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Dom Casmurro · Chapters XXIII to XXXIV

The Gypsy Eyes and the Eyes of Undertow

Appearance and RealityLanguage and NarrationReligionMemory and the Past

Chapter XXIII: The Deadline Given

Section summary

Bentinho tells José Dias that he must speak with him the next day, without fail. The dependent invites him to the errands on the street, and Dona Glória, finding the day hot, does not let her son go on foot, so the two take the bus; it is José Dias who proposes getting off at the Passeio Público.

Analysis

Bentinho sets a short deadline because the plan agreed with Capitu depends on José Dias, and because he has already rehearsed the line. José Dias answers with two moves: he proposes the street, where he says he has errands to run, and he declares beforehand that the matter is "grave and pure," a phrase with which he offers himself to the request and protects himself from what he still does not know.

not to question, not to beg, not to hesitate, as was proper to the child and to my usual manner, certainly gave him the idea of a new person and a new situation
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Chapter XXIV: On Mother and Servant

Section summary

José Dias has looked after Bentinho since his first outings in the street: he makes himself the page, corrects his plurals, attends Father Cabral's lessons, and calls the boy a prodigy in front of Dona Glória.

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Chapter XXV: At the Passeio Público

Appearance and Reality

Section summary

In the Passeio Público, José Dias warns Bentinho that it no longer looks right to walk with Pádua: as a child he could pass for a servant, but now Pádua takes liberties. He speaks ill of the family's vanity and of Capitu's eyes. Bentinho retorts with a compliment he heard from Pádua. On the terrace, he says he cannot be a priest and asks the dependent to save him. José Dias replies that his mother has already decided, citing a phrase of hers from the day before, and Bentinho, who had listened behind the door, restrains himself. He insists that there is still time and offers to study law in São Paulo.

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Chapter XXVI: The Laws Are Beautiful

Section summary

José Dias rejoices at an idea, promises to speak to Dona Glória, and praises the laws and the universities abroad, telling Bentinho to speak to Uncle Cosme too. He proposes studying in Europe and traveling together, since Dona Glória could not accompany them. He says asking is not getting, and announces, with a flourish, that they are aboard. The narrator says Europe was an old ambition of his.

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Chapter XXVII: At the Gate

Section summary

At the gate, Bentinho gives two vinténs to a beggar, thinking of Capitu and the seminary, and asks him to pray to God for him.

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Chapter XXVIII: In the Street

Section summary

José Dias walks happily down the street, running errands and buying a twentieth of a lottery ticket, and Bentinho, fearing that he has changed his resolution, treats him kindly all the way to the bus.

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Chapter XXIX: The Emperor

Section summary

The bus stops beside the Emperor's carriage, and Bentinho has the idea of asking him for intervention, which he would not entrust to Capitu. He daydreams that the Emperor goes to Dona Glória's house to ask that the boy not become a priest and study medicine; she, flattered, promises. The dream dissolves minutes later.

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Chapter XXX: The Blessed Sacrament

Section summary

The narrator explains that the dream of medicine came from his reluctance to leave Rio. Hearing on the bus that the Blessed Sacrament is going out, José Dias makes Bentinho get down to accompany him. In the sacristy, Pádua asks for a pole of the pallium, but José Dias takes the only one available and then secures the second for the "young seminarian," winking. Pádua gives way, and José Dias prevents Bentinho from returning the pole. In the procession, Pádua gnawed bitterly at the torch. At the house of the sick woman, Bentinho, before the daughter who weeps, imagines Capitu laughing and is reprimanded by the dependent. On the way back, the pole weighs little.

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Chapter XXXI: Capitu's Curiosities

Section summary

Capitu is pleased with the prospect of Europe and asks Bentinho to repeat José Dias's answers, down to the pirouette. The narrator tells of her curiosities: lace, Latin, English, backgammon, his father's portrait, the piano, and the names of the engravings. Before Caesar's deeds and the pearl worth six million sesterces, she asks the value of the sestertius and, afterward, about the jewels in the portrait and the festivities of the Coronation.

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Chapter XXXII: Eyes of Undertow

Language and Narration

Section summary

A few days after the agreement, Bentinho goes to see Capitu, who is combing her hair in the parlor, and startles her, as Dona Fortunata had suggested. She asks whether José Dias has spoken yet and asks him to insist. He swears and asks to see her eyes, recalling the "oblique and dissembling," and finds nothing extraordinary; but, under his long gaze, the eyes grow and darken, and seem to him like eyes of undertow. He clings to her hair and says he can comb it.

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Chapter XXXIII: The Hairstyle

Section summary

Bentinho braids Capitu's hair, slowly, with pleasure in the touch, and the ribbon ties the ends. He says "There!" Instead of going to the mirror, she lets her head fall back, and he steadies her and bends over her. He asks her to get up, but she does not rise, and the two kiss. Capitu rises, he backs up against the wall, speechless, and she looks at the floor.

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Chapter XXXIV: I Am a Man!

Section summary

Dona Fortunata appears, and Capitu composes herself at once, explaining the hairstyle between laughs and undoing the braids, while Bentinho, silent, cannot speak. The mother suspects and smiles, and frees him by sending him to his Latin lesson. In his room, he repeats three times "I am a man!", compares himself to Columbus, and thinks of the seminary as a danger that has passed.

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