo waits a long time before actually introducing Macabéa’s name, before that simply referring to her as “the girl from the North-east.” This anonymity suggests that there are many other poor, unappreciated girls like her that live in Rio, as there undoubtedly were back in the socially divided 70s Rio. Something interesting, however, is why the narrator feels that “it is my duty to relate everything about this girl among thousands of others like her.” Why does this man, so different from Macabéa, feel like he must raise awareness about poverty, especially after he previously states, “I want my story to be cold and impartial”? Perhaps one reason he wants to be “devastatingly cold” is just to show that authors are not subject to politeness and social conformity; they can portray things however they want, because they are “above all primary life that breathes, breathes, breathes.” This anaphora also seems to downplay human existence, repeating the word “breathes” as if to show exasperation with all living things. Anaphora is also seen with the word “shout”, as another possible reason that the narrator wants to shed light on the poor is because “one has the right to shout.” This reminded me of one of the other titles, “The Right to Protest.”
Although one could go on and on about every detail in this passage, I’ll skip to the last paragraph as my blog post is already double the usual length. I was fascinated by Rodrigo’s claim that “this emptiness is everything that I can ever hope to possess.” It’s almost like Meursault’s passiveness; a purity of the soul in simply accepting all aspects of life. Perhaps Rodrigo is not that unlike Macabéa, who also seems to have an “empty soul”, content with her pathetic life; this may be why he connects with her through the book.
ReplyDeleteClarice Lispector introduces the idea of existentialism in section five. The narrator writes in both first and third person, making it possible that some of the first person commentary is Lispector’s point of view. Throughout section five, Lispector references time, since experimental novels usually don’t contain a chronological or average timeline. She references time in Italian, “Allegro con brio” (Lispector 16), which means speed up the tempo. Her references to time also resemble the references to music and musical tone and speed. These references talk about the length of the story being told, “This story has no melody that could be rightly termed cantabile” (16). Cantabile means a smooth melody in musical terms, displaying the intriguing and not average timeline of the novel, that makes it an interesting telling of a story. In the opening part of section five, she introduces the idea of existentialism when describing Macabea. Macabea is described as not knowing herself and who she is, but she doesn't attempt to because she knows she will feel failure. This is an existentialist idea, because it involves the idea that she does not know herself and thinks that doing so would be a waste, since they will die anyway.
Lispector utilizes auditory, tactile, and visual imagery to create synthesia. Synthesia is the combination of senses. She combine visual and auditory imagery to create synthesia, “the words are sounds transfused with shadows that intersect unevenly, stalactites, woven lace, transposed organ music. Words, a physical object, is described as a sound, being taken over by shadows. Shadows, bring negative connotations, bringing a negative idea about the words being written. Prior to the synthesia, Lispector writes, “And what I write is like a dank haze” (16). Dank, meaning damp and cold, creates a sad depressing environment or haze where she writes. She immediately follows that with negative connotations used to describe the words she writes, displaying the sadness of the stories she is telling.
After color marking and analyzing the passage with my partners, we realized Lispector's broad use of metaphors and connections with past novels read this year. In the author's dedication section, Clarice Lispector mentions various famous musicians, including Bach and Beethoven, and dedicates her novel to the symphonies and music of these artists. She does this in order to convey the idea that music, especially classical music composed by the musicians mentioned in the passage, helped her discover herself and develop the novel. This idea can be clearly seen in “I dedicate it to (...) to all those musicians who have touched within me the most alarming and unsuspected regions; to all those prophets who have revealed me to myself and made me explode into: me”. The author, emphasizes on the idea of meditation, which we, as a group, connected back to Hesse’s novel Siddhartha. The quote “Meditation need not bear fruit: meditation can be an end itself”, stresses on the idea that, for Lispector, this practice was fundamental and substantial in her life. As a group, we discussed how the idea of meditation expressed in the book Siddhartha focuses merely on the inner self, and the search to Enlightenment. We thought that maybe the author was trying to find her enlightenment while writing this book. Another spiritual aspect of the author in the dedicatory section of the novel is her idea of believing. She states how “we must never forget that if the atom’s structure is invisible, it is none the less real”. This metaphor alludes to the fact that, even though we can’t see something doesn’t mean it is not real. Even though she mentions dwarfs, nymphs and sylphs, as a group we agreed that the author is trying to convey a very open minded mindset.
ReplyDeleteI had passage 3 in Hour of the Star and I noticed the many parallelisms introduced in this section of the novel. To start, there is a parallelism between the writing style of Rodrigo S.M and that of a regular novel, and this is noted often as the plot is introduced. For example, Rodrigo talks about having a “grand finale” to his book, but in a sarcastic way. As if this would be too cliche for him and his writing style is too good to be compared to that of an average author. The other major parallelism from my section is that between the poverty of Macabeá and the narrator, Rodrigo S.M. This opens the book up to discussion on the motive for Rodrigo S.M, a privileged man, to write on a girl living in poverty. He speaks of her at first as if she is just another girl without money, comparing her to every other girl on the East side. But why did he choose her? Why is he focusing his time on someone so insignificant to him? I believe he does this out of pity, as he speaks of Macabeá in a way that portrays her as lower than him. As if he is above her because he has wealth. He writes this book not because he wants to bring attention to the less fortunate, but rather show that he is the fortunate.
ReplyDelete“In order to speak about the girl I mustn't shave for days. I must acquire dark circles under my eyes from lack of sleep: dozing from sheer exhaustion like a manual labourer. Also wearing threadbare clothes. I am doing all this to put myself on the same footing as the girl” In this passage we see Lispector sacrificing her own self identity for the craft of her writing. Lispector feels the needs to go to extremes in order to accurately and completely write about this character. Lispector sacrifices her own identity, or maybe adds a new identity to her own in order for her to become what she is writing about. Lispector is conversing with her own identity placing herself into the position of the little girl in order to write about her. Lispector is capable of losing her own self identity in order to further her writing. Lispector speaks of not shaving, not sleeping and wearing different clothes separate from her own identity to match that of the little girls, similar to how a method actor can spare their own identity for a role. When actors such as Heath Ledger devote their identity and entire person to a role they lose themselves, I feel this is the same situation for an author like Lispector, who is capable of giving herself to her work. Throughout the passage we read the open and flowing narrative of Lispector as she constantly goes back and forth slowly shaping her character and her writing, becoming a part of her work. Open narrative similar to that found in the novel The Catcher in the Rye. This narrative adds an entire new dimension to writing, writing that feels real, and relatable, and natural. Within this passage more than anything the reader is getting a first person experience into the mind of Lispector as she writes freely, shaping her work.
ReplyDelete1) What was Lispector’s purpose in writing this book? What is the theme?
ReplyDeleteI think that the reason why Lispector chose to write this book is to further discover and connect the different philosophical ideas she had in her life, being the existence of life the most important. In the first 20 pages of the novel, the author slowly and gradually introduces the main character, Macabea, throughout the complex and intricate narrator, Rodrigo. The fact is that Rodrigo find it difficult and challenging to write about this girl, since he states that it is a “fairly simple” story. However, what makes the development of this narrator challenging for Rodrigo is the fact that he feels utterly connected to this character, meaning that his portrayal of Macabea is, in a way, the portrayal of himself. And how could you even describe yourself, if what you are is based off what others see? And what Macabea is is how the world and the narrator interprets it. And if he is interpreting her, he is interpreting himself.
