Discussion Questions

José Dias says Bentinho is "hanging about in corners" with Capitu and, pressed by Dona Glória, answers "It is a way of speaking." What does he actually assert, and what does he leave for the boy behind the door to conclude on his own?

José Dias confesses to Bentinho's father that he is not a doctor, just when he is sent to see the sick slaves, and he stays in the house. Is the confession an act of conscience, or of someone who knows what the family needs from him?

In Marcolini's theory, God wrote the libretto and Satan the music, and God refused to hear the score or see the rehearsals that Satan asked of him. Whose fault is the mismatch between verse and music, and why does Bentinho accept the theory?

Dona Glória promised her son to God without telling her husband and, once widowed, sought witnesses to the promise. Does she seek witnesses to bind herself, or to defend herself against her own will to turn back?

When Bentinho understands that he loves Capitu, he forgives José Dias for the harm he said and did. Did the denunciation give him a feeling, or only give him its name?

Bentinho thinks of telling Capitu that he is going to the seminary, to see from her reaction whether she likes him, and cannot speak. What does this test show about what he expects from her, and what he fears to learn?

Bentinho says the "childhood confession" would have been worth two or three pages, but that he wants to be spared. What does he spare himself in the wall scene, and what does the reader learn in spite of the cut?

When Pádua catches them, Capitu adopts the siso game that Pádua himself suggests, and invites Bentinho to laugh to confirm it. What does her answer do for him, and why does he not go along with it?

Capitu chooses José Dias, the same man who made the denunciation, because he likes Bentinho and, serving the future master of the house, will speak with more warmth. What does she know about José Dias that Bentinho, in his anger, does not see?

The narrator describes Capitu's plans as "a grand design carried out with small means." In the scene, what does she actually do to set up the plan, and what adjectives does the narrator add on his own?

Bentinho promises a thousand Paternosters and a thousand Hail Marys to escape the seminary, though he still owes the prayers of earlier promises. What does this accumulated debt show about how he treats the faith that his mother takes seriously?

Cousin Justina praises Capitu, then criticizes her, and Bentinho concludes that she was reliving others' sensations. What other explanation does the scene allow for the change of tone, and what does the narrator gain by choosing this one?

José Dias describes Capitu's eyes as "gypsy-like, oblique, and dissembling" on the same walk in which, minutes later, he changes position out of self-interest. Does the weight of the phrase come from what it describes, or from who says it?

Between "What can I do?" and "we are aboard," José Dias moves from hesitating to commanding the voyage. What, in Bentinho's proposal, brings about this change?

Capitu asks Bentinho to repeat José Dias's answers, down to the pirouette, and wants to know about jewels, Caesar, and the Coronation. What does she seek to know in each case, and how does the narrator want the reader to understand that appetite?

Bentinho looks into Capitu's eyes to check what José Dias had said, finds nothing extraordinary, and minutes later sees in them what the old narrator calls "eyes of undertow." What changed in the eyes, and what changed in the one looking?

Capitu explains the hairstyle to the mother, laughing, while Bentinho stands mute against the wall. What does each show of themselves in this difference, and what does Bentinho suppose Dona Fortunata concluded upon seeing them?

Each person in the room uses the title of protonotary in his own way, and Uncle Cosme attaches it to Bentinho's future. What does Dona Glória answer José Dias, and what does the answer show about what is already decided?

Capitu resists when Bentinho pulls her and kisses him when her father is about to come in. What does the text allow us to say about why she refused by force and gave willingly?

José Dias and Cabral discuss what a vocation is, and each defines the word in favor of what he wants. What does each definition serve, and what does it leave aside when it comes to Bentinho?

Dona Glória says the promise was made in payment to God and cannot fail, but almost tells her son that he will not be a priest. What debt does she feel she owes, and to whom?

Bentinho calls his mother to confess the courtship, and, after asking when he is going to the seminary, says "I only love Mama." What explains this switch, and what does the narrator tell about it?

Capitu asks whether Bentinho is afraid of being beaten, of being arrested, of walking, of working, and withdraws when he does not understand. What did she want to know, and what can the text affirm beyond what the old Bentinho supposes?

Bentinho answers "I will come," and Capitu writes "liar" on the ground. Does she not believe him, is she testing his firmness, or is she looking for a reason to wound him?

The old Bentinho thinks Capitu lied when she explained the question about fear, and that the lie was "the lady went out." What in the scene supports this reading, and what comes to it only from what he thinks today?

At the well, Capitu rejects the first formula of the oath and proposes the second, stronger one. What changes between the two, and what does her choice of the second reveal about what she wants from Bentinho?

Pádua tells Bentinho not to believe in intrigues and presents himself as different from the parasites. What does he know or fear, and what does the chapter show of his interest in Bentinho's household?

Bento pretends to remember his classmate's Panegyric out of courtesy, almost out of charity. What does this gesture say about his readiness to tell each person what they want to hear?

José Dias proposes that Bentinho cough little by little, so that Dona Glória agrees to send him to Europe, and says it is all for her benefit. What does the plan show about what José Dias wants, and what does Bentinho accept?

