Facing the Other in Clarice Lispector's Short Story "Amor"

Facing the Other in Clarice Lispector's Short Story "Amor"Author(s): María ClarkSource: Letras Femeninas, Vol. 16, No. 1/2 (PRIMAVERA-OTOÑO 1990), pp. 13-20Published by: Asociacion Internacional de Literatura y Cultura Femenina HispanicaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23020927 .

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Facing the Other in Clarice Lispector's Short Story

"Amor"

Maria Clark

The University of Tennessee

Clarice Lispector's work has received foremost critical attention in the context of existential literature with an examination of ontological rather than social issues. Lagos de Familia, a collection of short stories published in 1960, however, critically examines family relationships which in the form of a social tie draw the boundaries of the individual's existence. Due to this shift from the existential dilemma to the analysis of the subject's position in

society, the stories evaluate roles and stereotypes of women and offer a rich field for the feminist critic. Feminist critical approaches to Lagos de Familia have produced studies in technical strategies and the symbolic functions

assigned to the female protagonists and explicitly refer to the presence of a

male/female opposition which generally remains unobserved when the critical focus is strictly humanistic and, supposedly, non-sex-linked.1

The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the short story "Amor" within the framework of Lacan's theory of subjectivity, which is crucial for the understanding of gender division and patriarcal norms of

sexuality. The main feature of the Lacanian psychological model is the sym bol of the phallus which, as transcendental signifier, creates categories of

presence and absence that in turn result in sexual division and the roles the

human subject has to accept within the cultural order. Often referred to as

phallocentric, Lacan's theory rather offers a descriptive model of patriarcal society and exposes gender consciousness as a product of discourse and

social processes, and as a construct of language, as precarious and shifting as the linguistical sign. Lacan's impact on literary criticism is due to the con

cept he shares with post-structuralist literary theories, "that it is language and its shifting play of signifiers with which we create the arbitrary

categories of our reality and our ever-escaping identity." In his discussion of the Lacanian psychological model, Terry Eagleton

refers to the importance of Lacan's interpretation of the Freudian un

conscious which is no longer "some kind of seething, tumultuous, private

13



14 Letras Femeninas, Vol. XVI, Nos. 1-2 (1990)

region inside us, but an effect of our relations with one another" (173). Lacan outlines several stages in subject formation, such as the entry into

language and the acquisition of sexual identity, which constitute interna lized processes and the site of the unconscious. As Lacan himself says: "The unconscious is the chapter of my history which is marked by a blank or oc

cupied by a falsehood: it is the censored chapter" (cited by Mac Cannell

87). Closely linked to the unconscious is Lacan's concept of the Other. As a

key-term in the analysis of Lispector's story "Amor," it requires close at tention. Readers of Lacan often refer to the Other as the mirror or inverted

image of the self, however, it has to be understood as part of the symbolic order of language and the law, and therefore responsible for the self's en

trapment between self-consciousness and the desire for an original whole

ness and undifferentiation. According to Juliet Flower Mac Cannell, it is with the entry into language that narcissistic desire appears in the idealized form of the Other (71). The Other as a principal, however, already operates at an earlier stage, the mirror-stage, which Lacan places in the imaginary order. In contrast to the symbolic order of language and the law, the imag

inary order is the stage of ego-identification. The mirror-stage coincides with the moment when the infant confronts its mirror image and, guided by the mother's ensuring gaze, recognizes a coherent self in the reflection. Kaja Silverman, in her study of the Lacanian subject highlights several implica tions of the event. First, "the subject arrives at an apprehension of both its self and the other . . . indeed, of its self as the other," second, "that reflec

tion enjoys a coherence which the subject itself lacks ... it is an ideal

image" and third, "the mirror stage is one of those crises of alienation around which the Lacanian subject is organized, since to know oneself

through an external image is to be defined through self-alienation" (157-58). The described imaginary identification continues to organize expe rience once the subject has entered the symbolic stage where language and

the socially mediated moral order constitute the Other. Jacqueline Rose

refers to the Other as holding the "truth" of the subject since "subjects in

language persist in their belief that somewhere there is a point of certainty, of knowledge and of truth. When the subject addresses its demand outside itself to another, this becomes the fantasied place of just such a knowledge or certainty. Lacan calls this the Other—the site of language to which the

speaking subject necessarily refers" (32). The title of this paper "Facing the Other" therefore refers to an instant when the Other, the fantasied place, reveals itself as a void that reflects on the self its own alienation and lack of wholeness.

