Clavis Libri
Plans Sign in

Quincas Borba · Chapters CLXXII to CLXXXI

Teófilo, the Ministry, and Abandonment

AmbitionAppearance and RealityLoyalty and BetrayalMadness

Chapter CLXXII: The Fall of the Ministry and Cousin Teófilo

Section summary

Maria Benedita asks her husband Carlos Maria whether he knows who will be minister now that the Ministry has fallen: cousin Teófilo, who, according to Dona Fernanda, stayed at Court this year because of his hopes for the Ministry, and it seems he will get in. Then, seeing Rubião standing in the street, looking up, perhaps waiting for the stagecoach or the carriage, she recalls that he had a carriage, and sees him go on foot.

Analysis

Maria Benedita passes on to her husband the family news that Dona Fernanda gave her: cousin Teófilo stayed at Court this year because of his hopes for the Ministry. Then, seeing Rubião standing in the street, looking up, she recalls: "he had a carriage." The two of them watch together the fall of a Ministry and that of a man.

Chapter CLXXIII: Minister or Orderly

Section summary

Carlos Maria asks his wife to confess that she would love him even as a minister's orderly, and asks her, without explaining, whether she wanted to be queen mother of Sweden. Then he returns to the English review and the statuette of Narcissus.

Analysis

Carlos Maria asks whether she would love him even as a minister's orderly, and whether she wanted to be queen mother of Sweden, without explaining. To explain would be to say that she might carry in her womb a future king, like Bernadotte, the French soldier who became king of Sweden, and saying so would confess desire and inferiority. The gesture "Maria, you have chosen the better part" is that of someone who approves of himself in the place of the one adored, and she says "yes! yes!"

Unlock with a subscription

Subscription

The complete analysis of every section of Quincas Borba comes with a subscription, along with the explanation of each quote, the quiz, the PDF guide, and the study workbook.

See the plansAlready subscribed? Sign in

Chapter CLXXIV: Rubião Barred and Teófilo Dejected

Ambition

Section summary

Rubião does not go up to Dona Fernanda's house: the servant says she is ill, but it is Teófilo who has come in dejected, left out of the new Ministry's arrangements. Downstairs, the servants speculate.

Analysis

Unlock with a subscription

Chapter CLXXV: The Study

Ambition

Section summary

While Dona Fernanda asks him to calm down, Teófilo rises, stamps his foot, utters furious words, and then collapses. Consoled by his wife, he attributes his exclusion from the new Ministry to treachery and intrigue, wishes to speak to the emperor, and goes to the study, where, before shelves of books, budgets and labeled papers, he asks what all of it is worth. Fernanda proposes a trip to Europe, to Warsaw, to rest him; he refuses, because it would mean "leaving his own skin," but the papers seem to him sown ground that will yield a harvest, and hope restores his gentleness. That evening, his son Nuno says he wants to be a minister, because ministers ride in carriages with a soldier behind them, and the father replies: "choose something else, anything but minister."

Analysis

Unlock with a subscription

Chapter CLXXVI: The Letter from the Council President

Section summary

At lunch, Teófilo receives through a servant the letter from the council president, summoning him at two in the afternoon. Although the cabinet is complete, the butterflies of hope flutter around him again.

Analysis

Unlock with a subscription

Chapter CLXXVII: A Presidency of the First Order

Ambition

Section summary

Teófilo returns satisfied: the marquis asked him to accept a presidency of the first order and to head the majority in the Chamber. Dona Fernanda agrees that he could not refuse, and the couple packs their bags.

Analysis

Unlock with a subscription

Chapter CLXXVIII: Farewell to the Books

Section summary

Dona Fernanda stays in Rio with her son, separated from her husband for four months, and promises to dust the books he bids farewell to as if they were saints and friends, and she feels fortunate.

Analysis

Unlock with a subscription

Chapter CLXXIX: Rubião, the Dog, and Camacho's Coldness

Loyalty and Betrayal

Section summary

Without news from Dona Fernanda, Rubião lives between Quincas Borba (the dog) and a servant to whom he gives the title of marquis. When he returns from delirium, he seeks out his friends, but Camacho receives him coldly, and he withdraws hurt.

Analysis

Unlock with a subscription

Chapter CLXXX: Dona Tônica's Engagement

Section summary

Rubião meets Major Siqueira and goes with him to the new house, at Cajueiros. The major announces the engagement of Dona Tônica to Rodrigues, a widower and clerk at the War Ministry, and she, forgetting Rubião, already dreams of a son.

Analysis

Unlock with a subscription

Chapter CLXXXI: The Carriage on the Campo and the First Rose of Summer

Loyalty and Betrayal

Section summary

During Major Siqueira's speech about the battle of Monte-Caseros, Rubião applauds and promises the major a decoration, and then a little ribbon for the son-in-law's frock coat. The major escorts him to the door, not violently but tenaciously, with the story of a carriage on the Campo, and Rodrigues arrives, well received by Dona Tônica.

Analysis

Unlock with a subscription

Reading of the block of chapters

Analysis

Unlock with a subscription