Bentinho's jealousy is born of a remark by José Dias about Capitu's cheerfulness. What in the scene points to her having done something, and what comes only from his imagination?

The old Bentinho gives the chapter the title "A Touch of Iago." What does that choice of name say about the moment in which the book was written, and not about the moment in which the scene happened?

Capitu says she shows herself cheerful before Dona Glória and Dona Justina so as not to confirm José Dias's accusation. The scene presents this as a defense of the courtship or as falseness, and what decides the answer is whether it is what the scene shows or what the narrator knows afterward?

Capitu bases her dissimulation on the oath at the well, and Bentinho praises her for it. What meaning does the word "ingenuousness," with which the chapter closes, have in the scene?

Bentinho writes that the thought "Mamma is dead, the seminary is over" lasted less than an instant and yet he recounts it as sin and confesses it to the reader. What do the measure of time and the confession do for him?

At the end of the chapter, Bentinho stands at the door waiting for Escobar to look back, and he does not. What does this small scene add to the portrait of Escobar that the family and the narrator have just drawn?

Bentinho proposes that plays begin with the end, so that the spectator goes to sleep with a good impression of tenderness and love. What would change in the reading of the scenes that follow, with Capitu and the horseman, if the reader already knew how the story ends?

Bentinho wanted to ask José Dias what there was between Capitu and the rascals of the neighborhood, and when the dependent comes to meet him, he covers the conversation with the clasp. What does he fear to hear, and what does this silence protect?

Bentinho swears never to see Capitu again and imagines himself a priest, cold, before her in tears. What does this imagined scene show of what he wants from Capitu?

Capitu argues that looking at the horseman proves nothing is between them, because if there were, dissimulation would be natural. What makes Bentinho accept the explanation: the argument, the news that the young man is to marry, or her tears?

Bentinho says that old pains dissolve into pleasure, and that recounting them reminds him of others he would not have wished to recall. What does the text allow one to think about those others, and what is left for the reader to supply?

Escobar answers "Secret for secret" on learning that Bentinho cannot be a priest, and reveals that he does not want to finish the course. What does each gain from this exchange, and what does each leave unsaid?

Bentinho says his mother wept when handing him over to the seminary was mentioned, and that perhaps she regretted the promise, but he admits that he "presumes" and "supposes." What in this reasoning comes from what he saw, and what from what he wants to believe?

Capitu hears that Bentinho came on his mother's advice and answers "We shall be happy!" What does this answer show of what each of the two knew, at that moment, of Dona Glória's wishes?

Bentinho divides the blame among himself, Manduca's father, and the coincidence of the hour: "Why did he die exactly half an hour ago?" Is this division convincing, and to whom does he address it?

Bentinho tells his mother that Manduca had friendship for him, and in the next chapter writes that they were not friends. What does this difference show of how he asks and how he narrates?

Manduca ends all his letters with the same phrase, and Bentinho only recalls that the arguments he himself used were unanswerable. What did each of the two seek in the polemic?

Bentinho closes the episode by saying that the devil is not as ugly as he is painted, and that nature beckons the most afflicted with a flower. What does he want the reader to see in Manduca through this image, and what does the image say about the one who chose it?

Cousin Justina says that Escobar has "police eyes," and Bentinho answers that they are his own eyes. What does the scene show of Escobar that Sunday, and what is left for the one who already knows how the book ends?

Bentinho asks for a week to think and tells José Dias that he does not want to consult anyone, but the narrator says there were two people. What changes in the scene when one knows whom he is in fact going to ask?

Faced with José Dias's plan, Bentinho asks for a week to think; faced with Escobar's, he answers "I understand, I understand, that is it." What does each plan leave intact or change in the life he wants?

Escobar proposes the plan and announces in the same conversation that he too will leave the seminary. He helps Bentinho, helps himself, or both, and what does the text give to support each answer?

Capitu preferred José Dias as the bearer of the letters and ends up handing the first one to Escobar, vexed. What does the choice of messenger say about what Bentinho, Capitu, and Escobar know of one another at this point?

Dona Glória asks her brother twice whether Bentinho is the spitting image of his father, and Cosme concedes "something." What does her insistence show of what she wants to see, and what does his answer show of what he wants to say?

José Dias says the voice is Bentinho's own, and the narrator swears it was the fairy. Whose is the voice, and what changes in the chapter with each answer?

Bentinho recounts the marriage as a visit to heaven and admits it may have been a former seminarian's dream. What does the choice to tell it this way change in what the reader keeps of the marriage?

Bentinho says he was jealous "of what might be in the head" of Capitu, and that guilt has "infinite gradation." What does the scene of the ten pounds show of Capitu, and what is left to the narrator's yardstick?

Bentinho gives his son Escobar's name to make up for the lack of godparenthood, and accepts marrying the boy to the friend's daughter. What do these two decisions show of what Bentinho wants from the friendship, and what does the text leave unsaid about what Escobar wants?