The story "Amor" is structured around the climatic moment of

epiphany, a literary term referring to a technique which, according to Rust



Clark 15

Hills, "claims importance by claiming nothing; it seeks a presentation so

sharp that comment by the author would be an interference. The author

abandons himself and the reader to his material" (22). This definition ap plies to Clarice Lispector's use of epiphany in "Amor" and its effect of unstated meaning which creates the moment of action in the story and con

fronts the protagonist and the reader with the manifestation of normally unconscious mechanisms at work in the construction of what we accept as

subjectivity. In "Amor" the microcosmos of the family provides the context for the

critical confrontation of the Other at the moment of epiphany. In Ana, the

protagonist, the working of cultural mediation is manifest in the way she

identifies with her role as mother and house-wife: "For caminos tortos, viera a cair num destino de mulher, com a surpresa de nele caber como se

tivesse inventado" (Lagos de Fami'lia 20). Characteristic of the position of woman in patriarcal society, as well as in the Lacanian theory where, due to

the phallic division, the female subject defines herself through lack, and even motherhood has only patriarcal meaning, Ana sees her existence of

nurturing intimately related to a cosmic process where she "fazia obscuramente parte das raizes negras e suaves do mundo. Ela alimentava

anonimamente a vida" (21). The metaphor of the mirror-stage which depicts the misrecognition of the self in an ideal representation, also describes how Ana constructs a fictitious self through the identification with her role:

"Alimentava anonimamente a vida. Estava bom assim. Assim ela o quisera

e escolhera . . . Ana respirou profundamente e uma grande aceitagao deu o

seu rosto um ar de mulher" (21). Woman, however, is conspicuously absent in a description of her daily

life where "a cada coisa se emprestaria uma aparencia harmoniosa; a vida

podia ser feita pela mao do homem" (20), just as she accepts social reality as natural. The influence of cultural mediation in Ana's sense of identity and self-fulfillment also reflects on her recollection of her youth as "uma

doen?a de vida," "uma exaltaâo perturbada que tantas vezes se confun

dira com felicidade insurportavel" (20). Abandoning a life in pursuit of such an ambiguous happiness, she settles for the culturally prescribed norm:

"Criara em troca algo enfim compreensivel, uma vida de adulto" (20-21) and "encontrara uma legiao de pessoas, antes invisiveis, que viviam como

quem trabalha—com persistencia, continuidade, alegria" (20). There are, however, moments in Ana's daily routine when her existence

not only appears as the result of a choice, but also as the rejection of possi ble alternatives: "Certa hora da tarde era mais perigosa. Certa hora da

tarde as arvores que plantara riam dela. Quando nada mais precisava de sua

forâ, inquietava-se" (20). Ana has learned to combat these recurring moments of self-doubt by setting out on a shopping-trip to keep herself oc




cupied until the return of husband and children. Her return from such a trip

one afternoon, taking a seat in the tram "num suspiro de meia satisfa?ao," "as compras deformando o novo saco de trico" (19) begins the narration of her story. During the course of the epiphany which will follow, the objects she has purchased take on an important role in the symbolic representation

of an instant of self-loss she previously had been able to fight. Although the moment of epiphany is sustained over several paragraphs in the text, the

following fragments should demonstrate the effect of a sudden manifesta tion of repressed meaning for the protagonist and the reader: "O bonde se

arrastava, em seguida estacava . . . Foi entao que olhou para o homem

parado no ponto . . . Era um cego . . . Inclinada, olhava o cego profunda

mente, como se olha o que nao nos ve. Ele mastigava goma na escuridao.

