tly belittling her opinions by stating all she says, ‘is crap’ (Lispector, 40) and demeaning her appearance as ‘all dirt’ (Lispector, 43) before leaving her for Gloria. Despite this chasm between the way in which the two men treat their respective partners they hold the same respect and love from them. In the case Macabéa the love and respect she has for him comes from the worthlessness and sense of lacking place she feels as a result of modernity. Miranda is much the same, before she meets Adam, she is cynical of the world around her and doesn’t feel like she fits into the world around her. However, he seems to give her purpose and thus she attaches herself to him quickly. The way in which much of the narrative is interwoven around Adam is testament to the psychological impact that he has had on her. ‘Indian arrows’ (Lispector 330) from a museum visit with Adam eventually strike him down in a fever dream and description of him as a pure ‘sacrificial lamb’ (Lispector, 340) later comes to fruition highlighting how from the beginning Adam psychological impact on the author has been felt. Through this we get a key feature of modernity which is a sense of time always being out of joint.

Interestingly both Miranda and Macabéa put forward different ideas about the impact of modernity directly upon them and their insignificance. Macabéa worries about being one of seven billion after hearing that figure on the radio but comforts herself with the idea that’s seven billion people to help you. It is also said by the writer that she doesn’t realise that ‘she lived in a technical society in which she was a dispensable cog’ (Lispector, 27). Alternatively, Miranda regularly questions the modern world and her role in it. This is best highlighted with her scathing view on modern capitalist life when she questions of a crowd ‘What did I ever know about them? There must be a great many of them here who think as I do, and we dare not say a word to each other of our desperation, we are speechless animals letting ourselves be destroyed, and why? Does anybody here believe the things we say to each other?’ In this we see a crucial difference between the portrayal of the psychological impact of modernity in the two texts and the two characters.

Berman defined modernism as ‘any attempt by modern man and woman to become subjects as well as objects of modernisation, to get a grip in the modern world and makes themselves at home in it. In the portrayal of the psychological impact on Miranda we see far more agency from her to become a subject as she acknowledges her situation and tries to fight it by pointing out its flaws such as the injustice of war. Macabéa never really fights against her situation and the portrayal of the psychological impact of modernity upon her is one of acceptance. Her trip to Madame Carlotta is not one of real agency either as she is going to be told her fate, something she cannot change.