2)What is the significance of the beginning, where Rodrigo talks about the beginning of the world? How does this relate to the rest of the story?
The significance of the first few pages of the novel is that it explains Rodrigo’s view on life, which is essentially the ugly truth. He states how before prehistory, there was prehistory, and that before that prehistory there was nothing. And this nothingness creates as a sense of disillusionment and disappointment on the reader, since it realizes that there was nothing before everything. Or even worse, there was the unknown. I think that what Lispector is trying to do here is make the reader feel unvalued and unimportant in this world, because we are just a single particle from an atom that make up what we live in. We are just one out of an infinite number of people that have lived here, then why feel important?
3) Was Macabea happy? Are we meant to feel sorry for her? If she is self content, is she so pitiful after all?
I think that Macabea was happy, only because she was naive and ingenuous in this world. I think that the reason which the author created Macabea is to reflect the part of ourselves, or human beings, that does not exist: that part which does not worry about problems, prejudices, and society. I think that the character of Macabea was created to mock our society, since the fact that the reader pity’s and feels sorry for her just because she is happy when she shouldn’t, reflects who we are as a person.
ReplyDeleteWas Macabea happy? Are we meant to feel sorry for her? If she is self-content, is she so pitiful after all? I think Macabea may have felt happiness inside of herself, but I do not believe that was her conscious goal. Happiness was displayed because of her lack of knowledge about other people in the world. She doesn’t necessarily see the social classes that were divided during this time in Rio de Janeiro, “The person of whom I am about to speak is so simple minded that she often smiles at other people on the street. No one acknowledges her smile for they don’t even notice” (Lispector 16). Macabea smiles at everyone, demonstrating her belief that everyone is equal and that she should smile at everyone because everyone is equal and gets along. And the narrator describes her as simple-minded for that belief. Then, it is shared that no one pays attention to her displaying that she is on the lower end of the social hierarchy and that others understand the hierarchy while she does not. We are not meant to feel sorry for her, but rather imagine ourselves or others in her spot, because it can happen.
What is Lispector’s purpose in writing this book? What is the theme? Unlike all the other novels that we have read, this one’s themes are hard to come by. The whole book is hard to interpret, making it hard to come to the conclusion about one theme. However, I think Lispector wrote this book to share her wise philosophical views as she is nearing death. It is almost like a dumping of many ideas and her feelings towards life. The death of Macabea right as life seems to start heading up hill for her may display Lispector’s general feelings toward life, like how life is unfair to some. However, considering she is near her death, maybe she uses it to express ideas about her own life. That is a guess on my part, but it seems as though there could be a comparison made. Lispector also wrote this novel to discuss the thick line dividing the social classes at this time in Rio de Janeiro. She writes about a character that doesn’t necessarily have things go her way, and readers can know that they are not the only ones going through this type of stuff. Macabea as a character seems to look at differences between people all over, and similarities.
Is Rodrigo the protagonist of the novel? Rodrigo’s constant use of first person, using “I” to discuss himself as if he were a character makes it appear as if he is the main character. However, there is a switch between first person and third person, where he tells the reader the story of Macabea. In this novel, Rodrigo uses first person typically to express philosophical thoughts, like the existential thoughts that are presented throughout the novel. Similar to other experimental novels, Lispector utilizes first person sometimes throughout the novel to convey her personal philosophical thoughts. What appears as Rodrigo’s thoughts are Lispector’s. Then, third person is utilized to tell the story of Macabea. With the narrator being all-knowing, they are able to fully understand Macabea as a character and many things about her. I believe Lispector is using third person to tell her story and utilizing Rodrigo’s first person thoughts to share her own as the story goes on. I do not believe Rodrigo as the protagonist but rather as someone making comments on the story as if it were him.
5. What is the reason for having Olimpico's character in the story beyond the obvious reason of adding to Macabea's terrible life?
ReplyDeleteI think Lispector's reason for writing "Hour of the Star" was to isolate the life of someone in such a state as Macabea, and Olimpico helped to show this. Olimpico serves as contrast to Macabea which not only makes her life seem worse, but also outlines her characterization. Macabea may be poor or ugly, but she is also lonely and unaware of her situation. Olimpico serves to question Macabea so readers can gain insight on Macabea's character.
11. Is Rodrigo the protagonist of this novel? Or is it Macabea?
I think Macabea is the protagonist of this novel. Rodrigo serves as the narrator, and though he is part of the stories' world, it is not apparent how he furs in. Macabea, on the other hand, is the primary focus of the novel. It all revolves around her and her story. Each of the characters are portrayed in relation to Macabea: Olimpico as Macabea's boyfriend, Gloria as Macabea's coworker, and so on. Macabea is the main focus of the novel, so she would be the protagonist.
7. What does Macabea's death represent? How does it fit in with the overall message of the book?
I think Lispector's purpose in writing this book was not only to show the life of those in difficult situations to the world, but also to help the world realize that we all have some suffering, and may be unaware of the suffering if it is not physically seen. Lispector wrote to convey a message that we should pay attention to people's needs and help them. Macabea describes every aspect of suffering, be it illness, popularity, wealth, social status, friendships, and more. Her death shows how painful and hurtful the suffering can be. But the most important part of her death is how unnoticed it was. Lispector shows society's indifference and unawareness of the the struggles people face to prove hire we should pay better attention.
7. What does Macabéa’s death represent? How does it fit in with the overall message of the book?
ReplyDeleteThe irony that culminates the end of the plot is the fact that right when Macabéa is most aware and has the strongest desire to live into the future, is when she is suddenly hit in the face with death (literally). It is even more ironic that after this dramatic, heroically portrayed event, the narrator blows it off with the light-hearted statement, “Don’t forget, in the meantime, that this is the season for strawberries. Yes” (Lispector 86). I think this has a lot of implications for the story, but most of all that life is fleeting; even at your greatest points in life, you can still die at any moment. Much like the book changed tones from emotionally intense to flighty, our life can change suddenly, and our existence will come and go abruptly.
10. What is the point of Rodrigo’s introduction?
The narrator, Rodrigo, spends almost as much time talking about what he will write and his identity as a writer as he does telling the actual story. This is one of the ways that this is an experimental novel, and creates a stream-of-consciousness feel, as he is constantly flitting back and forth between narration of the story and commentary. Rodrigo’s, or Lispector’s, depending on how you look at it, little side comments lend to why he/she wrote this story, and ask unanswerable questions of philosophy. One example is, “I should explain that this story will emerge from a gradual vision — for… I have slowly started discovering the whys and the wherefores” (12). This alliteration alerts the reader of the deep reflection the narrator undergoes in writing this story; it is more than just a story about a lonely girl.
