Eleven Minutes

Readers may note, considering that Eleven Minutes is actually a primer on understanding human sexuality, that Coelho uses many of the characters in the narrative as representations for different aspects of human sexual behavior, conditions, or experiences. Just as readers might examine their individual families and say that one person symbolizes strength, another forgiveness, and another trustworthiness, there are a number of individuals portrayed in the novel as symbolic of different elements of sexuality.

Maria’s unnamed boss at the drapery shop, who continues to write her letters and promises to wait for her and marry her when she returns, is the symbol of faithfulness. Roger, who brings in the most beautiful women from Brazil to Switzerland to dance but never allows his dancers or his customers to interact, symbolizes voyeurism. Nyah, the woman Maria identifies as her one friend among all the sex workers at the Copacabana—and who is ready to turn on Maria when she mistakes Maria’s curiosity about a sex toy for an attempt to steal a client—symbolizes jealousy. Heidi, the innocent librarian whose entire sexual history is caught up in a single act of extra-marital sex, symbolizes infidelity. Terence, who introduces Maria to a wild experience with handcuffs, bondage, and a whip, symbolizes sadomasochism. Maria, as noted by Ralf upon his first vision of her, is a symbol of light, which could also be interpreted as wisdom, possibility, or life. As Maria notes in her diary, the one thing she needs to fully be alive is love, and Ralf symbolizes that love.