Miranda. His character is also full of religious imagery; his name ‘Adam’ is of course the first human that God created and that all of humanity descends from. He is also presented as a pseudo-Messiah character as he cares for Miranda whilst wearing a ‘tunic’ and the fire is said to illuminate ‘him from the back’ (Porter, 347) resembling a halo. He also obviously sacrifices himself in caring for her. In her essay ‘The Pattern of Allusions in Clarice Lispector’, Lindstrom notes that Lispector’s ‘early contact with Jewish culture’ influenced her work with use of ‘Hebraic poems’ and ‘mysticism’ thus explaining the religious imagery. Interestingly the name Miranda is derived from the Latin ‘mirandus’ meaning wonderful or admirable. These are two qualities that the Miranda seems to have little self-identification with preferring to think of herself as selfish and worthy of very little. As an almost opposite to Adam, ‘Hour of the Star’ has Olympico de Jesus. He is often abusive to Macabéa constantly 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 o