Ambition

The Theme in the Work

In chapter XV, Rubião calculates the inheritance and hesitates between shining in Barbacena and moving to Rio.

In chapter XVIII, on understanding the motto of the potatoes, he sees himself as the victor, thinks of being hard and implacable, and composes in his head a signet ring bearing the motto.

In chapter LVII, the narrator portrays Camacho, a law graduate from Recife, whose political journalism changes its adjectives with each government. He becomes a deputy, wants to be a minister, fails to, and lives from legal practice.

In chapter LVIII, Camacho seduces Rubião with politics and a lunch, and the flattered listener already dreams of a seat in the Chamber.

In chapter LIX, Cristiano Palha and Camacho hold Rubião at Court: one proposes to accompany him later to Minas, the other dangles the deputy's seat.

In chapter LXI, Rubião, who had come only to sign, puts five contos into the Atalaia, and Camacho displays the portrait of the Marquis of Paraná.

In chapter XCVII, at the window, he recalls that the Southern Cross is also an honorary order, and thinks it brilliant to make it a national and privileged distinction.

In chapter C, Camacho offers Rubião a candidacy for deputy, and he already imagines his oath in the Chamber.

In chapter CI, while paying for Freitas's funeral, he is taken for a senator or a judge because of the coupé.

In chapter CII, at night, he crosses the coupé of a minister and keeps listening to the orderlies' horses, even after they have gone far away.

In chapter CXI, he applauds Camacho's article, suggests reinforcing a word, and, accepting the amendment, feels half an author.

In chapter CXIII, the narrator sums up the operation in an imaginary title: Rubião ruminated so many sentences that he took himself for the author of what he had read.

In chapter CLXXIV, Teófilo arrives crestfallen at the house of Dona Fernanda, left out of the arrangements of the new Ministry.

In chapter CLXXV, he vents against the intrigue, shows his wife the cabinet of papers, and asks what good so much effort is. She proposes a trip to Europe; he refuses, but is cheered by the idea of a future harvest.

In chapter CLXXVII, he returns satisfied: the marquis asked him to accept a first-rank presidency and to take the leadership of the majority in the Chamber.

In chapter CLXXVIII, he takes leave of the cabinet as one takes leave of saints and friends.

Rubião's ambition is borrowed. It comes through Camacho, who offers the Chamber, speaks of principles and sells grandeur, and feeds on vanity: the amendment of one word makes him an author, the coupé makes him a senator, and the order of the Cruzeiro seems to him a brilliant idea. Teófilo's, at the end, shows the other side of the same thing: he has papers, a cabinet and years of work, and the crisis and the remedy come from the post offered or denied. The narrator treats the two with the same tone, and the reader notices that what distinguishes one from the other is that Teófilo has somewhere to put his ambition, while Rubião has only what he is sold.

Where It Appears

• Chapter XV: Rubião finds the clause about the dog natural, but thinks only of the inheritance and hesitates between shining in Barbacena and moving to Rio.
• Chapter XVIII: Rubião understands the allegory of the starving tribes only after inheriting, sees himself as the victor, and thinks of having a signet ring made with the motto of the potatoes.
• Chapter LVII: Camacho, a law graduate from Recife, practices political journalism that changes its adjectives with the government, becomes a deputy, wants to be a minister, and does not succeed.
• Chapter LVIII: Camacho seduces Rubião with politics and a lunch, tells him he founded a paper for the war, and the flattered listener already dreams of a seat in the Chamber.
• Chapter LIX: Palha and Camacho hold Rubião at Court with a glance: Palha proposes to accompany him later, and Camacho dangles the deputy's seat.
• Chapter LXI: Camacho displays the portrait of the Marquis of Paraná and says the Atalaia needs only two more partners; Rubião, who had come only to sign, puts in five contos.
• Chapter XCVII: At the corner of Catete, Rubião sees the seamstress Dondon walk off arm in arm with a man; later, at the window, he dreams of what might have been and turns his thoughts to the honorary order of the Cruzeiro.
• Chapter C: Camacho offers Rubião a candidacy for deputy, and Rubião, lunching alone, begins to imagine his own oath in the Chamber.
• Chapter CI: Rubião pays for Freitas's funeral and, thanks to the coupé, passes for a man of standing, taken for a senator or a judge.
• Chapter CII: Rubião crosses a minister's coupé at night and keeps listening to the orderlies' horses, even after they have gone far away.
• Chapter CLXXIV: The servant bars Rubião, saying Dona Fernanda is ill, but the one who arrived crestfallen was her husband, Teófilo, left out of the arrangements of the new Ministry.
• Chapter CLXXV: Teófilo vents against the intrigue and shows Dona Fernanda the cabinet of papers, where he asks what good so much effort is.
• Chapter CLXXVII: Teófilo returns satisfied: the marquis asked him to accept a first-rank presidency and to take the leadership of the majority in the Chamber.

Passages

Power, for Rubião, begins as the possession of an instrument.

The reputation as a senator comes from the horse and the carriage.

The amendment of one word is enough to make an author.

Teófilo advises his son Nuno to choose something else, anything but minister.