Protagonist

Character Role Analysis

Macabéa

Within the first two pages of the novella, the narrator explains what motivated him to tell this story: "In a street in Rio de Janeiro I caught a glimpse of perdition on the face of a girl from the North-east" (1.6). There we have it. Even though we don't learn the girl's name (Macabéa) until about halfway through the book, she is the poor, undernourished, and ignorant—oh, and did we mention luminous?—star of this book.