Satire

Criticism of people, customs, or institutions through ridicule, exaggeration, or irony.

In Quincas Borba

both fused into the adoration this young man had of himself

By reducing Carlos Maria's feelings to a single "adoration this young man had of himself," the narrator ridicules the character's vanity without needing insult.

Chapters LXVIII to LXXVI: Ball, Society, and the Declaration, the narrator

now what he savors ruminating on are Cristiano Palha's bows and scrapes

Chapters XC to CII: The Suspicion and Rubião's Candidacy, the narrator