Discussion Questions

Rubião sees the death of his sister and his friend as God's work through crooked lines: what does that reveal about him?

Does Quincas Borba's philosophy explain his grandmother's death, or merely justify it?

Does Rubião read his friend's madness as the loss of a good friend, or as a risk to the legacy?

Why would the testator make a dog the only condition of an entire inheritance?

Rubião understands the allegory of the tribes only after inheriting: does the doctrine teach anything, or does it merely confirm the place of whoever reads it?

Does Palha advise discretion out of friendly prudence, or out of self-interest, having learned that Rubião is rich?

Why does the narrator stop in the middle of Rubião's temptation to describe the inner life of the dog?

Is Freitas a friend of Rubião's, or someone who lives off his table, and how does Rubião himself see him?

Palha bares his wife to display his own good fortune: what does that vanity say about the couple's marriage?

Sofia recalls her own gestures and sweet words and sees that she could not have ignored the meaning of Rubião's attentions: does she share responsibility for the situation, or does the text treat her only as surprised?

Sofia says "our absence": is it a slip or a defense, and what does Rubião make of the word?

Rubião wonders whether the dog is the philosopher: is it belief, fear, or the convenience of someone who has inherited?

Palha turns pale on hearing the news and then begins to minimize it: what changes his tone, jealousy or the debt?

The narrator says that morality is one and sins are different: what difference does the narrator see between Rubião's remorse over the hidden letter and the remorse over the garden, and does the difference convince?

Palha and Camacho understand each other without a word: what does the image of the calling card say about the two of them?

Rubião changes the rules of the wager when chance says no: does he decide by chance, or had he already decided?

Rubião begins vexed and ends by reprinting the news: what makes him change his mind?

Rubião joins the partnership with Palha without understanding the figures: what reasons does the text give for him to accept, and where does Sofia fit among them?

Carlos Maria is downcast for having lied to Sofia and finds his own declaration of love a burden: what really bothers him?

Sofia does not want Rubião, but she cannot bear to hand him over to her cousin: what does the narrator say about this jealousy, and what does he leave open?

Palha repeats the hunch and asks whether Sofia never mentioned it: is he merely speculating, or is he testing his partner?

Why an entire chapter for the bank director?

The flowers speak to Rubião's desire: who is speaking here, he or the narrator?

What changes in the treatment of the dead Freitas when Rubião's coupé arrives?

Sofia breaks the mandarin without knowing how she picked it up: against whom is the anger directed?

Is Palha's advice an expression of friendly concern or of control over the capital?

Why does the narrator dispense with the analysis and sum everything up in a title?

Rubião had found Sofia's letter and decided not to see her again: why does he believe her tear so quickly?

Maria Benedita says she loves Carlos Maria as one loves God, without expecting an answer: does the book show here a form of love or a form of renunciation?

Carlos Maria found the young woman cold and begins to like her on learning that he is loved: what does this suggest about the origin of the affection?

Groom and bride see, he on horseback and she at the window, the same picture: what does the symmetry suggest about the marriage that is beginning?

Rubião asks whether there is a break in the friendship and is satisfied with Palha's answer: what makes the answer convincing to him?

The major sees contempt where Rubião sees confusion: who reads the Palhas' change better?

The legend calls the guests "disciples," but the text says they were only willing ones: what do they receive and give in return?

Machado answers the impatient female reader that Sofia ate well and slept soundly and softly: what does that answer reveal, and what does it leave unsaid?

Rubião answers the French barber in Portuguese and believes he is speaking French: where does the deception end and the delusion begin?

Camacho makes his own face a moral necessity and says that his life reproduces it: what does this argument reveal about him, and what does it have to do with Rubião?

Rubião narrates with precision an encounter that the text calls a story that never happened: what is this delirium made of, and why would the account sound true to whoever heard it?

Sofia asks herself why she did not hold on to any of the names that were put to her: what does the question show about what she desires?

Sofia's desire turns to whim within a few hours, with a moral refuge in the body without stain: what does that refuge protect?

Rubião's friends were not bound by friendship or esteem, yet they suffer from the separation: what united them?

Why does Carlos Maria become annoyed when he guesses that his wife confided her happiness to another woman?

Teófilo says that portfolios are worth nothing, but he collapses when left out: what does he expect from work?

Camacho, who used to talk a great deal in front of Rubião, now pretends to consult books in order to dismiss him: what does the text suggest has changed between the two?

The major and Dona Tônica move Rubião away with the story of the carriage: is it cruelty, care, or convenience?

The mother blames herself for her son's mockery: does the book condemn the jeering, or does it only record the astonishment of those who saw it?

The narrator says that life repeats itself in a few situations: what does the scene of the dog locked up repeat from Barbacena?

The motto returns to Rubião without the allegory, only with the vague sense of struggle and victory: what is left of the doctrine without its meaning?

Rubião dies crowned only for himself: does the narrator mock this glory, or respect it?

Does the doctrine of Humanitas, which the philosopher expounds and which Rubião understands only on inheriting, describe the world of the book?

Is Rubião a victim of those who surround him, the author of his own ruin, or both?

The narrator lets the reader form a certainty and then undoes it: what does the novel ask of its reader?

Are Rubião's vanity and his madness the same thing, or does the book distinguish between them?

The dog bears the philosopher's name and accompanies Rubião to the end: what does his faithfulness say about the faithfulness among the people in the book?