the most depressing ending

 Wow. This was just sad. Are you kidding me? She gets hit by a car and dies after all of that? C’mon Rodrigo, you could’ve come up with a better than that. Macabea was a poor, naive, invisible girl who literally never complained and didn’t feel the need to. “Sadness was also something for rich people, for people that could afford it, for people who didn’t have anything better to do. Sadness was a luxury.” (52-53)


And this pretty much summed up the type of person Macabea was. Macabea also had a deeper meaning. She could represent the greater group of marginalized people. Who are completely overlooked by society. This is really shown by Rodrigo, the fictional narrator, who interrupts the story very often and uses big words, to remind us that he is the one who is telling the story. This is him almost just like debating with himself whether he should continue telling us the story and if it’s worth it. This really hits hard in terms of how in our society, we have to work hard to make ourselves known and being defined by our work and success. And it also shows how much it matters where you come from and how it depends how easy it is for you to succeed depending on your race and social class. And how easily disposable she is in a world chasing image and status.  


And lets not even get started on Olimpico who is a material chasing, power driven,  piece of shit (pardon my French). He really is the image of toxic masculinity and social climber who in a sad way, represents how our society is structured and how things function. This novel portrays the invisibility within capitalism and our society and how if you aren’t beautiful, successful, or have status, you don’t even exist. And the IRONY of Macabea getting hit by a Mercedes Benz just really ties this whole thing together. 


And the SADDEST PART, is that her death was portrayed as her moment of being a star and finally getting her moment of fame. So her death, as would usually be pictured as the saddest part of the story is showed as almost the highlight of her life because the biggest tragedy is that she lived her entire life as unseen. Right up until the fortune teller who gave her the slightest bit of hope for the first time. And then BOOM, SHE DIES. LIKE WHAT. 

That was just absolutely one depressing of a story. Like Clarice definitely got her message across, that’s for sure. 


My question is: 

Today, in a world where visibility equals value, who would represent the “Macabea’s”?


 

Comments

  1. Jennifer Kim27 February 2026 at 18:53

    I totally agree with you on how depressing the ending is. I was kind of left thinking "that's it?" and honestly, I was a bit confused/shocked when I first read that section. Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Maysen Della Malva27 February 2026 at 20:02

    I completely agree with how abrupt and sad the ending of this story was, and I was really hoping with how depressing the tale was that it would end a bit on a happier note. And totally agree about Olimpico -- he was a total POS throughout the story. Definitely would have preferred to see him hit by the Mercedes!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nerissa28 February 2026 at 15:22

    I agree i haaaate him! To your question, I think Macabéa represents so many people today. Hearing their stories is tragic, but most of the time we never do. There are people whose lives unfold sadly and quietly in the shadows. In rare cases, a story briefly surfaces, like I thought about when ICE recently deported Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a blind man and when they realized they didn't have grounds to deport him and dropped him off in the middle of nowhere with temperatures below freezing and he died lost and wandering. Stories like that feel like devastating in a similar way, a moment of visibility that comes only through catastrophe. It makes me think less about that single tragedy and more about how many others we never hear about. Macabéa’s life was invisible until her death forced attention onto it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Emily28 February 2026 at 19:55

    Hi! The ending killed me too. For her hope to be taken so suddenly was just like... okay, wow. The irony of the Mercedes hitting her was soooo so cruel. And Olímpico pissed me off SO bad.. he was genuinely just insufferable.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Meta - Sol 1 March 2026 at 19:55

    I think that your question is quite interesting, because it reveals all the tension about representing, narrating and power. And I think it is not irrelevant that Lispector choses a man as the narrator.
    We can discuss it on Wednesday.

    Julián.

    ReplyDelete

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