Who He Is
Childhood schoolmate of Brás Cubas in The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas, son of a widow with some means, who, in school days, played emperor at the Holy Spirit festivals. He reappears as an adult, a beggar in the Passeio Público, then as heir to an uncle in Barbacena, and finally as the philosopher of Humanitism, a system that explains pain, war, and hunger as functions of Humanitas. He reappears in the novel Quincas Borba, which gives it its title, and the same character appears there as Quincas Borba (philosopher).
Trajectory
At Master Ludgero's school, he left dead cockroaches for the master and played emperor at the festivals; Brás calls him the flower of the city and breaks off before saying what comes next (chapter XIII). As an adult, he approaches Brás in the Passeio Público, dragging his rags with a certain indolent grace; he receives five milreis, kisses the note, applies to Brás Constantine's motto, In hoc signo vinces!, refuses to work, and announces the philosophy of misery (chapter LIX). He eyes the diamond on Brás's finger with shudders of greed, refuses to say where he lives, embraces Brás with impetus, and steals his watch in the embrace (chapter LX), and Brás begins to want to reform him (chapter LXI).
He returns to Brás a new watch in place of the one he took, and writes that he created Humanitism, refusing the name "Borbism" as vain; he says he gave up the step of the São Francisco staircase and finally has lunch (chapter XCI). He visits Brás in a frock coat and patent-leather boots, heir to an uncle in Barbacena, and trades the well of the Greeks for the sea of Humanitism (chapter CIX). He sets out the doctrine between the chicken and the coffee: love is priesthood, war, hunger, and crime are necessary functions, envy is a virtue, and pain is illusion; days later he reads Brás the four manuscript volumes (chapter CXVII).
Humanitas, dizia ele, o princípio das coisas, não é outro senão o mesmo homem repartido por todos os homens, Humanitas, he said, the principle of things, is none other than the same man distributed among all men
He encourages Brás's marriage, says that Humanitas stirs in his chest, and proves that the gospel parable was a foreshadowing of Humanitism (chapter CXX). At Nhã-loló's death, he explains that epidemics serve the species and asks Brás whether he does not feel a secret charm in having escaped (chapter CXXVI). When Brás is downcast, he says the worst philosophy is that of the whiner on the riverbank and leads him to the cap (chapter CXXXVII); he calls Brás's ambition a whim, and Brás sends him to the devil with Humanitism (chapter CXL). He stops in ecstasy before two dogs fighting over a bone with no meat (chapter CXLI).
Vida é luta. Vida sem luta é um mar morto no centro do organismo universal, Life is struggle. Life without struggle is a dead sea at the center of the universal organism
Brás answers his objection with Pascal, and Quincas says that his own expression is deeper: he knows he is hungry (chapter CXLII). He demands a reserved declaration of authorship for the newspaper's program and calls Brás his beloved disciple (chapter CXLVI). He defends Cotrim against the charge of ingratitude with the theory of benefit (chapter CXLIX). He judges Brás mad and sends an alienist, who declares Brás sane and considers the friend suspect (chapter CLIII); he calls the servant's attitude "Pride of Servility," a noble sentiment of Humanitism (chapter CLVI).
He returns from Minas demented and aware of it, and dies in Brás's house, repeating that pain is an illusion (chapter CLIX).
Quincas Borba não só estava louco, mas sabia que estava louco, Quincas Borba was not only mad, but knew that he was mad
Themes Embodied
The themes that run through him are Meaning of life, Death, and Ambition. The symbol that defines him is Humanitism.
Meaning of life: Humanitism gives a reason for everything, from hunger to the chicken, and the book asks whether it explains the world or only authorizes those who explain it (chapter CXVII).
Death: for him pain is illusion and epidemic serves the species, and his own death is that of someone who knows he is mad (chapter CXXVI, chapter CLIX).
Ambition: he is the one who pushes Brás toward the cabinet post, the newspaper, and the fight (chapter CXXXVII, chapter CXLI, chapter CXLVI).
The Quincas of the Memoirs is two figures, the beggar who kisses the note and steals the watch and the philosopher in a frock coat, and the doctrine that separates him from the beggar arrives together with the inheritance (chapter CIX). Humanitism gives every condemned feeling the name of a virtue, such as envy that becomes admiration that fights (chapter CXVII), and the book shows the price of this at the end, when the philosopher knows he is mad and goes on repeating that pain is an illusion (chapter CLIX).
Relationships
- Brás Cubas: the schoolmate from whom he receives five milreis, whom he pushes toward ambition, and in whose house he dies.
- Quincas Borba (philosopher): the same character, seen in the novel that bears his name.
- Cotrim: Brás's brother-in-law, whom he defends with the theory of benefit.
- Nhã-loló: Brás's bride, whose death he reads as a service of the epidemic to the species.