14. How are the philosophical thoughts reflected in Rodrigo’s narration?
One could write an infinite amount of commentary on the philosophical ideas present i this book; indeed, every sentence seems to have its own unique insights — the insights of the extraordinary Clarice Lispector. To name a few, one example is at the very end, when the narrator exclaims, “Dear God, only now am I remembering that people die. Does that include me?” (86). The narrator has put so much emphasis on Macabéa to indicate that we are all like her, and could die at any moment. But we don’t live our life this way, for how could we? Instead, we simply live in denial, and even the narrator has a difficult time facing the inevitability of his death.
1- Lispector’s purpose in this book is to portray the theme of despair. Lispector does not believe in happy endings. She is not an optimist. She believes that good guys get left behind and the glass is half empty. This is shown by the overwhelming theme of despair throughout the story. Macabea can’t catch a break, and Lispector does this because that’s how she views life. She went hungry in the book along with being verbally abused by her boss and boyfriend. She also died alone; quite possibly the most fitting way. Lispector’s purpose for having her die alone is to portray that despair is often dealt with alone. Often feelings get left inside and not shared with anyone and this builds despair. That happened in the book as little things piled on until her life was a giant pit of despair that she curled up and died in.
ReplyDelete3- Macabea had some moments where there was opportunities for happiness. She had a boyfriend, a job, and other things going for her. But like I said, the theme is despair and she fails to see the bright side in anything or pursue anything that could make her happy. Instead, she focuses, or rather Lispector focuses, on the negatives in her life. This leads the reader to picture her wallowing away in her feelings, probably listening to sad music and eating away her sadness. While she didn’t deal with it in this way, she also didn’t deal with it at all. With no coping mechanism for the constant sadness, Macabea never found happiness in her life and died full of despair and sadness.
7- Macabea’s death had more of a meaning to me than I feel it did to most people, so that’s why I chose this question. When Macabea finds happiness in the story is when she dreams of being a film star like her role model, Marilyn Monroe. Her dreams give her happiness as she views herself as pretty and popular, but tying back to the theme of despair, everyone reminds her that she is too ugly for that and should give up on her dreams. This leads me to her death and what it meant to me. When she is about to die, she vomits up a “star with a thousand pointed rays”. This star was her finally living out her dream, or at least realizing she was right. She had a star inside her throughout her life, she just waited until her death to let it out. This moment had a lot of meaning to me because it was very bittersweet. The happiness she must feel about seeing the star must be immeasurable because she was told her whole life she was not a star and she was ugly and she proved everyone wrong. However, one more time tying it back to the theme of despair, this moment is sad as she gave up on her dreams and lived a life of despair rather than letting out her inner star. She never pursued happiness because everyone else ruined it for her. And in this moment she realizes that she lived a life full of despair and for what? She could have been a star and happy her whole life and instead she let others bring her down and suffered for it. The death’s meaning tied back to my theme of despair as to most it is a happy moment, but I thought it meant that Macabea not only suffered her whole life, but missed her opportunity for happiness.
1) What was Lispector’s purpose in writing this book? What is the theme?
ReplyDeleteI think―to put it bluntly—that the purpose is to portray life. Life is a weird and uncertain collection of events and coincidences that lead us to each and every moment in our mundane lives. We, as humans who have become the product of our society and civilization, are destined to live out an existence which is dictated by the impurity of being human and of the ever-present, looming reality of death. We could be hit by a car at any moment. We can make conscious decisions to provide ourselves with the illusion that we are living meaningful and authentic lives, but the truth to it all is that we are born and we will die. Macabea is a character who begs for our pity and condescension, but we all embody her. The reader is led to believe that Macabea is a person who is rarely found, but if we were all to simplify our lives as hers is, we would find that we are much more like her than we would like to be. As far as a theme goes for this book, I think it centers around the human condition, what it really means to be alive, and the reality of the urgency of life and its grievances.
5) What is the reason for having Olimpico's character in the story beyond the obvious reason of adding to Macabea's terrible life?
Olimpico’s character, in my opinion, is a part of the story to humanize Macabea. I think that her exaggerated, miserable life creates a safe, comfortable separation between her character and the reader that Lispector wanted to minimize—while still creating a person who could truly exist. Olimpico is kind of the “relatable” boyfriend character that we see all too often. He makes familiarizes us to Macabea, and even makes her situation seem even worse.
7) What does Macabea's death represent? How does it fit in with the overall message of the book?
Macabea’s death is quick, fleeting, and immemorable. She is hit by a bus after hearing from a fortune teller that her life will change for the better. I believe that it’s indicative of the book’s theme of the frailty of life within the human condition. Her death comes so quickly to the reader; taking them by surprise. It leaves you going “wait, what?”. As stupid as that sounds, I think death is like that for most people. We are not ready for it. We spend our entire lives building a life only to have it whisked away in a flash of light and surprise. Again, we are more like Macabea than we’d like to be.
ReplyDelete“After successive failures, I have reduced myself, but I still want to discover the world and its God” (Lispector 18)
Even after facing failure time and time again, Macabea still looks for hope and success. This connects to the biblical idea that humans are nothing when without God. So in order to discover herself and the world, God must be involved or she will enter nothingness. This also could be connected to the opening paragraph of the book that talks about Earth’s creation through scientific terms, but how that may not be true, and that truly the creation of Earth is a mystery. However, with many biblical references, it could be inferred that Lispector believes God could be the creator.
“She was sexually experience and there was darkness inside her body” (18)
The bible declares that people should be free from sexual experiences until marriage. Lispector reflects that idea here, because sexual experience is associated with the negative connotations coming from, “darkness inside her body”. This sentence displays that biblical idea, because by going against that believe, she is filled with darkness.
“May the gods never decree that I should write about a leper, for then I should be covered in leprosy” (39)
Leprosy, a term used throughout the bible, describes a skin disease that is visible on the skin. Usually it is associated with deformation. I found Lispector’s use of it here odd, because I am honestly confused by usage at this point and it’s overall meaning to the novel. But since it is commonly used in the bible, I found it interesting that it was used and am wondering what it could mean.
“They bled a black pig and seven white hens over me and tore my bloodstained clothes to shreds” (70).
I believe this quote represents Jesus’ death, although there is nothing to back up my belief. It seems as though there is a connection. Overall in the novel, I think it is used to forecast Macabea’s death that is inevitable and of course coming for her eventually. Primarily, I think it foreshadows her death as following her trip to the psychic.
“God is the world” (12)
This quote, thrown in early in the novel, foreshadows the upcoming biblical references. It also makes it seem as though Lispector has a belief and almost a strong belief in God and religion. This is also interesting because early in the novel, the opening paragraph, Lispector talks directly about the creation of the Earth in scientific terms, although she follows it with contradicting terms about the past and history, the reader is unable to fully determine what she believes. These biblical references in the novel are very intriguing to me considering that most of the ideas expressed are existential, which when created never worked well with religion. It makes the author and narrator mysterious. The existential thoughts constantly thrown in the book, almost contradict, viewpoint wise, some of the existential beliefs.
“Meanwhile the clouds are white and the sky is all blue. Why so much God? Why not a little for men.”
