Hour Of The Star Clarice Lispector Character Analysis

Clarice Lispector was a Sagittarius. Zodiac horoscopes have been around for generations. There are persons who routinely check their respective horoscopes in order to find out what the universe has in store for them that day. They take these predictions of fate as complete facts. Each horoscope provides its reader with an event, whether beneficial or detrimental, that will definitely happen to him or her that day. Clarice Lispector was a true believer in the philosophy of death as the only thing that is certain in life. Lispector’s novel Hour of the Star, which was written in her final days, illustrates the story of an impoverished woman living in Rio de Janeiro as told through the eyes of a male narrator, whom is writing a story about her. Through her use of destiny, she achieves the greater theme of the novel – the certainty of death.

Rodrigo S.M. the narrator through which we get to know our protagonist, Macabea. Like a god, Rodrigo is able to create Macabea’s story; he can mold her into whatever shape or form he wants and invent her future, past, and present. He holds “[her] destiny in [his] hands”(12). However, Rodrigo explains throughout the novel that there is a
She was a fortuneteller. Fortunetellers, like horoscopes, provide details of a person’s unavoidable destiny. Her visit with Madame Carlota was the “first time [Macabea] was going to have a destiny” (66). Carloata predicted a “marvelous destiny” (69) for Macabea; a destiny filled with love from foreigners, prosperity, and physical beauty It is ironic, that to the client before Macabea, Carolata predicted that she would be run over by a car – the same destiny that came of Maceabea. Madame Carolata, in the novel, represents destiny as created by humans; however, true destiny is in the universe, which explains why Macabea’s fate was so contradictory to Carolata’s prediction. Carolata chose happiness; destiny,