Appearance and Reality

The Theme in the Work

The book gathers scenes in which what is seen admits at least two readings, and almost never does the scene decide. In chapter XV, surprised by Pádua, Capitu rubs out the names on the wall, scratches out a profile and answers for both that they were playing the straight-face game; in chapter XXXVIII, she claims to be startled when her father comes in, and Bentinho, who knew everything, calls that a lie and feels envy. In chapter LXV, she explains that she shows herself cheerful before Dona Glória so as not to confirm José Dias's accusation, and in chapter LXXVI, that looking openly at the horseman proves there is nothing, because there would be dissembling. Each gesture can be read as the defense of a threatened courtship or as a habit of hiding, and the text gives only what she does and the reason she states.

Appearance holds for Bentinho himself as well. In chapter LXXXIV, he leaves Gurgel's house cheerful and enters the shop where Manduca's father is weeping; in chapter CXXIV, he reads the speech at the cemetery fearing that they will guess the truth; in chapter CXLI, he travels to feign a marriage in good order and deceive opinion. The narrator tells these simulations without applying to them the ruler he applies to Capitu's.

Faces deceive too, in different directions. Capitu's eyes are read with suspicion from chapter XXV; Escobar's receive, in chapter LXXI, the adjective sweetest (see the undertow eyes). Ezequiel's resemblance is first explained as imitation, in chapter CXVII, by Bentinho and by Escobar, concerning the resemblance between Ezequiel and Escobar's daughter, and then the resemblance to Escobar himself is read as proof; in chapter CXXXIX, Capitu's confusion before the photograph is, for him, a pure confession, although the text says that with her mouth she confessed nothing. Chapter CXLVI closes the series with Ezequiel's epitaph, pure praise whose complement in the Vulgate leads Bentinho to ask what the day of the boy's creation might have been.

The novel puts the reader in the position of someone checking a copy without having the original, an image the narrator himself uses in chapter II. Two readings fit almost every scene, and the text does not choose: what remains certain is the gesture, and the motive comes from the one who tells. The asymmetry that is left is the narrator's, who reads as a sign what he sees in Capitu and as circumstance what he himself does.

Where It Appears

• Chapter XV: Surprised by Pádua, Capitu rubs out the names on the wall, scratches out a profile she says is her father's portrait and answers for both that they were playing the straight-face game, while Bentinho, frightened, cannot laugh.
• Chapter XXV: José Dias describes Capitu's eyes as those of an oblique and dissembling gypsy in the midst of a list of complaints against Pádua, and the text neither confirms nor denies what he says.
• Chapter XXXVIII: When Pádua comes in, Capitu has her back turned, bent over her sewing, and claims to be startled; Bentinho, who knew everything, sees that it was a lie and feels envy of her competence.
• Chapter XLI: Bentinho calls his mother to confess the courtship and, before saying anything, says that he likes only her, wanting to divert suspicion from Capitu, whom he had come to confirm.
• Chapter LXV: Capitu explains to Bentinho that she shows herself cheerful before Dona Glória and Dona Justina so as not to confirm José Dias's accusation, and he praises her for it.
• Chapter LXXVI: Capitu says that looking openly at the horseman proves that there is nothing between the two, because there would be dissembling, and Bentinho accepts, more because of the news that the young man is about to marry.
• Chapter LXXXIV: Bentinho leaves Gurgel's house cheerful and meets Manduca's father mourning his dead son; with no heart either to go in or to flee, he lets his body decide and shares the guilt with coincidence.
• Chapter CVI: Capitu answers with Sirius and Mars without having heard the lesson, and only confesses that she was adding up ten pounds exchanged by Escobar when Bentinho is about to leave the room.
• Chapter CXVII: Sancha remarks that the children already look alike, and Bentinho explains that Ezequiel imitates others; Escobar agrees, and the narrator says that he gave an off-the-cuff opinion, on a matter he knew neither well nor badly.
• Chapter CXXIII: At the wake, Capitu supports the widow, weeps little and dries her tears while stealing glances at the people in the room; the comparison with the wave that wants to swallow the swimmer is Bentinho's choice in writing.
• Chapter CXXIV: Reading the speech at the cemetery, Bentinho fears that they will guess the truth and strains to hide it well, and the audience sees a friend's emotion, with approval and handshakes.
• Chapter CXXXIX: Capitu and Bentinho look at Escobar's photograph at the same time, and he reads a confession in her confusion, although she confesses nothing in words.
• Chapter CXLI: Capitu and Ezequiel stay in Switzerland, and Bentinho travels to feign a marriage in good order and deceive opinion, while her letters, submissive and longing, receive curt replies.
• Chapter CXLVI: The inscription on Ezequiel's tomb is pure praise, but the complement that Bentinho finds in the Vulgate leads him to ask silently what the day of the boy's creation might have been.

Passages

The first definition of Capitu's eyes, uttered by someone who stands to gain from her.

Bentinho knows that the fright was a lie and feels envy.

Capitu explains why she shows herself cheerful.

The word with which the chapter closes the plan.

Bentinho divides the blame between two unequal affections.

Capitu explains the secret of the pounds.

Bentinho chooses the most convenient explanation for the resemblance.

Capitu's gaze upon the dead man, in the narrator's words.

Capitu's gesture after drying her tears.

Bentinho fears being guessed.

Capitu's confusion, as read by Bentinho.

The trips, to deceive opinion.