ReplyDeleteI found this quote interesting because of the two very different translations of the phrase. I don’t really know what Lispector is trying to get at here, but I interpret it as white clouds and blue sky are such commonly known objects, just like God. No matter how innovative and experimental the narrator tries to be, there are so many things that are just universal and unoriginal, as God created everything for us to share; why is God prominent in everything?, basically. Then, the translation I connect with most is “Why not a little for men.” I see this as, if God has all the answers, why can’t we as humans have a little bit of that power so that we aren’t always trying to answer our questions about life and meaning.
“passed (it strikes me that this God was extremely merciful to her: He gave her what He took away).”
Again, the narrator seems to use contradictions, because the basic theory of existentialism is that life has no meaning, and the universe is indifferent, and yet here, he is claiming that God had reason to be ruthless towards her, like the harshly indifferent universe, and yet He apparently showed kindness to her. These constant contradictions are almost necessary to the book’s underlying themes, as life doesn’t have any answer or meaning; it’s nonsensical, and one can believe in something or that something’s opposite, and none of it matters. That’s why it is fitting that so many opposite ideas be present within this novel.
“And when there is no word, it must be invented. This God of yours who commanded us to invent” (17).
I enjoy this quote because it’s one that most directly questions religion and the existence of God, the narrator almost skeptically or comically stating “this God of yours”, to imply that God belongs to the people because he was invented by and believed in by them. Furthermore, the irony involved with the word “invent” is the question of whether a God created everything or humans did within our own minds; that something exists just because we invented it. A similar idea is expressed by the quote, “She believed in angels, and, because she believed, they existed.” I also like how this first quote describes the importance of language, as it is our only real means of communicating our ideas to others, and sometimes the right word just simply doesn’t exist, especially in the realm of philosophy.
What is the significance of dying a virgin?
ReplyDeleteLosing your virginity today has significantly lost its significance over time; today it does not mean as much as it did to the previous generation, and for that generation before. However one thing it does not loose is its symbolic, metaphorical, and often emotional significance. In classic human writing “loosing your flower” has shown its symbol meaning most obviously through its embodiment of the idea of loss of innocence, from “A chronicle of a death foretold” to the birthing story of Jesus, the idea of virginity has been seen as a stage of purity before someone has entered the next phase in their life.
Why did Macabea love Olympio?
I believe Macabea loved Olympio because Macabea was an orphan. She longed for the parenting and role model influence that he provided for her. She found something in him that she had been longing for since the death of her parents. Macabea most likely felt safe and as if she was furthering her life, making progression in an otherwise stagnant life when she was with Olympio. Olympio also seemed to care greatly for Macabea, maybe not in the most romantic and flirtatious way, but in a somewhat compassionate and wanting to help way, attracting Macabea to these parent like qualities.
What does Macabéa’s death represent? How does it fit in with the overall message of the book?
Macabea’s death is symbolic in how the book has a heavy focus on both the insignificance of life and the random acts of life and nature. By being hit by a car right after receiving positive news and finally feeling happy for once in her life, it keeps the feeling forever, it freezes her rarely occurring happiness in time forever. The reader expects the fortuneteller’s prediction to come true due the natural style of storytelling, this book breaks this, and shows the truth to reality and the sometimes misfortunes of the world.
“She believed in angels, and, because she believed, they existed”
ReplyDeleteAngels, obviously a biblical reference to the Angels that can be found in the Bible, represent a higher power to Macabeá. It's something beyond her power to believe in; to look forward to. With this belief, she is able to overlook the sadness in her life a little bit as she looks up to these Angels.
“To eat communion bread will be to taste the world's indifference, and to immerse myself in nothingness.”
I'm not religious enough to know a whole lot about communion bread and Google didn't help a lot either, but I do know that this was a biblical reference, probably talking about how there's no purpose to religion and to eat the bread would be immersing oneself into a situation with no meaning.
“Meanwhile, the clouds are white and the sky is blue. Why is there so much God? At the expense of men.”
She asks “why is there so much God?” as in why is there so much beauty and so many miraculous things in this world that must have been created by God. She is making a comment on how many things in this world are so beautiful that there is no other way except for that it was created unnaturally by God himself.
“I just remembered a time when to warm up my spirit I prayed: movement is spirit. Prayer was a means of mutely and hidden from others reaching myself. When I prayed I achieved an emptiness of soul - and that emptiness is all I can ever have.”
This quote talks about how prayer helps with internal happiness and how prayer is the best way to reach oneself. In order to have a clean soul, one must pray and clean themselves not in the presence of others, but to just start over with a clean slate. Emptiness is how Macabeá lived, and this quote explains that Macabeá might have been happier than we thought. She may have been more peaceful than upset.
“God belongs to those who manage to get him. God appears when you’re distracted.”
God is not someone who you can just ask for and receive. He comes in the most when one is not asking for him, but still needs him. He will come to you if you need him and prayers won't affect if he shows up. He will show up where he pleases whenever someone truly needs his help. Macabeá never really asks for God, but gets a few breaks from him throughout the book.
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ReplyDelete“Everything in the world began with a yes. One molecule said yes to another molecule and life was born.” This introductory quote to the book appears somewhat biblical to me. Speaking of creation and the properties of the universe. This quote says the world started with the allowing for events to happen, what's interesting about this quote is that the reader can hear the quote which ever way they believe in the world's creation, this quote can be taken in a religious aspect, or in a scientific way. The quote is very much open for interpretation depending greatly on beliefs.
ReplyDelete“The anonymous girl of this story is so ancient that she could be described as Biblical. She was subterranean and had never really flowered. I am telling a lie: she was wild grass” (30). Here Rodrigo is describing his character Macabea as very old school, or old timey, she acts as if she was an ancient character of the bible. This could mean she was someone who very much stuck out around other people, not belonging, or she was seen as very different or special like a biblical character would be, people believed to be close with god. Maybe Rodrigo means Macabea is close with God, like so a religious figure from the bible, perhaps a modern day religious figure from a bible written in her time.
“At the hour of death you become a celebrated film star, it is a moment of glory” (28). This quote seemed very religious to me for how it references/ foreshadows the events of the book. I believe what it means when it says after death you become a film star is that at the moment of death the only thing that matters to you is your own life. Because without your own life you can not perceive that of other people's lives. You are the only person you know, or have truly in the world, it's just yourself. Everybody dies alone. It is very sad, but I believe Lispector understood this sadness well, she writes how a moment of glory is granted to us at time of death, as we become the only relevant thing in the universe, the only thing that has been relevant to ourselves our entire lives, who we are, ourselves. When Macabea dies, she is happy, she has no reason to be otherwise as her life is turning around the way she wants. Things are going her way, and they won't and they can't forever, but she finishes her life with that feeling as if it could.
“Do not mourn the dead. They know what they are doing.”
Lispector here is saying that it makes no sense to mourn the dead because they are more experienced, they know what happens after death, which no one amongst the living could ever know. They know what they are doing, basically saying that feeling it is important to also be very happy after someone has passed and celebrate their life, after they have died they still had a life that was completely lived and even in death nature knows what it’s doing, so no one amongst the dead would need anyone mourning for them, that's what the quote sounds like it is saying, sometimes this book can be very mysterious, but we can only dissect it based off of intuition.
