The Hour Of The Star Character Analysis Essay

As a writer it always seems hard to write about yourself. When asked “Who are you?” you tend to dance around the question or are not able to answer it at all. In the book “The Hour of the Star” by Clarice Lispector, the author uses a narrator who cannot fully determine who he is and also cannot determine who the character he narrates is. The narrator constantly addresses the idea of inner peace and describes it by telling a story of a girl named Macabea; this inner peace that the main character possesses infuriates the narrator because he himself does not possess such inner peace. This peace is merely the stepping stone to answering the question of who you really are, in which the narrator cannot answer. In the beginning of the book the narrator provides clear examples that he does not know who he is or why he is even writing the story. He says, “As long as I have questions and no answers I’ll keep on writing.” (pg. 3) This shows that

71) This affliction or pain is reflected in the narrator’s story as well. He is not only afflicting the readers but also himself. He compares life to suffering and a “punch in the stomach” (pg. 74) this ongoing story is also an ongoing monologue within the narrator about his viewpoint on life and himself. He is unaware of who he is. He says, “Macabea killed me.” (pg. 76) this statement shows that he is mentally drained from writing about a character who lived the most simplistic lifestyle but died content and happy of who she is. He feels as if he has experienced the world for its splendors and wrote about them but still has no idea who he is. The idea of a girl like Macabea who is nineteen years old and is the definition of innocence, makes the narrator uncomfortable and upset. He wishes to have the answers by writing of such a character but in the end is “killed” by the very idea, just like Macabea for wanting to live a more exciting