The Hour of the Star

Rodrigo wonders what language he should use to write Macabéa’s story. He considers the language that he uses in his own life and wonders if it applies to Macabéa. He decides that he’s a real person only because he writes, a practice that lets him ask the questions he wants about God, the universe, and himself. However, Macabéa doesn’t even “believe in death” (28). She knows her parents are gone but rarely thinks about them or their fates.

Every morning, Macabéa listens to her roommates’ clock radio. She doesn’t understand everything that comes out of it but likes the program that broadcasts the time to a backdrop of dripping water sounds. Macabéa has an inner life but hasn’t discovered it yet. She has dreams and lives with a kind of ecstasy inside her. In a way, she’s a saint. She does have small pleasures, like looking through newspapers and collecting ads that she likes. One day, she sees a skin cream that looks so good she decides she would eat it if she could afford to buy it.

Rodrigo is still procrastinating about getting to the heart of Macabéa’s story. Something about her disturbs him and remains difficult to write. He wonders if trying to capture her life will reveal some secret he’s afraid to know.

Macabéa understands little about life because her experience is limited. She often can’t even eat because things nauseate her. However, she’s interested in language and often becomes obsessed with words she encounters at work. One day, she sees Raimundo’s book Humiliated and Offended and wonders if it has something to do with her.

Rodrigo wonders if Macabéa will ever experience love. Her life is predictable, which he can never stand in his own life. One day, Macabéa sees a handsome man at a local bar. Noticing the ring on his finger, she wonders how one gets married. Overwhelmed by emotion, she asks for the rest of the day off, pretending she’s sick. She goes home and delights in the empty apartment. She has never experienced solitude before. She even enjoys looking at herself in the mirror when she’s by herself.

Rodrigo tries to rewrite three pages of Macabéa’s story that his cook threw out. The pages described May 7, the day that Macabéa meets her first boyfriend.

On a rainy day, Macabéa meets Olímpico de Jesus Moreira Chaves. They try to go for a walk, but the rain is too heavy and they end up standing on the street, talking uncomfortably. They see each other several more times, and Macabéa experiences desire for the first time in her life. Olímpico is a worker at a metal factory. Macabéa likes the sound of his job because it goes nicely with the sound of her typist job. However, Olímpico really wants to be a bullfighter and make money. Like Macabéa, he’s from the northeast. He once saved up to buy his gold tooth, which he thought improved his appearance. One day, he tells Macabéa that he wants to be a congressman too. Olímpico has a lot of ideas about himself. However, Macabéa is only who she is. He sometimes gets annoyed with the things she says and with their conversations. However, they can sometimes talk more amicably about their memories growing up in the northeast. Otherwise, Olímpico lashes out at Macabéa in conversation for failing to understand him or for asking questions he can’t answer. One day, she asks him about buying a hole, because she has always believed that having a well is a sign of wealth. Olímpico doesn’t understand and makes fun of her. Macabéa shares some facts she heard on the clock radio to change the topic of conversation. He gets annoyed hearing about the news and the radio program. He doesn’t need a clock because he stole a watch from the factory where he works. Macabéa then tells him about a song she heard on the radio. She tries singing it to see if he recognizes it, but he tells her that her voice is too bad for him to listen to. Macabéa wishes she could say something else since Olímpico seems to know more about the world than her.

One day Olímpico criticizes Macabéa’s face. He believes the face is more important than the body because it reveals what a person is thinking. He doesn’t like her face because it’s expressionless. Another time, Olímpico lifts her up in the street to show her what it’s like to be alive. She feels momentarily ecstatic, but then Olímpico drops her on the ground. He feels upset afterward and disappears for several days. He doesn’t resurface until the day they go to a butcher’s shop together. The meat smell makes Macabéa hungry, while the butcher knives excite Olímpico. Afterward, Olímpico buys her a coffee, which she loads with sugar because she’s hungry. Then they go to the zoo. Olímpico criticizes Macabéa’s remarks about the animals. She tries sharing more facts she learned on the radio, but Olímpico disapproves of everything she says.

Rodrigo is surprised by how much he’s writing and how much he knows of Macabéa’s story. However, he decides that he needs to explain Olímpico better. Olímpico originates from Paraíba and has always been wild. He even killed someone once. This crime is a secret he keeps because he thinks it gives him power. He can’t offer Macabéa anything, but she’s unconcerned “about her own future” (49). Rodrigo realizes that Olímpico doesn’t like dating Macabéa.

When Olímpico meets Glória, he realizes that she’s more his type and breaks up with Macabéa. In doing so, he criticizes her, but she bursts out laughing instead of crying. She doesn’t understand why she’s laughing but does know that Olímpico likes Glória better because Glória isn’t as skinny. Macabéa has always wanted to be fatter but can’t afford the luxuries to put on weight. After the breakup, Macabéa doesn’t know what to do. However, she doesn’t let herself feel sad because she can’t afford sadness either.