In her often graphic descriptions of Macabéa, Lispector makes it clear that we are dealing here with a fish out of water: someone who doesn't belong in the sprawling metropolis of Rio de Janeiro. Everything about Macabéa, from the way she talks to the way she dresses, betrays her origins as a migrant from the remote backwaters of the Brazilian Northeast.

Macabéa's main problem seems to be an artless lack of self-awareness, the kind one imagines to be quite common among those trying to adapt themselves to big city life for the first time. There's no easy way to say this, but Macabéa has a distinct body odor problem on account of her poor personal hygiene. But because Macabéa is so singularly lacking in self-awareness, she's unable to realize just how bad she smells.

One gets the impression that an aversion to soap and water was quite normal in the impoverished environment in which she grew up. But in the Rio office where she works as a typist, such a lack of personal hygiene is most certainly not considered acceptable.

To some extent, Lispector is trading in stereotypes in her portrayal of Macabéa. One can imagine that many of her readers in the large urban centers of Brazil will have come across numerous Macabéas in their own lives. And perhaps they would have allowed themselves a condescending chuckle or two at some of Macabéa's simple country ways.

On the other hand, however, Macabéa, for all her faults, is a broadly sympathetic character whose basic goodness and decency shine through her rather undistinguished exterior. Besides, Lispector's characterization of Macabéa, even at its most unattractive, is balanced by a portrayal of Rio de Janeiro which is, at times, anything but flattering.