Placing opposite ideas or words side by side, so that one lights up the other through contrast.
In Quincas Borba
To the vanquished, hatred or compassion; to the victor, the potatoes
"Vanquished" and "victor" oppose each other, and so do "hatred or compassion" and "the potatoes": the contrast makes it clear that the philosophy hands out emotion to the defeated and food to the triumphant.
Chapters I to XII: Humanitas and the Philosopher's Death, Quincas Borba (philosopher)
I wear this smiling mask, but I am sad. I am an architect of ruins
Chapters XXIX to XL: Strawberries, Moonlight, and Rubião's Declaration, Freitas
He had carried a little dove on his lap, tame and quiet, and out came a hawk
Chapters XXIX to XL: Strawberries, Moonlight, and Rubião's Declaration, the narrator
Morality is one, sins are different
Chapters L to LVII: Palha, Sofia, and Camacho's Arrival, the narrator
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