Symbols

Humanitas Humanitas is the name that Quincas Borba (philosopher) gives to a single, indestructible substance that would be in all things and sum up the universe, because the universe is man. It is also the name of the doctrine, which he calls Humanitism and says he... The potatoes To the victor, the potatoes: the conclusion of the allegory with which Quincas Borba (philosopher) explains his doctrine to Rubião. In a potato field that feeds only one of two starving tribes, peace would be the death of both, and war is the preservation of... The imperial crown Rubião's delirium, in which he takes himself for Napoleon III and then for emperor outright, and the crown he puts on his head at the hour of death, made of nothing. The delirium begins with the busts of Napoleon I and Napoleon III on the desk, passes through... The Southern Cross The constellation that Rubião asks Sofia to gaze at every night, at ten o'clock, so that the thoughts of the two may meet there, between God and men. Sofia refuses, and the request returns throughout the book always outside the scene in which it was made: in...