Sem sofrimento, com os olhos abertos . . . Ana olhava-o. E quem a visse teria a impressao de uma mulher com odio" (21-22). Ana's confrontation of the blind man has the drastic effect of unbalancing a universe where ob jects and functions and therefore herself, have properly assigned meanings. In Lispector's symbolic language, the network that defines Ana's existence is coming apart like the threads of her shopping-bag: "A rede perdera o sen tido e estar num bonde era um fio partido; nao sabia o que fazer com as

compras no colo" (23). Suddenly the vision of her surroundings reflects a decentered world where "expulsa de seus proprios dias, parecia—lhe que as

pessoas da rua eram periclinantes, que se mantinham por urn minimo

equilibrio a tona da escuridao—e por um momento a falta de sentido deixara-as tao livres que elas nao sabiam para onde ir. Perceber uma ausen

cia de lei foi t?ao subito que Ana se agarrou ao banco da frente" (23).

There is no explanation in the narrative as to the cause of the blind man's unsettling effect on Ana's psychological equilibrium. Rather, the im age of the man's blindness seems to imply the intrusion of an absolute otherness in Ana's experience, an otherness that defies meaning since it is a

blind gaze, a void, she confronts. This effect is intensified by a facial ex pression she cannot identify since it describes a reflex instead of aiming at communication: "Ele mastigava goma na escuridao . . . O movimento da

mastigafao fazia-o parecer sorrir e de repente deixar de sorrir, sorrir e dei xar de sorrir—como se ele a tivesse insultado" (22). Within the Lacanian framework of subjectivity, Ana's crisis can be seen as analogous to the crisis of alienation the self undergoes with the entry into language when ego identification gives way to a split subject which in turn results in the forma tion of the unconscious. In the story the presence of the blind man repre sents a symbolic manifestation of a normally repressed mechanism that allows the self to function as a subject. In Juliet Mitchell's words the Laca nian subject is a being that can only conceptualize itself when it is mirrored back to itself from the position of another's desire (5). As mentioned



Clark 17

before, in the mirror stage it is the mother's gaze that assures the existence

of a unified self as it appears in the mirror image. With the entry into

language this fantasied coherent self gives way to the "I" of discourse. It is an alienating "I" because it has to adopt an ambiguous sign-system as only possible self-reference and expression of demand, and it is at this stage that the Other as external image of the self coincides with the socially mediated law as the site of power and truth. Self-recognition in the symbolic stage of

language therefore is another misrecognition since it results from the blind

acceptance of the power-position of the Other. The moment of epiphany with the appearance of the blind man in

Ana's world thus supplies a visual image of what is normally concealed from consciousness: the void behind the Other as point of reference in discourse and social reality: "O mal estava feito. For que? Teria esquecido de que havia cegos? A piedade a sufocava (23). It is significant that Ana chooses the word "piedade" as label for her clashing feelings. On the level of language, the symbolic order, she tries to make sense out of sentiment,

however, applying the signifying system of language implies value-creation. The altruistic term "piedade" conforms with the ideological demand placed by the Other as the site where narcissistic desire changes into the

metaphorical form of love and sacrifice. The formulation of such a

"positive" feeling, nonetheless does not release her from her psychological upheaval. In order to understand Ana's self-loss which she perceives as

"uma ausencia de lei" in her surroundings, it is important to interpret the unstated meaning of her epiphany, the confrontation with the blind man, as

coming face to face with the Other as a void and therefore, with the am

biguity of the signifying system or, what Lacan calls the "sliding of the

signified beneath the signifier" (Eagleton 168). Just as the blind face refuses

interpretation, the stable signifiers associated with the symbolic order give way to radically opposing emotions: "O que chamava de crise viera afinal.

