The hallucinogenic fever dreams that constitute a large part of Porter’s novel are crucial to the structure of the text and highlight an interesting portrayal of the psychological impact of modernity. The dream of Adam’s death by arrows is a perfect example of this. The dream see’s Adam hit by flights of arrows in a cycle of ‘perpetual death and resurrection’ (Porter, 350) only to be killed when ‘she interposed between him and the arrow’ (Porter, 350). This can be read as Miranda being at fault for Adam’s death as if she had not got ‘in his way’ and infected him he would have continued with his fate to fight in the war and survived. This dream is of course a premonition to Adams death and her survival at the end of the text leaving her to grieve. As this is semi-autobiographical, Porter is writing this far after the fact and can thus give these premonitions and highlight the psychological impact on her. This feeling of guilt for the death of a loved one is a common reaction to bereavement even if it cannot be her fault. Miranda compares herself to a selfish child that ‘cheated in a game’ (Porter, 350) further emphasising her belief that she is to blame for his death despite it being his choice to look after her. This example of survivor guilt is common in those who survive near death experiences such as car crashes or terror attacks especially when a loved one is lost as the survivor feels they have cheated someone out of surviving by surviving themselves. In the same sense of guilt, Macabéa feels like she doesn’t deserve any kind of luxury in her life.

The appearance of the two women plays a large part in the psychological impact of modernity upon them, especially in the case of Macabéa. The writer asks whether Macabéa is ashamed ‘because she’s modest or because she’s ugly’ (Lispector, 18). She is described as having blotchy skin and poor hygiene with an abusive aunt. Olympico then leaves her for her co-worker Gloria on the basis of her appearance, with Gloria even asking her ‘does being ugly hurt’ (Lispector, 53) to which Macabéa replied ‘it hurts a little’ (Lispector, 53). The lack of resistance that she puts up to Olympi