The Smallest Woman in the World

How do you interpret Little Flower’s love toward the explorer? What does it mean when the narrator writes that “having no other resources, she was reduced to profundity” (171)?

Do you think that Little Flower can be understood as a feminist figure? How is Clarice Lispector’s work proto-feminist, as it has been described by scholars?

How does the story challenge traditional notions of beauty, normalcy, and femininity through the character of Little Flower?

How does Clarice Lispector’s fragmented plot, the use of stream of consciousness, vivid imagery, and figures of style encourage the exploration of the story’s central themes of objectification and monstrous desire?

The story depicts an outdated form of anthropological study and publication. Research contemporary anthropology practices and ethics and discuss how Little Flower might be presented differently today. Is there value to the sort of study Pretre does? Do images such as Little Flower’s enhance an understanding of different cultures?

Choose one of the characters depicted in the vignettes and develop their trajectory. Maintain the style and themes used by Lispector. How could they develop beyond their static, flat portrayal in the short story? What could spark an internal change?

Why does the mother in the fifth vignette not scold her son for his objectifying impulse when seeing Little Flower’s picture? How does her motherhood relate to the society that she lives in?

Is Little Flower capable of the same kind of objectifying desire and reactions toward other human beings? What is the fundamental difference between her perception of the world and that of the Western explorer and the newspaper readers?