Fiction and meaning
The story begins with a lecture from the narrator about how fiction should be seen as a quest for meaning, and how the act of storytelling can be seen for its philosophical merits. The use of metafiction to begin the book tells the reader to analyze the story for its use of fiction and storytelling in its own way, to form an argument. It is not a story about Macabea's life; it is a narrative thought experiment through which the narrator details an opinion about the human search for meaning.
Urban life in Rio de Janeiro
The setting of Macabea's story is plenary. There is a balance between the jungle that surrounds the city and the city itself, a jungle of its own kind. Macabea lives as an animal in society, struggling to survive because of the complex games that her culture encourages her to play. She struggles because of money, which is shown to be a common part of life in Rio, and the urbanization only accelerates the inequality behind her poverty. Her life is one where she lacks control for abstract social reasons.
Patriarchy and gender
Macabea is also at odds with her society because she is a woman. The narrative she is encouraged to believe is one where she should stay with her husband, because that is the "right" thing to do, but the husband is free to do whatever he wants. He beats her, insults her, dominates her, and then abandons her for someone else. This is a symbolic use of irony showing that Macabea is not protected from certain kinds of injustice. She doesn't see justice for this. The imagery of their relationship is one of claustrophobia and painstaking endurance.
The sublime
Madame Carlota's subplot brings in a new level of awareness to the novel. She turns her eyes to the sublime, encouraging Macabea with secret knowledge gathered from unseen dimensions. This is a satire, of course, because Macabea walks out and dies—a sign of the real value of the sublime. The real value of the sublime is that Macabea's story ends with a horrific truth: human death. In light of death, the sublime must be much more than the pithy prophecies of a soothsaying santeria.
