Macabea In Clarice Lispector's Hour Of The Star
No right to narrate: powerless narration
Narrators are gifted with great power. In Hour of the Star, Clarice Lispector gives Rodrigo a special power in the novel, a power to create his own characters. He mainly focuses on a northeastern girl called Macabéa. The relationship between Macabea and Rodrigo is a ‘god’ like, because Macabea is merely Rodrigo’s creation. However, Macabea even in her weaker position has the upper hand in the relationship.
Rodrigo has a lot of authority over Macabea and her qualities. He is able to show the side of her that her wants to see. He understands the power he has over his narration and the details of Macabea’s life, he knows what it is like to “hold [Macabea’s] destiny in [his] hand”(12). It is important to question Rodrigo’s reliability as a narrator, he is tasked to showcase the story of a girl who although he seems “to know the tiniest details” (10) about he “don’t even know [her] name” (10). Throughout his introduction of Macabea, he repeatedly degrades her physicality and intelligence. He created a lifeless version of an “ignorant” (7) Macabea whom “scarcely has a body to sell”(5). Ultimately, Rodrigo is Macabea’s creator and as such he has …show more content…
She is the driving force in her story, altering the way she is perceived by Rodrigo. Although, she is fictional even to Rodrigo she still has authority over her own life. She transitions from being Rodrigo’s lifeless character to becoming her own person. She accuses Rodrigo by “[forcing] her being upon [him]”(12). Consequently, Rodrigo doesn’t “feel powerful enough to invent freely” (12), he knows he has an “obligation to tell about [Macabea)” (5). He feels as if she won’t “get off [his] shoulders”(13). In this way, it is like the tables have turned, the once authoritative narrator and creator now has to succumb to the wishes of the weak character he created. He feels powerless and under strict
Narrators are gifted with great power. In Hour of the Star, Clarice Lispector gives Rodrigo a special power in the novel, a power to create his own characters. He mainly focuses on a northeastern girl called Macabéa. The relationship between Macabea and Rodrigo is a ‘god’ like, because Macabea is merely Rodrigo’s creation. However, Macabea even in her weaker position has the upper hand in the relationship.
Rodrigo has a lot of authority over Macabea and her qualities. He is able to show the side of her that her wants to see. He understands the power he has over his narration and the details of Macabea’s life, he knows what it is like to “hold [Macabea’s] destiny in [his] hand”(12). It is important to question Rodrigo’s reliability as a narrator, he is tasked to showcase the story of a girl who although he seems “to know the tiniest details” (10) about he “don’t even know [her] name” (10). Throughout his introduction of Macabea, he repeatedly degrades her physicality and intelligence. He created a lifeless version of an “ignorant” (7) Macabea whom “scarcely has a body to sell”(5). Ultimately, Rodrigo is Macabea’s creator and as such he has …show more content…
She is the driving force in her story, altering the way she is perceived by Rodrigo. Although, she is fictional even to Rodrigo she still has authority over her own life. She transitions from being Rodrigo’s lifeless character to becoming her own person. She accuses Rodrigo by “[forcing] her being upon [him]”(12). Consequently, Rodrigo doesn’t “feel powerful enough to invent freely” (12), he knows he has an “obligation to tell about [Macabea)” (5). He feels as if she won’t “get off [his] shoulders”(13). In this way, it is like the tables have turned, the once authoritative narrator and creator now has to succumb to the wishes of the weak character he created. He feels powerless and under strict