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
She Married Her Boss they take the afternoon off, during which Richard and Julia are married. When Julia insists on being carried over the thresh-hold of his home. Gertrude is not happy, and insists the marriage will not last. The next day, Julia decides to stay home and attend to business there. The office is a complete disaster that day, in complete chaos. Meanwhile, Annabel has refused to eat anything while Julia is in the house, but Julia continues to outsmart and "befriends her, along with Rodgers, a prospective business partner. Gertrude continues to try and ruin the marriage. While Julia and Rodgers are