“So long as I have questions to which there are no answers, I shall go on writing.” To me this quote seemed to demonstrate Lispector’s desperate search for answers, her constant struggle. She writes because in a world that she writes, she’s god, she has the answers and chooses life for other people. She killed Macabea, or at least she had Rodrigo do it for her. This type of paradox reminds me of the novel Sophie’s World in which Sophie is unaware of her own fictionality within the book. Similar could be said for Macabea unaware that she is a fictional character, and perhaps her author Rodrigo unaware that he is a fictional author.
“She often dreamed about sex, she, who to all appearances was completely asexual” (33).
ReplyDeleteSex, especially in the high-energy, densely populated regions of urban areas, is a major part of human existence. The fact that Rodrigo describes her as “asexual” shows that sexuality is yet another aspect she is lacking, and relates back to when the introduction when Rodrigo discussed that poor girls sold their bodies, their only real possession, and Macabéa didn’t even have that. It is also ironic that despite her innocence and ignorance, she dreams about sex; perhaps this is just yet another one of the narrator’s contradictions, or perhaps she is dreaming about it just passively and out of curiosity, not really having an opinion on it, like she is with the res of the world. Indeed, maybe her passiveness is what dehumanizes her.
“Macabéa was undeniably a primitive creature while Olímpico de Jesus saw himself as a man about town, the type of man for whom all doors opened” (46).
This quote seems to directly deal with how wealthy members of society are worthy, while the poor, invisible ones who are marginalized aren’t even humans, but rather “primitive creatures.” I think this idea could be broadened to the fact that man views anyone below his status as inhuman, because he is no longer treating him as an equal, so he is no longer a human at all. Since Macabéa was so pathetic and socially inept, she could not even be considered a s a person to bother oneself with.
“He — Why the fuss? Aren’t you a human being? Human beings talk about other human beings.
She — Forgive me, but I don’t believe that I am all that human.
He — Everybody’s human, dear God!
She — I’ve never got used to the idea.”
(48)
I like how Macabéa seems oddly contented and calm all the time while Olímpico reacts like a normal, annoyed human being, hastily claiming that everyone is human. He seems to regard his comment as nonsense while it is truly insightful without her even knowing so; this is what puts her apart from other people, and perhaps it is this difference that dehumanizes her in this case.
“ [Macabéa] — I’m sure I can sing that music. La-la-la-la-la.
[Olímpico] — You look like a deaf-mute trying to sing. Your voice is like a broken reed” (51).
The fact that Olympico so blatantly insults Macabéa, not to mention calling her dehumanizing names, is dehumanizing in itself. This reckless mistreatment reflects how the social system in Rio allowed the wealthy to be completely oblivious to and even disgusted with the poor.
“Olímpico concerned himself with important things but Macabéa only noticed unimportant things such as herself” (51).
Again, living as a poor person in an urban society would make one feel extremely insignificant. Even here in Portland, the homeless are often ignored by passersby. Not only did Macabéa feel unimportant as a poor female virgin in a social caste, but this also made her focus on other small, unimportant things like her radio and an advertisement for face cream. I also like the oversimplified language Lispector uses here; using terms like “important things” makes the logical sound childish, making Olímpico’s “manly affairs” seem trivial and actually unimportant, like all of human existence.
“ — And you’re the color of mud. What makes you think that you’ve got the face or the body to become a film star?
— Am I really so awful?
— Take a good look at yourself in the mirror” (53).
This continues the theme I discussed from previous lines, as he dehumanizes her by comparing her to urban beauty standards. however, this quote is extra special because of the mention of being a film star, foreshadowing to the end of the book and the meaning of the title, “the hour of the star.” Just as her hour of fame was unheroic, as she pathetically lay dying on the pavement, this mention of her desiring to be a lil star but being hopelessly ugly reflects the utter absurdity of her miserable life. And yet, she does seem to be happy as in the rest of the book, because she merely makes the nonchalant, honest comment, “Am I really so awful?”
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ReplyDelete"I am a man who possesses more money than those who go hungry, and this makes me in some ways dishonest" (1.31). Rodrigo’s character is described as wealthy, with more than enough money to keep him satisfied. Rodrigo who has created Macabea as a fictional character -who is the complete opposite of Rodrigo; she is very poor-feels guilty and untruthful to his writing due to the fact that Rodrigo likes to place himself within the shoes of whoever he is writing about, at least we know this is the case for Macabea, as Rodrigo claims he did not sleep for days and changed the way he dressed all in order to better write Macabea's story. These polar characteristics of these characters could be a source into Rodrigo’s pain in writing the story, he might feel he cannot completely connect himself to the lower class that Macabea is in, compared to the more upper class lifestyle Rodrigo find himself in.
ReplyDelete"aware of her own unhappiness. The only thing she desired was to live. … Perhaps she felt there was some glory in living. She thought that a person was obliged to be happy. So she was happy" (3.58) While Rodrigo writes Macabea as an unfortunate and poor character, he does not write her in as an unhappy one. This quote shows how Macabea was poor, but her class or ranking in her society did not influence who she was, or her level of happiness. Rodrigo writes that she was infact aware of her own sad situation, however that did not get in her way of living, and as long as her only desire was to live she was happy, regardless of her social situation or class. This is a strong passage because it is a social comment to how life should be lived in the eyes of the author; to be alive to live, and not to be something or reach a class.
“Only once did she ask herself that traumatic question: Who am I? The question frightened her to such an extent that her mind became paralyzed.” (3.75) Macabea was not written as a person people enjoy being around, nor liked very much at all. I like this quote because here Macabea is asking herself a very serious and frightening question that we all ask ourselves, the question of her entire existence, why she is and who she is. Macabea created to be such a sad and gloomy person also is written to be a very indepth, and a frightened person. Macabea is scared by either that fact that she doesn't know who she is, or she is too frightened to find out.
“Why should I write about a young girl whose poverty is so evident? Perhaps because within her there is seclusion. Also because in her poverty of body and soul one touches sanctity and I long to feel the breath of life hereafter.” (2.39) Rodrigo created Macabea to be sad, poor, in this quote Rodrigo describes why he is writing about Macabea and why he created her character. Rodrigo writes that he feels so lost within his own wealth, and he feels that there is almost a sense of enlightenment within being poor, having so little, the body and soul, relying on just the basics and not being diluted by the money or non-meaningful possessions. Rodrigo might feel that he lost in his life of privilege and can only find happiness in the poor and un-liked, supposedly the opposite of himself. By creating a character with a terrible life he feels he can be happy with his own life, and find a form of sanctity.
“At least the girl didn't have to beg for food. (There were others who were even more abandoned and starving.)” (3.67) This quote is very important because all throughout the book the reader is constantly told and reminded of Maccabees poor situation, but this quote shows that there are still people with much worse lives, and Rodrigo is just choosing this class to exploit, while there are still classes of people far worse off than Macabea. This quote is cool because it reminds the audience that having a bad or unfortunate life is all just a matter of perception, because there will always be people who appear worse off when you compare your lives in the exact same way, but could be much happier.
