Language and Gender Differences in Clarice Lispector’s Literature

While this in no way approaches the radical lesbian found in many contemporary works, which often takes the position that lesbianism frees women from the constraints and oppressions of patriarchy, making it possible for lesbians to serve as role models for all women. In the case of the fortune-teller, the lesbian option was more of a case of substitution by default rather than a conscious choice from an assortment of alternative lifestyles. Once again, Macabéa’s sexuality is not an issue, her homosexual feelings are even less consequential than her heterosexual relationships.

Farrel (1979) claims that men and women tend to employ different argumentational strategies in expository writing. In a nutshell, men tend to start off their presentation with something like a final conclusion, which allows a certain freedom in the structuring of the remaining discourse, while women tend to lead the reader through a set of experiences and/or line of argument, holding off the conclusion until the end (909). Relevant too is Farrell’s observation that the female mode "seems at times to obfuscate the boundary between the self of author and the subject of the discourse, whereas the male mode tends to accentuate such boundaries" (910).

In the 1970s, Brazil was going through a significant social transformation inside the political context of a military dictatorship. These changes contributed to a profound restructuring of women’s social role and status. Clarice Lispector wrote this book exactly at the time that the military oppression was greatest and the effects of these changes were just beginning to be observed in society. Power has historically been a privilege of men. What is power? According to Marx: "There is nothing abstract about the power that sciences and theories have to act materially and actually upon our bodies and minds, even if the discourse that produces it is abstract. It is one of the forms of domination, its very expression. I would say, rather, one of its exercises. All of the oppressed know this power and have had to deal with it. The power of language to work on bodies is both the cause of sexual oppression and the way beyond that oppression" (Butler 148). The tendency for women to speak powerless language and for men to speak less of it is due, at least in part, to the greater tendency of women to occupy relatively lower social positions. What we have observed is a reflection in their speech behavior of their social status. Similarly, for men, a greater tendency to use the more powerful variant (which we will term powerful language) may be linked to the fact that men much more often tend to occupy relatively powerful positions in society (O’Barr et al 106).

In Brazil, as in all societies, women are often viewed as sex-objects. The media uses the female body as an erotic attraction to appeal to the male audience. In the same manner, these images tend to convince other women that their main goal in life is to be beautiful. Macabéa seems to not fit into either of the two main stereotypes of women portrayed in the media: she certainly is not the rich, elegant type, nor is she the poor, domestic, caring for children and exploited. It is almost as if she is less than woman. The message of the media is that plain and ugly women, such as Macabéa, have no chance to succeed in life.

The radio had a frequent and persuasive effect on Macabéa’s language. Her primary distraction was listening to Clock Radio, a well-known station in Rio de Janeiro which monotonously announces the time of day every 60 seconds or so, inserting an unending series of "tics" and "tocs" and adding useless bits of information between the times. It is often used as a clock by those too poor even to own one, but who may have a radio to listen to music or soccer games. Macabéa on a number of occasions attempts to use information from Clock Radio in her conversations with Olímpico.

In this dialogue Macabéa, departing from her usual position of deference, decides to take a risk and initiates a dialogue with Olímpico using information she has heard on the radio. However, even the elementary "culture" on Clock Radio is beyond both of them. He does not acknowledge this, however, and feels insecure and offended by not being able to answer her questions (lines 39-42). He takes refuge in his masculine superiority and interrupts the conversation. In this case, it manifests itself in depression and anxiety. Macabéa’s feeling of worthlessness are further enhanced by his attempt to exercise power over her, blaming her for not saying anything, even when he also was quiet.

48. But I don't believe it. (Lispector 68)

The difficulty of finding words to express ideas and situations is a theme that appears frequently in Lispector's writings. In simple terms, the writer declares that language is inadequate to describe reality. This concept is explored even more by Lispector in another novel, A Paixão Segundo G. H, in which the writer struggles with an unworthy instrument – words – to come to terms with a fearsome object – a cockroach (Patai 1983). Macabéa also struggles with words and with her understanding of life. She senses that words are a part of a person’s identity but feels that her inability to use them is indicative of her lack of human status. So words are part of a person’s reality, but cannot adequately be relied upon to describe it. This leads necessarily to the idea that there is an inherent contradiction between the real world and the word, which the word itself is incapable of overcoming. This perspective does not take into account that the world exists independently of the individual, and a person’s thoughts and actions are culturally construed. In the final analysis, Macabéa is a product of her culture. For Beauvoir, gender is also "constructed." A woman "becomes" a woman (or what society and the media defines as a woman), not because of natural processes, but because she is under a cultural compulsion to become one. And the compulsion does not come from "sex" but from society (Butler 12).

