Near To The Wild Heart By Clarice Lispector Sparknotes

Clarice Lispector was born as an attempt to cure her mother’s sexually transmitted disease. However, this did not work and her mother passed away, filling Lispector with guilt. There is evidence of this motif of guilt in several of Lispector’s stories, such as in “The Crime of the Mathematics Professor,” which is from the collection Family Ties. In addition, since Lispector’s mother died when Lispector was still young, the disconnect between mother and daughter is reflected in the story, “Family Ties.” The first part of this piece describes the unusual relationship between Catherine and her mother, Severina. Later, Catherine becomes aware of this and realizes the same disconnect will form between her and her child, who appeared odd. This reflected Lispector’s own life, as she found her children and husband to be a nuisance and a distraction while writing. She also believed her son to be schizophrenic, which may be reflected by Catherine’s son.
When Lispector fled to Brazil, she was forced to change her name, which led her to feel as if she lost her identity and was alienated from herself. Another parallel between Joana and Lispector is going against what society deems to be acceptable. Joana throws a book at an old man’s head, while Lispector wished to recreate herself to appeal to