This article analyzes four short stories by Clarice Lispector, in which the author discusses
female old age. The short stories selected were “Feliz aniversário”, published in the anthology
Laços de família; “A procurar de uma dignidade” and “A partida do trem”, in the book Onde
estiveste de noite and “O grande passeio”, published in Felicidade clandestina. Based on the
recurrences, we assume that Clarice gives a prominent place to this theme, considering the
specificity that it confers on women, in their elderly condition. In Brazilian society, markedly
capitalist, the figure of the elderly is seen dysphorically. His apparent uselessness, his
“permanent leisure”, as we hear in the voice of one of the characters, seem to translate his lack
of sense of continuity in his presence in the world. The announced death, more than that of
everyone else, is what seems to be expected for those who live longer than they should. In the
tales, women suffer from dementia, at different stages, with physical frailty, with abandonment.
In them, we seek to identify which themes are present in the figurativization of old age. For this
analysis, we mobilize categories from discursive semiotics, more explicitly related to discursive
semantics, taking into account thematization and figurativization processes. As it is the short
story genre, they are predominantly figurative texts, in which the themes are implicit, to be
inferred by the analysis effort. There are present physical and mental decay, poverty, alienation,
death, the figure of the elderly as a nuisance. Despite this, there is still room for affection and
even sensuality.
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