Capitu says she does not remember the cry of the coconut seller, and Bentinho corrects her with the paper he kept since São Paulo. What does the scene show of how each one keeps the past?

The narrator calls the scene of the cat and the rat "a banal incident, without interest or grace," and yet recounts it in detail. What does the excess of detail do to the reader, and what does Bentinho want seen in the boy who "wanted to see"?

Bentinho enumerates Ezequiel's imitations, among them a way of Escobar's feet and "of the eyes...", and Capitu thinks before saying he must be corrected. What readings does this silence sustain, and what would each one require knowing that the text does not give?

Capitu confesses that she exaggerated her headache so that Bentinho would go to the opera, and Escobar says she is as ill as he is. What reasons does the text give for the exaggeration, and what other reasons could fit the gesture without the text saying so?

For each doubt of Bentinho's, Capitu offers a reason that comes from another person: Escobar worried about the lawsuit, the mother-in-law with jealousy. What does each explanation presuppose about the one who hears it, and why does Bentinho accept them?

In the parlor, the boy imitates José Dias (and José Dias says he once imitated Dona Glória too), and Capitu says she is gradually breaking him of the habit. What does each person present see in Ezequiel's gestures, and what does the text confirm of what was seen?

When Sancha comments that the children already resemble each other, Bentinho explains it by imitation and Escobar agrees. What weight does the explanation carry in the mouth of each of the two, and why does Bentinho nod in agreement?

Bentinho feels "vertigo and sin" when he squeezes Sancha's hand and, twenty minutes later, decides that it was "nothing, absolutely nothing." What standard of proof does he demand of himself that night?

At the wake, Capitu supports the widow, cries little and dries her tears while glancing at the people in the room. What does the text show of what she does, and what does only the comparison with the undertow suggest?

Bentinho reads the speech "fearing that they would guess the truth" and does his best to conceal it. What truths does the text allow him to have in mind at that moment?

Bentinho compares his own eulogy of Escobar to Priam's gesture before the killer of his son. What does this comparison claim about Escobar, and what has the book shown so far to support it?

Walking along the Catete, Bentinho concludes that his old passion was blinding him, and soon turns back without reaching home. What reasons does the text give for him to prolong the walk, and what does that say about the conclusion he had just reached?

Capitu lingers at the mirror, returns with red eyes, and embraces Bentinho in front of the visitors, saying, in the words Bentinho reports, that if he wanted to think of her he first had to think of his own life. What meanings fit these gestures, and how does each depend on who is telling them?

Capitu is the one who points out to Bentinho the expression in Ezequiel's eyes and compares it with Escobar's. What reasons does the text allow for her saying it at the table, in front of her husband, and how does Bentinho react in the scene?

Bentinho says that, on coming home and seeing his son waiting for him at the top of the stairs, he was disarmed and postponed the punishment from one day to the next. What in this scene disarms him, and what leads him to keep planning?

At Dona Glória's house, Bentinho spends an hour in peace and even gives up the plan. What in this visit gives him peace, and why is it not enough for him to stay?

Leaving the theater, Bentinho asks what the audience would do if Desdemona were as guilty as Capitu. What proof, within the book so far, supports that guilt?

Bentinho sees the pleas of an innocent Desdemona and concludes that "not I, but Capitu must die." What does the play show him, and what does he choose to take from it?

Bentinho brings the cup to Ezequiel's mouth and then draws back, without the text saying why. What does the scene support as the reason for the withdrawal, and what is left for the reader to complete?

Capitu says the reason is the "chance of the resemblance" and that the will of God will explain everything. Does she defend herself, give up defending herself, or do both at once?

The chapter ends with Capitu confessing nothing aloud and Bentinho convinced that she confessed. What did he see that the reader also saw, and what did only he read?

Bentinho thinks there may be in him "a new man," and soon says he is "a man only hidden." What consequence does applying the same idea to Capitu have?

Bentinho takes Ezequiel for "the very Escobar" and yet "makes himself a father in truth," giving money for the trip. What does he gain by treating as a son someone in whom he sees the dead man, and what does he lose?

Bentinho draws back from poisoning Ezequiel, but later says he would pay triple to never see him again, and, in spite of everything, dines well and goes to the theater. Is he the same man as at the cup, or does the book show a hardening between the two gestures?

Bentinho says the rest of the book is knowing whether the Capitu of Glória beach was already inside the one from Matacavalos. What scenes of the novel does the reader have to decide it, and through whose eyes do they all pass?

The image of the fruit inside the peel denies that Capitu has changed. In applying it to her, does Bentinho condemn her alone, or does he condemn along with her the rule by which he explains himself?

If the two images that condemn Capitu have a traceable and self-interested origin within the text, why do they keep working on the reader even after being traced?

Does the book ask that Capitu be acquitted, or that judging be abandoned? The two things are not the same.

Is Bentinho a liar, a man sincerely deceived, or a man who needs a victim to explain his own life? Each reading changes the genre of the novel.

In chapter CXL, Bentinho recalls that Gurgel found Capitu resembling the portrait of his wife and spoke of strange resemblances. Why does this memory not stop him?