The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector - Sad Girl Story Againnn

 The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector is a fascinating book!! The narrator, Rodrigo S.M. indicates that he will tell the story of a “northeastern girl” who is from one of Brazil’s poorest states, Alagoes. At first, I was confused about the plot of the storyline and what was actually happening in the story. From what I understand, the narrator is a writer and he created this character of the girl that he wants to write about. I wondered why Lispector had a narrator tell Macabea’s story instead of him just telling her story. Macabea is a nineteen year old girl and the story unveils the hardships of poverty. Macabae and her boyfriend, Olimpico have a cute story at first, but then it turns sour when he looks down on her for not having much aspirations. He has lots of aspirations, stating that “One day I’ll be rich” and “I’m very intelligent, I’ll end up a congressman.” His annoyance with Macabae stems from her not having many aspirations for herself. Some readers may see this as her being passive. However, I think that through the hardships of economic poverty of her life, she didn’t have the opportunity to have dreams for herself. This shows how not everyone has the same opportunities in life. I was so mad and disgusted when Olimpico dumped Macabea and hooked up with the co-worker, indicating how he was not serious about their relationship at all. I love Macabea’s resilience and how she didn’t let Olimpico’s actions affect her. She said, “sadness was also something for rich people, for people who could afford it, for people who didn’t have anything better to do. Sadness was a luxury” (52-53). I think this quote gives an insight to her character and her way of thinking. In a way, it is true. The disparity of classes leads you to think about the limitations of poverty and how you have to still keep going no matter what. She didn’t have the same privileges as someone with higher economic standing. I think it got sadder when she was diagnosed with “the early stages of pulmonary tuberculosis.” I found it really weird that the doctor that diagnosed her mentioned that he is “in love with Macabea, my dear Maca, in love with her ugliness and total anonymity since she belongs to no one” (59). Honestly, I would not be impressed with someone saying that to me and would wonder why he used those words to describe love. I think it was anti-climatic how she died being hit by a car. My question : Did you think that Macabeas could have escaped her destiny or was too passive?

Comments

  1. Meta - Sol March 1, 2026 at 11:54 PM

    Interesting comment!
    Regarding your question, I think what Lispector invites us to think is the limits of will and behaviour! And the tension between resources, life and free will.
    See you on Wednesday
    Julián.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Neil SharmaMarch 4, 2026 at 4:14 PM

    Great post! I think that she could have escaped her destiny had she been more proactive in the beginning. It often felt that she was letting life happen to her and I felt quite sad for her since she had such unfortunate luck. Perhaps our destinies are already written and she was always going to perish in the accident, but the choices she could have made before then were her own.

    This sparks a thought, I wonder about our own destinies. We often time attribute a destiny to be path, but I feel that we all have many destinies and paths in life that diverge and converge from each other. Had Macabea not been dating Olimpico, or had she not worked at the office, or had she worked at the office but not met Gloria, or had Gloria not loaned her money, or had she not chosen to go to the fortune teller, or had she looked before crossing if had she gone to the fortune teller and thought it's a load of rubbish and been in the right state of mind to cross... There's countless decisions which change our entire life without realizing. It's up to us to find the path we'd like to walk towards, but we never know what will happen in the meantime til we get there. I think that way Macabea could have escaped her doomed destiny, but alas it was also written by Rodrigo while we write our own destiny often times ourselves.

    ReplyDelete
  3. aaliyahMarch 4, 2026 at 10:49 PM

    Hey,
    I completely agree about how Macabeas lack of aspiration comes from the fact that she is impoverished rather than passivity. Really interesting read :)

    ReplyDelete

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