Clarice lispector has included an alternative title page in The Hour of the Star. She was evaluating several titles. The titles have a significant role in analyzing the novel, as they are based on references from the text and highlight certain aspects of the tale. The novel’s meaning would be different if The Hour of the Star were entitled The Right to Scream. Rodrigo telling Macabea’s story and speaking for her gives us a glimpse into Macabea’s troubled, unspoken character. Macabea who has earned her right to scream can’t express herself. Lispector incorporates themes of creation, perspective, and sound in The Hour of the Star to show that Rodrigo’s narration of Macabea’s story forms a entity that is much more.
Lispector carries the theme “creation” throughout the novel. Rodrigo, he suggests, creates Macabea. Rodrigo, through his narration, reveals her life as she could never do it herself. Rodrigo’s narration is a very honest and authentic way to tell Macabea’s tale of poverty and misfortune. Lispector shows that he sees his writing as being more than fiction by saying, “This doesn’t just represent narrative; it is a primary life which breathes and breathes and breathes” (5). Later, Lispector says, “This story is made up of words which gather into sentences from where a hidden meaning will emerge that transcends words and sentences.” Rodrigo is only the outlet, the source for Macabea to reveal her social class. He implies that even though Macabea may not be real, her story represents a difficult life for her social class. Rodrigo explains at the start of the novel how he’s afraid to idealize Macabea. Rodrigo comes from an upper/middle social class and finds it hard to see things through her eyes. Lispector shows Rodrigo’s willingness to bring himself down to the level of Macabea in order for him to be able to properly tell her story. Rodrigo is obsessed with telling Macabea’s story as honestly as possible. This suggests that Macabea, who has suffered a lot in her life, has earned the right to scream, but due to her passivity and ignorance, she doesn’t know how. Rodrigo the intellectual must, therefore, use his writing to scream on her behalf. It is my duty to tell her story, even if it’s not done with any art. Because it’s okay to scream. “So I screamed” (5).
Rodrigo’s journey to self-discovery begins with him metaphorically becoming Macabea and letting her scream. Rodrigo depicts Macabea with a lack of self-awareness. He says, “She had no thoughts.” Incompetent all her life. She never learned how to solve problems” (17). Macabea was too poor and uneducated to think, he says, so her ignorance is the result of poverty. She is also weak and uninformed. She was unaware of her own existence and did not complain, in fact she believed she was happy. He is cynical and desperate when describing his own existence, but he’s insecure. “Is this what being a human is all about?” (7). He may feel relief by trying to look at the world as if it were the woman opposite him, who doesn’t question anything and just “lives, inhaling/exhaling/inhaling/exhaling”. This is what he means when he writes, “Why write about the poverty of a young woman who has no ornaments? The seclusion she feels is also a sign of holiness. She’s poor in spirit and body, but I still want to be able feel her breath. Rodrigo’s realization of something “beyond” is through Macabea. Lispector connects this with the theme, as Rodrigo may have created Macabea to reach an entity bigger than himself. Lispector expands this idea by Rodrigo saying, “I’m completely aware of her. I scream out my horror at life through this young woman” (25). Lispector explains that by becoming aware of the young woman, he shouts and refers to alternative titles. By doing this, he both exposes her pain while also exposing his. Lispector has changed the impact of the novel, by using these alternate titles to go with Rodrigo’s narration. It emphasizes the dependency between the two characters – she needs him in order to exist and he is dependent on her happiness.
The emphasis of a soldier’s drum beat is the soundtrack to everything Rodrigo is not writing. The drum will suddenly cease the moment I begin to tell my story (14). He shows not only how important sound is, but also its absence. Macabea’s “struggling mute” (71), for example, is a great example of this. Rodrigo is forced to speak on her behalf, and uses music as a tool. Also, Macabea is constantly referred to as “explosion” after each major event. Rodrigo’s use of this term ties in with the idea behind the drum accompanying Macabea’s text. Rodrigo supports his idea by saying: “I can hear the chords coming from a cheerful piano. Could it be that she has a bright future ahead of her?” (22). Rodrigo alludes to the symphony by using several instruments. The symphony is another artwork that Rodrigo has created, and it gives Macabea an outlet for her screams. Rodrigo uses metaphor to refer to music at the end of his novel when Macabea is killed. “In the long run, she was just a music-box that was slightly off tune” (77). Macabea may have a pathetic story, as she is described by Rodrigo in the novel, “In the end she was no more than a slightly out-of-tune music box” (77).
Rodrigo uses this moment to show the tragic side of Macabea. It is ironic that despite being in a very unfortunate situation, Macabea remains stubborn and even strong. This is perhaps due to her determination to survive. Rodrigo’s reference to her alternative title is at the end of her novel. He says, “Despite it all, she belonged stubbornly to a race of dwarves, that one might reclaim scream in their dying moment” (70). Lispector selected The Hour of the Star to be the title of the story because it is the only moment in her life where she becomes self-aware. He also references the alternative title at the end of the novel when he shows Macabea as a pitiful entity, “Despite everything, she was a stubborn race of dwarves that one day might reclaim the right to scream” (70).