“giver her a good scrubbing and a plate of hot soup, kiss her on the forehead and tuck her up in bed. So that she might wake up to discover the great luxury of living.” (4.275) Rodrigo claims to want to take Macabea in, give her soup, kiss her, and make her feel happy. This quote reminds the readers that Macabea lives a life that is emotionally fractured, she doesn't get love or treatment like this evert within the book, and most likely never within her fictional lifetime. What is also sad is how this could never happen for Rodrigo is just making her up, but the way he cares for his made up character like a parent is very beautiful and completely makes the character come to life in a very honest and emotional way.
ReplyDelete(it would not let me post it all in one)
ReplyDelete“And that nobody cares a damn about their existence” (Lispector 14)
This is a general statement used by Lispector to describe the population in Brazil that is similar to Macabea. This resembles the class division in Rio at this period, because there was a large division between all of the classes. Lispector or even Rodrigo, it is hard to determine in this quote, seems to be at the top of the social hierarchy looking down upon the girls in society that may not be as wealthy as them. It is dehumanizing to Macabea and the other girls they are referring to, because they almost describe them as so undesirable that no human even cares about their existence, especially the higher classes.
“I have a restless character on my hands who escapes me at every turn and expects me to retrieve her” (22).
I saw this quote resemble a description of a dog. Similar to walking a dog, who runs around as you are trying to walk them. Then, the dog simply runs away, hoping the owner will make an attempt to find him. By comparing her to a dog, Lispector is declaring how minimal her importance is to mankind. She clearly describes her as a human who has to be watched, similar to any animal. Once again, that displays the large social divide between the classes.
“She merely exists, inhaling and exhaling, inhaling and exhaling. Why should there be anything more? Her existence is sparse” (23).
Here, Rodrigo is describing Macabea as barely even existing as a human. He discusses how she only breathes, and does nothing else, similar to how Macabea does nothing for society in his upper class view. He almost makes the reader believe that her existence is almost relevant to mankind. This can be generalized to his view on the lower classes, during this time.
“The girl knew lots of things just as a dog knows how to wag its tail or a beggar how to feel hungry” (28).
These traits listed by Rodrigo are common feelings or actions completed by those people, or animals. So, he is describing how Macabea has no real knowledge or just about anything, besides the basic generic information for all humans. Most likely, he is referring to her ability to speak and listen, and is probably almost saying that she has no knowledge at all. Declaring that someone knows nothing other than the basics is dehumanizing for someone who has lived some of their life, where supposedly people learn everyday.
“A creature from nowhere with the expression of someone who apologizes for occupying too much space” (26).
Lispector directly refers to Macabea as a creature. She flat out describes Macabea as something other than human, and a creature. This is a perfect example of Rodrigo dehumanizing Macabea, and it really demonstrates the large line dividing social classes. Prior to this, there has been instances that could reflect the social class, but here when declared not even a person, it displays the higher classes thoughts on those less worthy.
“No one paid any attention to her on the street, for she was as appetizing as cold coffee” (27).
Lispector describes Macabea as being unworthy of people’s attention, and long with that, people didn’t give her attention because she is not worthy of it. And it seems as though there is no way to exit this cycle. Lispector uses a simile, “she was as appetizing as cold coffee” to display the overall dislike her for. This dislike is generalized, so it seems as though no one in the world likes her. Although I would believe that there are people out there that can relate?
ReplyDelete“...But it was not so awful for the girl knew lots of things just as a dog knows how to wag its tail or
beggar how to feel hungry,” (pg 28).
Here, Rodrigo makes a direct comparison between Macabea and subhuman lives. A beggar is constantly looked down upon by the general public and dehumanized, brought to the level of existence which a dog or cat may occupy. Through not only ironically making the statement that “the girl knew lots of things” but comparing those things to trivial, brainless activities, Rodrigo effectively sets himself (and the reader) on a level above that of Macabea.
“She was so backward that when she typed she was obliged to copy out every word slowly, letter by letter,” (pg 15).
Similar to the previous quote, Rodrigo makes a habit of belittling and patronizing Macabea’s habits and activities. The narrator had the option to approach the topic of Macabea with more sympathy and compassion, but as he states multiple times throughout the introduction, he aims to tell the story as cold and as heartless as possible; thus raising the question: If the purpose of Rodrigo’s writing is to tell the story of Macabea as bare and as unaltered as possible, and he does so in his cold manner, can we assume that Lispector believes the natural state of humans is to be cold and unfeeling?
“She merely exists, inhaling and exhaling, inhaling and exhaling,” (pg 23).
This quote particularly dehumanizes Macabea because not only does Rodrigo strip her of any emotions or experiences, but he reduces her to just a body--a body whose sole purpose is nothing more than breathing. This raises another question: Why does Rodrigo not want the reader to empathize with Macabea? Is Macabea truly a person so naive that they lack the basic human qualities of emotion?
“She had been born with the legacy of misfortune, a creature from nowhere with the expression of someone who apologizes for occupying too much space,” (pg 26).
Whenever someone refers to someone else as a “creature” I think that that’s an automatic red flag for dehumanization. However, this quote almost contradicts itself through describing Macabea with “the expression of someone who apologizes for occupying too much space”. This not only implies that Macabea can have real emotions which materialize on her face, but that she may feel like she occupies too much space. This emotion is one that I believe is felt by every person at some point in their lives. It’s difficult not to ever feel like you are a burden to both strangers and people close to you, and Macabea is no exception.
“...She has clung to my skin like some viscous glue or contaminating mud,” (pg 21).
Do I even need to elaborate? Not only has Rodrigo lowered Macabea from human to inanimate, but he as compared her to irritating and disgusting substances. Mud and glue are just viewed as nuisances and as things that get in the way. This may connect to the previous quote where Rodrigo describes Macabea as feeling like she occupies too much space.
“She was Subterranean and had never really flowered,” (pg 30).
This quote really obviously dehumanizes Macabea through first calling her “subterranean” which, literally translated, means “below earth”. Rodrigo quite bluntly states that Macabea is no longer human, she is not even inhabiting the same level of existence which we are. The narrator also describes Macabea as having “never really flowered”. This may be a reference to Macabea’s naive and primordial state of being, or it may be elaborating on her pure, virginal qualities. As the reader learns, Macabea is still a virgin, and she does not have any romantic or sexual desires (made known to the reader). Although she does have a boyfriend, their relationship is not romantic in any way, and he constantly abuses her.
Dehumanization of the Urban world.
ReplyDelete“Macabea had ovaries shriveled as a cooked mushroom. [...] Macabea didn’t have the strength of breeding, she was a subproduct.” (50)
The quote shows the dehumanization of the urban world, or the lower class citizens by portraying the women as weak and infertile. I think that the fact that the author chose to show Macabea as unable to breed shows how delicate and fragile physically and mentally these people are, and paradoxes to the function of the female body: to breed. Macabea is so useless and ineffective that she can’t even do the number one thing all women are destined to: give birth to a child. This shows the authors undermining of the urban world, as she portrays them as weak and impractical. I think that she is trying to show how people actually view the poor, as a class that has no use in the mechanics of the system, and that just even might cause problems.
“ Killing had made him a man with a capital M.” (37) [...] “He had kept his crime an absolute secret, which gave him the power a secret gives” (49).
