Quincas Borba (the dog)

Who He Is

The dog that Quincas Borba (philosopher) names after himself and entrusts to Rubião, and whom the will obliges the heir to treat as a person. It follows Rubião from Barbacena to Rio, lives between caresses and abuse, is seen by him as a watchman and a comfort and perhaps as the soul of the dead friend, and returns with its master to Barbacena, where it dies after him. The book divides the title between the two Quincas, and in the last chapter (chapter CCI) the narrator anticipates the reader's question, without answering it, about which of them gives the book its name.

Trajectory

The philosopher gave the dog his own name for doctrinal reasons and to survive in its name (chapter V). He leaves for Rio weeping for it and leaves it with Rubião (chapter VIII); the dog suffers its owner's absence, and in town they mock the professor as a dog sentry (chapter IX). Once the owner's death is known, Rubião decides to give it to his godmother Angélica, since the obligation is over (chapter XII), and sends it as a gift in the owner's name (chapter XIII).

When the will reveals the clause (chapter XIV), Rubião runs to his godmother and finds the dog again in the pen, where it greets him with joy and frenzy (chapter XVII). In Botafogo, it is Rubião who lets it out every day; in the garden, in the middle of his temptation for Sofia, the narrator describes the dog that celebrates, gets beaten, and forgives: it likes to be loved and is content to believe that it is (chapter XXVIII).

Rubião kicks the dog (chapter XXXII); on the night of the garden, at home, he receives its usual greeting, with a look that recalls the philosopher's (chapter XLIX). Earlier, in the tilbury, he had wondered whether dog and philosopher might be the same creature through transmigration (chapter XLVIII). Later, the dog gives him a reproachful look when Rubião enters the partnership with Palha; Rubião laughs at the suspicion but scratches its ears (chapter LXIX). The voice that advises Rubião to marry seems to come from the dog, an idea Rubião finds absurd and dismisses, but just in case, he scratches its neck (chapter LXXIX, chapter LXXXII).

Then the dog goes through its master's madness: its whimpers do not wake Rubião from imperial delirium (chapter CXLVII); it moves with him to Rua do Príncipe (chapter CLXV); it lives with him and a servant to whom Rubião gives the title of marquis (chapter CLXXIX). When Rubião is committed, the dog tries to follow him and is locked in by the servant (chapter CLXXXVII), and in the abandoned house it is the thin dog that moves Dona Fernanda (chapter CLXXXVIII).

It arrives with Rubião in Barbacena (chapter CXCV), wanders under the storm and sleeps beside him in the open (chapter CXCVII), and is taken in with him by his godmother Angélica (chapter CXCIX). After its master's death, it falls ill, runs off after him, and is found dead in the street (chapter CCI).

Themes Embodied

The standard themes that run through it are Loyalty and betrayal and Madness.

The dog is the loyalty that does not change in the book, and the text shows it through contrast: Rubião treats it out of obligation, then out of fear of losing the inheritance, then out of affection, and it always responds the same way, with joy, whimpers, and forgiveness. The name of two dead men in one body makes it the point where the philosopher's doctrine and Rubião's delirium meet.

The narrator places it twice in the role of mirror: in the garden, when the dog that likes to be loved reflects its master, who also believes he is loved by Sofia; and in death, which comes after Rubião's and is recounted in passing. The final chapter leaves unanswered the question of who gives the book its title, and it is in that silence that the dog takes on the size the will gave it.

Relationships

• Quincas Borba (philosopher): the owner who gave it its name and whom Rubião imagines he sees in the animal's gaze.
• Rubião: the heir-guardian, who treats it first as an obligation, then as consolation, and for whom the dog dies.
• Dona Fernanda: the only visitor who looks the thin animal in the eyes and is moved.