Near to the Wild Heart opens with a scene of the child Joana playing in the garden, making up poems for her father. Joana's wildness and barely suppressed violence, along with her linguistic creativity, are her most notable features. She is frequently compared to animals: over the course of the book Lispector compares her to a bird, a snake, a wildcat, a horse, and a dog. She commits transgressive acts—as a child she throws a book at an old man's head, for example, and as a married woman she leaves her husband, Otávio, and greets the news of his adultery—he has made another woman, his
The Woman Michael Married protection of his name for two years, but he refuses. To quiet talk about them, she lives with him for a while but as a wife in name only. She entertains his guests until one of them insults her, and she leaves. Michael's father (Guise), while strolling on the beach one day, meets Mira and, upon learning her identity, attempts to bring about a reconciliation. Michael refuses and goes abroad. Visiting his sister in Rome two years later he finds Mira a prima donna. Realizing that they love each other, they put aside their differences. The Woman Michael Married The