In this quote, the author is, once again, dehumanizing the urban world this time focusing on the more social aspects of it, like the crimes. Having lived in a South American country, I can strongly agree that a lot of the crimes are due to the lack of education and poverty of many social sections of the big cities in these countries. And I think that Rio de Janeiro is a good example to show and portray the insecurity and high crime rates seen in the favelas. What the author is trying to show through Olimpicos excessive pride is that he actually feels this strength due to the crime he has committed: he killed a man. What Lispector is trying to show here is the ignorance of these people, and how many do not care about the important things in life, but instead construct their values and power through things such as violence and delinquencies.
“ - [...] What does culture mean?
Culture is culture, he continued sulking. You like putting my back against a wall.
Because there are so many things I don’t understand. What does “per capita income” mean?
Oh that’s easy, it’s something for doctor.
What does Count of Bonfirm Street mean? Whats a Count? Is that a prince?
A count is a count, for God’s sake. I don’t need the correct time because I’ve got a watch.’’ (41)
Through this dialogue between Olimpico and Macabea, we can see the ignorance and lack of knowledge these two possess. I think that the author tried to use the most known and easy aspects of life to show and portray the extent of their lack of knowledge. This is another criticism of the urban world, or the lower class society seen in one of Brazil’s biggest city, since their lack of education and knowledge makes these people, not only unvalued in the world, but also incoherent with many aspects in life. As mentioned in the quote prior to this one, Olimpicos lack of education and guidance led him to commit crimes, which he has come to learn and acknowledge as something virtuous and ethical. I think that Lispector is critizing the uneducated society, and how brutal this can be.
“I have a restless character on my hands who escapes me at every turn and expects me to retrieve her” (22)
ReplyDeleteThis quote makes it almost seem like she is inhuman and that's why she escapes him. He cannot understand her and her ways, thus making her sound inhuman. She expects him to retrieve her in the way that he’ll start to understand her. It is in this way that it is seen that she has inhuman qualities.
“The girl knew lots of things just as a dog knows how to wag its tail” (28)
The comparison to a dog is pretty straight forward. Dogs are not human and therefore this is a dehumanizing comment that creates a lack of sympathy in the reader. It also makes her sound dumb as wagging a tail seems easy and you have to think about Macabeá being too dumb to wag her tail.
“(She) scarcely has a body to sell; nobody desires her” (14)
By saying she scarcely has a body to sell, it is being said that her body is so unattractive that no one would buy it. This dehumanization is used to show the lack of interest on everyone's part when it comes to Macabeá. This is clear dehumanization of our main character.
“They aren't even aware of the fact that they are superfluous and that no one gives a damn about their existence” (14)
He says that there are many of them. Basically saying they're all the same. There's so many of them that they're basically just insignificant robots, not real humans. They're all programmed to be the same and act the same in the eyes of Rodrigo. This shows the dehumanization as they all coexist in the same way and style as each other.
“She merely exists, inhaling and exhaling, inhaling and exhaling” (23)
He is saying that she has no purpose on this life, otherwise saying that her only duty is to breathe. She's basically a plant, as her only function is that of a plant. No human is only good for breathing and this is what painted into Rodrigo’s mind.
“She has clung to my skin like some vicious glue or some contaminating mud” (21)
She's now being compared to mud and glue. She's never being compared to other humans, as the goal is to make her seem less than human and it will ultimately lead to the reader
All of these comparisons show how Rodrigo feels about Macabeá. She's not worthy of being called a human and Rodrigo rolls with that every time.
The Hour of the Star; being an experimental novel, is one the major reasons I really enjoy discussing and reading it. Not many books are like this one in the sense that discussion is open and free with no strict guidelines. One major way this book is seen as an experimental novel is in how the author, Lispector, is writing as an fictional/alternate author, writing a story about a fictional character. This unique writing style allows for Lispector to write her book the exact way she chooses, she can say somethings as herself, somethings as Rodrigo and some things as Macabea. This makes for an interesting dynamic of true expression in Lispector’s thoughts. As the author, I alone love her. I suffer on her account. (3.58). Lispector writes Rodrigo as a character who wishes to be in the shoes of his characters, possibly connecting this style and thought process of communal suffering with Lispector herself.
ReplyDeleteAnother way Lispector writes her novel as an experimental novel is in its raising of questions dealing with the purpose of life and God. “One cannot prove the existence of what is most real but the essential thing is to believe.”(8) Hour of the Star focuses heavily on what the meaning of life is, why we are here, and puts a lot of emphasis on the question of whether life is a account of random events, or events that all have a meaning. This aspect of the book would definitely allow the book to be considered experimental, for as most books focus on the themes found within the plot, this book focuses on themes found within all of life, not necessarily found within the plot, but the ideas Lispector writes about adds to the book instead. Another way Lispector creates her novel into an experimental novel is the book's use of social class. The book deals a lot with social classes and the differentiation classes create. One example of this is in Rodrigo’s writing/creation of the character macabea. I am a man who possesses more money than those who go hungry, and this makes me in some ways dishonest" (1.31). In this quote from the novel, Rodrigo feels as though he cannot properly write his novel as the character of Macabea because it makes him feel dishonest, and he feels to different from the mindset of the character. I believe this is Lispector's way of pointing out the extreme difference between the classes, as being so severe that he feels “dishonest” even writing about a character within a lower social class than himself. Finally a way Lispector writes her book as an experimental novel is how it is written as a flowing stream of the narrator's consciousness. Similar to writing style of The Catcher in the Rye, Lispector writes her novel as conscious ideas jumping from one idea to another. I like this form of writing style because it is read easily, makes the narration appear much more honest and interesting than perfected and refined thoughts in a non experimental novel.
The Hour of the Star resembles an experimental novel, because it is written in a peculiar way that is different from many of the novels I have ever read. The altered and non-conventional timeline that Lispector utilizes is important to the experimental novel aspect. The narrator even seems confused on the story or that he is making it up as he talks, “I ask myself if I should jump ahead in time and sketch out an ending immediately” (Lispector 16). Rodrigo flat out states that he is altering the timeline as he goes, because he wishes he could write the end already. In the next sentence, he discusses his difficulty with understanding time, which allows the reader to infer that the timeline will be abnormal and confusing, so definitely not chronological. Also throughout this novel this narrator is very involved and has conversations with himself during his telling of the story. He even discusses his own personal writing style, “I tend to write with bold, severe strokes like a painter” (17). He utilizes a simile to discuss his own writing style, something that is not relevant to the telling of the story, which leads the reader to believe that their is a stream of consciousness occurring. Rather than strictly sticking to the story, the narrator shares his thoughts as they come, also a key component of experimental novels. This stream of consciousness is also present when he presents questions to the readers, about himself, “Why do I write?” (17). Honestly it is just odd to see this in a novel, where typically telling the story is the main objective of the narrator, where here the narrator discusses with the reader, by sharing his thoughts. In the novel dedications pages, page 9, prior to the actual start of the novel, Lispector shares her possible titles for the novel. Typically experimental novels are out of the ordinary and usually novels do not have thirteen different titles. The Hour of the Star comes second in the last of names. This really confused me because I don’t understand it’s placement. Also, Lispector signed her name under the title, The Right to Protest. Since her name is signed under only one and there is a space between it and the next title, it could be the title she wanted or had originally wrote. Having multiple titles demonstrates experimental novel characteristics, because that is really not normal compared to other novels. Overall, it seems, in general, like an experimental novel due to it’s original style of storytelling along with commentary from the author and narrator.
