'"I" is merely one of the world's instantaneous spasms'
This statement from the unstable, intricately composed narrator of Lispector's novel exemplifies the fascination with identity and subjectivity. Questioning her place in the universe at every stage of the novel, G.H. addresses her dilemma of identity in language that is simultaneously sexual and philosophical.
'For the present has no hope, and the present has no future: the future will be exactly once again present.'
This rumination is intensely philosophical and might have to be read more than once to be fully comprehended. The repetition in this sentence echoes the cyclical view of time and is declared assertively, though has underlying nihilistic tone to it, implying nothing is set to change.
'Because a world fully alive has the power of a Hell.'
The vitality and intensity of life and the idea of existing in the universe is made out to be hurtful, painful in this quotation from Lispector's 1964 novel. The imagery associated with Hell - fire and brimstone - is transferred to life, the suggestion being that to be fully alive is to encounter pain, both physical and psychological.
But there is something that must be said, it must be said.
Repetition again here shows the insistence of the narrator, in this consistently revelatory narrative. G.H.'s desire to unveil this 'something' raises the reader's eyebrows, making us wonder as to what secret is going to be told.
'My kingdom is of this world...and my kingdom was not only human.'
The disjuncture in tenses in this sentence - 'is' and 'was' - further echoes the unstable nature of time experienced in the course of the whole novel. Positioning herself at the centre of her 'kingdom', the fact that it 'was not only human' compels the reader to consider the extent to which G.H. is a supernatural, or supranatural, individual, further adding to the mysticism and otherworldliness of the novel.