Nobody is immune to the effects of media promotion. Even Macabéa is caught up in the in commercialism that has definite gender connotations. "Advertising is more influential in society than simply having the effect of persuading consumers to buy products. It provides models of behavior and conveys particular attitudes towards living" (Unesco 1983). Macabéa collected advertisements in her free time, placing them into an album. One of them was very special, showing a woman’s creamy skin in colors. She even had dreams about it. It was so appetizing that she tells herself that if she had money she would buy and eat it. Radio and magazines exerted an important influence on her life, filling a void left by lack of self-identity. They were an invitation to a beautiful and successful life; they promised romance and love. Without a doubt, the imagery of womanhood promoted by the media was a factor in causing an inferiority complex among the female audience not blessed with good looks. In her own bed at night Macabéa would dream of one day being a star like Marilyn Monroe. One day she would have her own "Hour of the Star."

Goffman (1976) in his book, Gender Advertisement, shows that independently of whatever product being promoted, there is usually a subtle subtext of male dominance in the pictures. This is equally true for most vehicles of popular culture, including radio, magazines, TV, and cinema. The importance of media portrayals in establishing gender roles is undisputed. Magazine articles and television shows commonly define blonde women as a synonymous with beauty. This was even more prevalent in the seventies, when this novel was written. Gloria, the co-worker who steals Macabéa’s boyfriend, not only has a lighter complexion, but with the help of a bottle is also a blonde.

The primary importance of Lispector’s works is that they were among the first definite steps in women’s search for a female voice in Brazilian society. She is concerned not only with her "Brazilianess", but also with society itself and primarily the female element in humanity. The literature of writers such as Lispector has forced researchers to go beyond accepted everyday linguistic phenomena and explore the intrinsic relationships between thought and society. They understand that language and gender is "deeply political, seeking not only to illuminate, but also to change relations between women, men and language" (Thorne et al 20). Lispector’s works have stimulated younger female writers in Brazil to think in different ways about the impact of gender and language upon society and the consequences of these on the common people – specially women – that struggle for a place in the sun.

In the early 1970’s, research on how women and men speak came to occupy center stage in the study of discourse and gender. A primary focus of this research was what made the talk of women different from that of men. In the United States, Robin Lakoff stimulated much of the interest in this question through her description of a distinctive ‘women’s language’ – a language that avoids direct and forceful statements, relying instead on forms that convey hesitation and uncertainty (Van Dijk 1997). In Latin America, feminist criticism in recent years has reevaluated the works of women writers, including those of Lispector. In these terms, Lispector can be considered a feminist because she tells the story of a woman’s life.

The Hour of the Star defies all effort to categorize it as a statement against any single form of oppression. By the same measure, the work cannot be view as an effort by the author to establish Macabéa as a symbol of any specific class of oppressed humanity. Her situation is so complex it cuts across barriers of age, race, gender, geographic area, social class, education and economic situation. She is oppressed for all of them but not purposely for any of them. It is indiscriminate, senseless, impersonal discrimination, but nevertheless brutal and unrelenting. Macabéa’s situation is so hopeless that she is even unable to establish a female identity, a goal considered to be a constant in current Brazilian women's writing. Although Macabéa is the center of the story, she is more of a pathetic symbol of hopeless humanity than of a mere oppressed woman. Being a woman in a male dominated society did contribute to her problems, but her own inherent lack of a forceful female personality compounded this problem. A tragedy greater than her female condition was her inability to express herself. This was the deciding factor in the tragedy that was Macabéa’s life.

