Question: What is the purpose of “(explosion)” in the novel?

Throughout the novella, the narrator interjects his own commentary to explain what he means or to add that he does not like writing, Macabéa, any of the other characters, and various other opinions. He does this by either incorporating some paragraphs in first person to show that it is his mind or by adding remarks in parentheses at the end of a paragraph or in the middle of a sentence. However, there are many times that the narrator interjects “(explosion)” in the middle of a sentence and offers no explanation for it. This may be because the author himself does not know what he means, which is entirely plausible as he says many times that the writing is “above and beyond [me]. [He’s] not responsible for what [he’s] now writing” (63). Nevertheless, whether the narrator understands it or not, the word was included and therefore means something in the grander scheme of the novel. I argue that the interjection symbolizes moments of change or realization in Macabéa’s life.

This realization came first on page 33 of the novella, when Macabéa exclaims: “Ah month of May, never leave me again! (Explosion)”. This occurs after Macabéa stays home from work for the first time and learns about her own body. Her body and its features are things that she had ignored her entire life, so here, she is becoming more of a person, something that the narrator alludes that she is not. Later in her life, Macabéa decides to go to the doctor after eating too much chocolate and being in pain. Here again, there is an explosion (57). Not wanting to be a burden or presumptuous, she had never gone to the doctor before. Although she does not grow much here as it is told to us that she does not get her prescription, she is still taking steps to become someone larger than an obedient pure girl whose convictions even she does not understand. Finally, arguably the most important explosion, is when: “Macabéa’s eyes were opened wide as if by a sudden voracity for the future” (67). This is one of the largest points that the narrator attempts to make. Before, he was adamant that she had no future because poor, sad girls with no realization of who they are did not have futures nor did they think of futures. This, then, is the biggest change and realization that Macabéa has: her acknowledgement and hope that she has a future.

The explosions, then, are an explicit manner of telling the reader that something is changing, both in the repetitious actions and in Macabéa’s personality. Rather than readers assuming and debating points of change in Macabéa, the author lays it out neatly.