The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector

"The Hour of the Star" is a playful novel published in the late 1970s, during the last years of Clarice Lispector's life. 

Macabéa, the main character, is an ordinary outcast. She is a foolish, ugly, and impoverished girl from the Brazilian northeast. Thanks to her foolishness, she succeeds in living a relatively happy life, somewhat full of mundane joy. One may be tempted to begin the previous sentence with "despite her foolishness" instead of "thanks to her...," but that would be wrong. It is her overarching simplicity and void of thoughts that relieve her of the daily struggle. 

But above all, Macabéa is just a creation in the mind of the writer. Throughout the short novel, we can observe a stream of consciousness that displays the interaction between the one who writes the story, its object, and the narrative. It is a rare phenomenon that inspires us to think about fundamental questions of literature. The subjective character of any writing does not permit us to draw any objective conclusions about the meaning of the text, for any such conclusions will also be subjective. A myriad of interpretations is therefore not a failure to find agreement, but rather an ode to diversity in one's experience. 

“She believed in angels, and, because she believed, they existed”

Even under the cloud of blissful unawareness that hovers above Macabéa's mind, the story is a harsh criticism of the social problems tormenting not only Brazil but the entire world. In this context, it is not very surprising that the book comes from Brazil, a country riddled with inequality, poverty, and social unfairness. The plight of anonymous misery is well illustrated by the last pages of the book and Macabéa's public death, and the hurtful indifference of those passing by. A caste system where being born as an ugly, deprived creature does not entitle you to dignity.

There is, however, a way to consider Macabéa wealthy in contrast with the poor squad of seemingly rich people. We meet Olimpico, boyfriend of her, who eventually leaves her and cheats on her. He is ambitious and hard-working, but also void of empathy. He is blind to the present moment, his eyes can only see future fame and wealth. Similarly to Macabéa, he comes from the rural northeast, so one cannot reproach him for all the negative traits for they are just a consequence of a struggle of those extremely poor to escape poverty and associated stigma. Olimpico's ambitions impoverish him. They rob him of the present and authenticity. Striving to become something else than our own self is inevitably the deepest point of our inner poverty.