I started this paper convinced that Lispector’s creation exemplifies the ideal suggested by Simone Beauvoir in The Second Sex, that "one is not born a woman, but, rather becomes one" (Butler 12). During the analysis of this project I had chance to observe that Macabéa is the product of the society, guided by established patterns of behavior – her own and of others. First, she acts exactly as her aunt, who raised her, taught her to act. She was, as Lispector says, sweet and obedient (33), in spite of her aunt who "hit her but the girl did not ask why she was punished because not everything is need to be known and not knowning was part of her life." (35-36). When she met Olímpico and began a relationship with him, this pattern of silence continued. Olímpico was rude and authoritarian with her but she did not complain. Macabéa embodied the female qualities of submission and politeness. She never questioned why he treated her that way; bearing her suffering in stoic silence. For these reasons, I believe Macabéa embodies Beauvoir’s concept that "one is not born a woman, but rather becomes one". Lispector also states: "Even so the fact that becoming a woman did not seem to be part of her vocation. Womanhood would only be born late because even wild weeds desire the sun." (35). Lispector changed her attitude regarding Macabéa when she died. The girl’s efforts to survive and be better appeared to be a force that, even though she had never really experimented life – virgin and inexperienced that she was –- she at least by intuition understood that a woman is born a woman upon the first lamentation. Lispector concludes that "the destiny of a woman is to be a woman" (101).

After the girl’s death, the author observes that only a woman could have a miserable life like that of the unfortunate heroine in the story. Macabéa died the same way she lived in life: senselessly, insignificantly and stupidly. The narrator recites a series of images that compares the dying girl in the gutter to the weeds growing around her, then to a dead horse and last of all proclaims she has become air – that is, nothing. The narrator sees in Macabéa’s death a metaphor for the humble, impoverished people of the Northeast, "...that stubborn dwarf race that one day will demand the right perhaps to scream" (Lispector 96). Macabéa’s despair and unhappy life is more than a product of material deprivation. It is symbolic of the dubious moral and psychic forces at work in the representation of oppression (Marting 1993).

So Macabéa achieves one final victory. In death she becomes that which she could not be in life: a woman. In many ways Macabéa’s life and death is less a tragedy in terms of gender identity than in terms of the human being trying to communicate. Her failure to communicate as a human being was even greater than her inadequacy as a woman. Death is perhaps better than not being able to communicate. Macabéa dies and her death is symbolic of the death of the old woman – silent, accepting, unquestioning. In her place, a new woman is born and takes her place in society. This is the woman that seeks a place in the sun, that questions established ideas and traditions and that understands the importance of language and affirmative gender identity.

In the introduction to the book, Lispector, writing as the male narrator, feels free to use male emotions to treat Macabéa apathetically: "Well. It is true that also I do not have pity for my main character, the northeastern girl: it is a narrative that I want to be cold. But I have the right to be cold, and not you" (Lispector 17). This cruel approach would have been unacceptable as a woman, yet as a male it is perfectly appropriate. The use of a male narrator isolates the main character from the author herself, making Macabéa the character stand on her own merits, rather than merely as a extension of the author. Lispector doubtless wanted Macabéa to be viewed in human terms, rather than in female terms.

Lispector uses the power of the media image of woman to reinforce the perception of Macabéa as anti-woman. The utilization of woman as both objects and commodities in the media process reaches out to touch even an ugly, uneducated young woman from the impoverished backlands of rural Brazil. If Macabéa can be forced to conform to the expected image of women, nobody is immune to the persuasive force of the media. Yet in her own strange way, Macabéa does not conform to that image – not because she doesn’t want to, rather because she cannot by force of cruel circumstances. Advertising reaches out to her, yet she is too poor and ignorant for it to dominate her. She is unable to purchase those products, and even had she bought the skin creme she desired, she would have possibly used it in a way that would have been self-destructive. Macabéa is willing to be seduced by advertising and consumerism; she aspires to obtain the standards of femininity defined by the media, but they are beyond her. In this manner, in her own way, the girl achieves a victory over the standards of womanhood imposed by society and the media. Macabéa is what she is, not what advertising wants or society expects

Macabéa is true to the idea that women assume what is expected of them, or at least she is aware of this concept and attempts to achieve it. The discourse of femininity in media is not only embedded in economic and social relations, but also constitutes "a set of relations" which arise in locus of social interaction and activity among women. These relations influence what they talk about, how they shop, and how they "work" on themselves to resemble the textual images they see (Van Dijk 122). The fact remains that she is unable to conform to those patterns determined to be feminine and as such represents a failure – not of herself – but of the media, which fails to coerce her into their image of "woman" in society.

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