The Hour of the Star Characters

For a poor reject of Brazil's slums, Macabéa sure is a complex character. At one moment, she's compared to cold coffee, a hair in one's soup, a misfit, or a dog; and then at the next moment, she's...

Rodrigo S.M. is not your typical narrator, because he doesn't just tell a story. He agonizes about how to tell it. And if that weren't enough, he agonizes about everything else too. And if that wer...

You don't have to know much about Olímpico de Jesus to know that he's bad news, and it has nothing to do with his slicked-back hair or his gold tooth. Nope. We Shmoopers aren't prejudiced like tha...

Glória is Macabéa's coworker and rival in the competition for Olímpico. (That's one of those fights where, when you win, you still lose.) Actually, there was never really any competition at all....

Macabéa's aunt will slap you and then say she did it for your own good. She's that kind of person. Sometimes Macabéa recalls how her spinster aunt would beat her and get a sick enjoyment out of i...

Madame Carlota is a clairvoyant (a fortuneteller) that Macabéa visits at Gloria's suggestion. She's a voluptuous woman with shiny red lips and cheeks, "a large china doll that had better seen bett...

Senhor Raimundo Silveira is Macabéa's boss, and he's not a very nice one. The first time we meet Mr. Silveira, he's telling Macabéa that he's going to fire her soon because he's tired of her typi...

The doctor has a dream, and his dream is "to earn enough money to do exactly what he pleased: nothing" (4.340). It certainly doesn't have anything to do with helping patients, especially the ones w...

Macabéa lives in a one-room tenement with four roommates: Maria de Penha, Maria Aparecida, Maria José, and plain Maria. One of them sells Coty face powder. Another loans Macabéa a transistor rad...