ReplyDelete"Everything in the world began with a yes" (11).
ReplyDeleteThis quote sets the tone for the experimental style of this book. It shows the philosophical side of Rodrigo as he gives the reader something to think about right off the bat. This quote can be talked about for hours as people go back and forth about experiences in life and if they truly started with a yes. Unlike most who probably skipped over this quote, I put a lot of thought into it and realized that I believe it to be true. Every decision I've ever made, I had to choose to make that decision and tell myself “yes I want to do that”. Nothing is subconscious and everything starts with a conscious yes. That conclusion came from thorough thinking and that is the goal of this experimental novel. To make the reader think.
“Just as I am writing at the same time as I am being read.” (12).
This quote is another one that is truly a thinker but in a different way. It's very experimental in the way Rodrigo talks in first person about his experience writing the book, but also about experimental topics. This thought can be ignored or really thought about. This is being read as he talks about his writing, so he says he is writing as he is being read. It is almost a paradox that will kill a reader's brain if they think about it too long so let's move on.
“I have no desire to be modish and invent colloquialisms under the guise of originality. So I shall attempt, contrary to my normal method, to write a story with a beginning, a middle, and a ‘grand finale’” (13).
Rodrigo, again experimentally talking about his own writing in first person, talks about how experimental his novel will be. He says he will not be writing anything just to sound original, but instead plans to just write. He will not have a “beginning, middle, and end” because he will just start and the book will end when he is done. He doesn't believe in introductions or conclusions. He believes in putting ideas on paper and just writing until you're done. He also mocks the “grand finale” found in most books as he sarcastically puts it in quotes. He will stop when he wants to stop and he makes that clear.
“I have no idea how this story will end” (16).
This quote connects greatly to the one mentioned before as he doesn't even know when he will finish the book. He will write until he thinks he wants to be done. This is very experimental in the fact that no one ever does this. That's what outlines are for and rough drafts too. Authors plan out where their book is going to end in order to make sure it's perfect. Not Rodrigo! He makes it clear he will end when he feels he is done writing. Very experimental but it works out for him as “he” wrote a classic!
“I now realize that poverty is both ugly and promiscuous. That’s why I cannot say whether my narrative will be — will be what? I can reveal nothing for I still haven’t worked up enough enthusiasm to write the story” (21).
ReplyDeleteThe given description of “the Experimental Novel” implies that the protagonist or main character of a story is purposefully made to be boring and unheroic. Since the narrator spends so much time talking directly to the reader about what he is writing, and is so vital to portraying the major themes and philosophical thoughts of the novel, he could be considered a main character, which is why I picked a quote about him. He is definitely not heroic and likable, as he bothers the reader by fussing over the difficulties of writing and conveying ideas and won’t even start the story because he hasn’t “worked up enough enthusiasm.” However, through all his relfection, we get the “deep unconscious sources of his nature”, as he reflects upon life and the meaning and struggles of writing, an unusual technique that makes the novel experimental.
“Dear God, only now am I remembering that people die. Does that include me?” (86)
Again, we can see the lack of heroism of the narrator, as he is ordinary like everyone else, because he fears death and often forgets about it, as one cannot simply live each moment like they are about the die. Although this is a lack of heroism, it reminds the reader how we as normal humans behave, and reflects upon the inviolable truths of life; including that we will all die someday.
“The girl did not know she existed, just as a dog doesn’t know that it’s a dog. Therefore she wasn’t aware of her own unhappiness” (27).
As for Macabéa, her poverty, uneventful life, and oblivion to her misfortune seems to make her the total opposite of a hero and awesome main character. However, despite her utterly simple life, the narrator “only achieves simplicity with enormous effort,” reflecting the fact tat experimental novels are often simple in plot but complex in thought. Hey that rhymed, yay! Anyway, claiming that she didn’t even know that she existed and comparing her to an animal makes her seem pathetic, but the quote continues to include that she wasn’t aware of her own unhappiness, uncovering her deep psychological reality and suggesting that she isn’t ordinary; despite being invisible to society, she is one of the few people who is content and at peace for she never aspires for anything more than mere existence.
“The moment she stepped off the pavement, Destiny (bang) swift and greedy, whispered: now, quickly, for my hour has come!
And a yellow Mercedes, as huge as an ocean liner, knocked her down” (79).
Macabéa’s death is perhaps the height of her comedic absurdity, because right after she begins to hope for a future, as she had just visited the fortune teller, she dies a completely pointless and non-epic death, making her very unheroic once again, and even more mainstream because she was killed in a common car accident. Yet under the obvious lies a beautiful complex layer, as the “hour” of the star doesn’t just mark the time of Macabéa’s death, but also the hour that destiny strikes; the narrator makes Destiny like alive character this way by capitalizing it and adding dialogue, making it sound almost comedic, as if the narrator is making fun of “fate”, for it doesn’t exist in existentialism, or because of his power to make an overdramatic ending. Either way, there is a lot of complexity that comes out of observing an ordinary, non heroic human being, reflecting that particular statement about experimental novels.
dis me stayin straight boolin
ReplyDeleteThe Hour of the Star is a weird book. It’s weird in every sense of the word, and to me, is impossible to categorize. However, the tragedy in my opinion is that this book is categorized―grouped into the exclusive “experimental novel” club. My problem with this, is that the second you label something, you give it a tangible and finite identity which, by nature, makes the book no longer experimental. Thus, the concept of the “experimental novel” is a myth. However, for the sake of this post, I will agree for half an hour that this book is an experimental novel, and that experimental novels can exist (in spite of their inherent irony).
Clarice Lispector’s unconventional approach to a narrative and her use of obscure diction create an ethereal atmosphere within the world of Macabea, and continue to remain relevant topics to plague humanity with. Lispector begins the novel asking the reader a question: “How does one start at the beginning, if things happen before they actually happen? If before the pre-prehistory there already existed apocalyptic monsters? If this history does not exist, it will come to exist,” (pg 3). Questions like these, provoking existential thoughts (which the reader simply is not prepared for, like, come on this is on the very first page of the book), densely populate the story. I believe that Lispector’s purpose in this was to not only keep the reader on their toes, but to reinforce the idea that the universe, and the existence of a ‘self’, is an unbounded question whom no one has the answers for. These unanswered conflicts allow The Hour of the Star to embody the essence of an experimental novel, and are timeless in their existence. Life and death are the two things which humans will never be able to control. You can only understand death once you die, and of course that is only a theory, and that is only if you believe that you can retain your consciousness beyond life. There are a lot of directions that these questions can be taken in, and I don’t believe that Lispector wrote this novel to be defined in a certain measurable way. Additionally, her manipulation of the narration allows for her to inject certain viewpoints and perspectives wherever she pleases. Lispector can create the world of Rodrigo, to create the world of Macabea. In whatever way Macabea is described, a piece of Rodrigo is revealed. This raises the question of whether Lispector is writing from a perspective different or the same as hers. My opinion: the world will never know.