E sua marca era o prazer intenso com que olhava agora as coisas, sofrendo

espantada" (23-24). The following description of Ana's crisis allows for the deconstruction

of the concept of "amor," the cliche-laden title of the story, and introduces a male/female opposition which feminist critics have identified as an impor tant characteristic of Lispector's narrative. In a state of complete disorien tation Ana has left the tram and entered the Botanical Garden. Ambivalent

feelings not only describe the reaction towards the image of the blind man, but also affect the experience of her environment which takes on the sym bolic character of the Garden of Eden as the site of the primordial split into

the binary opposition of good and evil: "O Jardim era to bonito que ela

teve medo do Inferno" (27). In a constant effort to stabilize the oscillating extremes of "nojo" and "fascinaao," desire and repression that arise from




a confrontation with unidentified forces, but nonetheless manifest in the

tropical exuberant nature of the Garden, Ana experiences "piedade" and

"misericordia," and most of all fear of her own aggression which she

recognizes in the life around her: "Fazia-se no Jardim um trabalho secreto do qual ela come?ava a se perceber . . . O assassinato era profundo. E a

morte nao era o que pensavamos" (25-26). The visual images of the Garden

point to the presence of a domain outside the hierarchical value system she knows: "Ao seu redor havia rui'dos serenos, cheiro de arvores, pequenas

surpresas entre os ci'pos . . . Tudo era estranho, suave demais, grande

demais" (25). In her imaginary completeness as mother and wife, Ana iden

tifies with her ideologically defined sexuality directed towards the nurturing role. The world of the Garden, however, threatens to undermine her sense

of responsibility as well as the security of a limited existence: "Ao mesmo

tempo que imaginario—era urn mundo de se comer com os dentes, um

mundo de volumosas dalias e tulipas . . . Quando Ana pensou que havia

crianas e homens grandes com fome, a nausea subiu-lhe a garganta, como

se ela estivesse gravida e abandonada. A moral do Jardim era outra" (26). It becomes apparent that Ana's temporary alienation from her former

life not only reflects self-doubt, but the presence of censured desire and the

temptation to reject the structure of the symbolic order which makes it im

possible for her to define meaning outside the values of the patriarcal discourse. This discourse absorbs her again once she returns to her apart

ment, although, "por um instante a vida sadia que levara ate agora pareceu

lhe um modo moralmente louco de viver" (27). The demands of children,

husband and dinner guests ensure Ana's return to her former life but, while still under the influence of the dramatic encounter with the shifting values of a decentered system of signification, she lives through an evening "em

que a piedade era tao crua como o amor ruim" (30).

Ana begins to organize the past event by comparing her feelings with

the "imaginary" ideal form of love she has been taught to identify with: "De que tinha vergonha" E que ja ngao era mais piedade, n?ao era so

piedade: seu coraâo se enchera com a pior vontade de viver" (28). In her

analysis of Ana's incapacity to participate in activities of discourse and the

consequent "silencing of her most vital self" (44), Naomi Lindstrorn refers to Ana's "strange interchange with her son" when she tells him: "A vida e horrivel" and "Nao deixe mamae te esquecer" (28). It is during the interval of these two phrases, however, that Ana entertains thoughts that could

disrupt the very family structure: "O que faria se seguisse o chamado do

cego? . . . Iria sozinha . . . Havia lugares pobres e ricos que precisavam dela. Ela precisava deles (28). In the course of the evening which involves Ana in her housewife duties, the vision of the blind man begins to fade: "O homem

pouco a pouco se distanciara e em tortura ela parecia ter passado para o



Clark 19

lado dos que lhe haviam ferido os olhos" (28). The image of Ana, par ticipating thus in her own blinding or "castration," since there is no

equivalent term for the stifling of female self-directed desire, announces her

losing battle against a cultural law that defines femininity according to its functions within the patriarcal order: "A vida do Jardim Botanico chamava-a como um lobisomem e chamado pelo luar . . . Estou com medo,

disse sozinha na sala. Levantou-se e foi para a cozinha ajudar a empregada a preparar o jantar" (29).

