SUMMARY OF THE PLOT

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Daniel, the protagonist, believed that to be happy, he had to avoid the shadows as much as possible. He thought that happiness could only be achieved by avoiding pain at all costs – more than that, for him, happiness could only be attained by experiencing extreme pleasure to the fullest, in an exaggerated interpretation of Epicureanism, which advocated hedonism and "living in the now" (carpe diem). What Daniel didn’t realize was that this lifestyle left him quite unbalanced. After a profound experience, Daniel begins to see that to achieve ultimate well-being, he must balance pleasure and pain carefully. His experience with drugs – the story does not make clear which substance he used or whether he stopped using afterward – led him to the best of worlds, where he had a powerful spiritual experience, only to then fall into a mental state of loss, failure, self-destruction, annihilation of dharma, and the end of all hope. After this experience, Daniel has a moment of insight in which he realizes the importance of his life.

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THE CHARACTERS

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DANIEL - The protagonist. He is a musician with a highly sensitive artistic soul. Daniel loves his life and wants to make the most of it. His name means "God is my judge," reminding us not to judge Daniel’s actions. He came to see the dark aspects of his life through his experience with drugs, which might not have happened otherwise. Who are we to judge him?

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THE ASTROLOGER - An important character. Daniel was deeply impressed by what she said. She warns Daniel that he might face problems with drugs.

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ROBERT - A friend of Daniel who throws a New Year’s Eve party at his penthouse facing a beach in Rio de Janeiro.

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IEMANJÁ - The sea goddess in the mythology of Candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian religion. In coastal Brazilian cities, there is a strong tradition of making offerings to Iemanjá during the New Year, throwing flowers into the sea, bathing, or offering small boats where people place papers with requests to the deity. Daniel did not believe in Iemanjá, but he didn’t dismiss her either – he saw her as an anthropomorphization of a Greater and Real Force, whose essence is unknown and inaccessible to humans. In this sense, Daniel believed he was truly "helped" in his crisis by some Greater Force.

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KID CLAUDE - A drug dealer. Daniel could have bought the drug from someone at Robert's apartment party, but he goes out to meet a dealer on the street so the story can include the concept of "Paradise-on-delivery," which is important in revealing his thoughts about access to drugs.

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THE POLICEMAN - His role in the story is to give indications to Daniel that something problematic could happen. Someone on his radio says there is "a problem in the city center." The policeman then tells Daniel, "Be careful, this place is dangerous." This character was inspired by Jung’s theory of synchronicity: there may be a significant connection between events. The concept of synchronicity goes beyond purely causal explanations of the world. A "problem in the city center" could be indicative of a problem in the heart. When the policeman tells Daniel to be careful because "this place is dangerous," he could also be referring to his heart.

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THE TWO ANGELS - The angels may be a hallucination, but they could also represent Daniel's consciousness and subconsciousness, in a Freudian interpretation. Only one of the angels speaks to him, because direct communication through language is made only by the consciousness. The subconsciousness is always present, but there is no direct communication. This is a resource of magical realism (due to its characteristic of showing the unreal or strange as something ordinary and common).