Ana's story ends with her reintegration in the family structure where she fulfills her symbolic task of complementing the binary structure of

patriarcal power. As Mother she not only confirms the potency of the

Father, but also represents its opposite, the cultural construct of femininity which places her in relation to her husband in the following stereotypical

position: "Ela continuou sern for?a nos seus bra?os" (31). Adequately, the

representation of patriarcal ideology is found in Ana's husband who "num

gesto que nao era seu, mas que pareceu natural, segurou a mao da mulher,

levando-a consigo sem olhar para tras, afastando-a do perigo de viver"

(31). The husband thus fulfills his symbolic role in a system which

transcends the biological difference that, paradoxically, is the foundation

of a value oriented difference between the sexes. As Silverman points out,

"the identity of the subject is sustained only through the constant repetition of the same identifications by means of which it first finds itself" (161),

and, as Lispector shows in "Amor," both the family structure and family discourse furnish the images which carry the ideological weight of the sym bolic order.

For the feminist critic the question arises why Lispector, who so aptly describes the negative function of family ties, does not conceive of a female

protagonist who actively subverts the family structure. The reason may

stem from her acute awareness of the importance of language in subject and

role formation as this study has attempted to show by the application of

Lacanian theory to one of her stories. Both "Amor" and the Lacanian

model reveal the limitation of female selfhood in patriarcal society as a pro duct of the underlying symbolic organization in binary oppositions that

structure language, psychological processes and social relationships. In

social reality, as well as in Lispector's fictional microcosmos, the entry into

the symbolic order perpetuates the confinement of woman in the image of

the counterpart to the male subject. Lispector, however, opens up this

binary opposition of patriarcal thought by uncovering a gap in the binary structure with her deconstruction of the concept of "amor" as a cultural

construct that receives its meaning through the deferral of desire. During the moments of her crisis, Ana is incapable of categorizing her violent feel

ings of fascination and nausea in terms of the absolutes with which lan




guage covers the distance between the signifier and the signified. On the

level of language she remains thus, as long as the crisis lasts, in a domain of

sliding signifiers which allow her to experience a sexuality usually represented as lack.

As soon as the family structure restores for Ana the meaning of her ex

istence, she tries to interpret her "amor" in terms of the patriarcal value

system, although she is aware that "piedade" and "misericordia" are inap propriate classifications for her feelings. Although Ana accepts her sym bolic death at the end of the story: "Antes de se deitar, como se apagasse uma vela, soprou a pequena flama do dia" (31), for the reader the powerful picture of the blind man persists as a visual image of the Other which defines for all of us meaning, self-hood and desire.

NOTE

' Naomi Lindstrom and Marta Peixoto explicitly refer to Lispector's questioning of

woman's destiny in Lagos de Familia. For further study in the manipulation of narrative voice,

refer to Lindstrom's article "Articulating Woman s Experience," Chasqui 8, I (1978): 43-52.

Peixoto examines the function of symbolic roles in "Family Ties: Female Development," in

Fictions of Female Development, Eds. Abel, Hirsh, Langland, 1983.

WORKS CITED

Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory. An Introduction. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota

Press, 1983.

Hills, Rust. Writing in General and the Short Story in Particular. Boston: Houghton Mifflin

Company, 1987.

Lindstrom, Naomi. "Clarice Lispector: Articulating Woman's Experience." Chasqui 8, I

(1978): 43-52.

Lispector, Clarice. Lagos de Familia. 5th ed., Eds: Paulo Gurgel Valente and Pedro Gurgel

Valente. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, 1983.

Mac Cannell, Juliet Flower. Figuring Lagan: Criticism and the Cultural Unconscious. Lincoln:

University of Nebraska Press, 1986.

Mitchell, Juliet. "Introduction I" in Feminine Sexuality. Jacques Lacan and the ecole freu

dienne. New York, London: W. W. & Company, Pantheon Books, 1982.

Rose, Jacqueline. "Introduction II" in Feminine Sexuality.

Silverman, Kaja. The Subject of Semiotics. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press,

1983.



Documents

Facing the Other in Clarice Lispector's Short Story "Amor"