Discussion Questions

Which of the two uncles does Brás seem to side with, the one who sees glory as a ruin or the one who sees it as the most human thing?

What does Brás suggest with the question about the hawks, when he sees Virgília condemn a friend's illegitimate love affairs?

Pandora calls hope the greatest of goods and evils: what does the delirium do with that idea?

Is Brás's laughter at the centuries one of madness, of relief, or of resignation?

What does the transition show about how the book is organized, "without tie or suspenders"?

Brás recounts that he wounded an enslaved woman over a spoonful of sweets and accused her to his mother, and soon after writes that he did not spend his life breaking other people's heads. What does he ask of the reader when he makes this distinction?

Brás says that at that time the little sword interested him more than Bonaparte's fall, and that this concept later echoed in the background of his own applause. Is it a confession, an accusation of others, or both?

Brás thanks the ferule and says he would have liked to stay under its yoke, but admits that not even he mourned the teacher. Is the longing sincere, or is it the narrator's pose?

At the start of the chapter Brás sees himself as a romantic knight and, on meeting Marcela, "as much a page as the other." What self-image does the narrator want the reader to keep?

Marcela refuses the necklace and then accepts it. What is she doing, and what does Brás, in telling it, want the reader to think?

The "immoral reflection" says that a fine stone does not diminish a beautiful brow. Is Brás defending Marcela, defending himself for having paid, or dismantling the idea of pure love?

Marcela agrees to leave only after looking at the jewel, the wall, and Brás: what does Brás see in that expression, and what does he prefer not to see?

Brás sees himself in the figure of the lover from the Arabian Nights: what does the narrator gain by telling his own imprisonment as a tale, and what does he lose?

What keeps Brás from killing himself: the night, the storm, or the captain's verses?

The captain mourns his wife and asks Brás to judge the epicedium: mourning, vanity, or both?

Brás measures his life in coins and then regrets having paid too much: what does the account reveal about the value he places on others?

Brás says his mother's death seemed to him "obscure, incongruous, insane" and soon cuts the chapter: what does the cut do with the pain?

Brás says the dead man's frankness comes from the end of the audience, but he keeps speaking to the "living gentlemen": is the confession freedom, or still a pose?

Is the "voluptuousness of boredom" a way of living through mourning, or a way of fleeing it?

What does the scribble show of what Brás thinks while pretending not to answer his father?

If each phase of life corrects the one before, what gives authority to the version of Brás the dead man?

Brás consoles himself by saying the butterfly should have been born blue: does the scene condemn his cruelty, or the order that makes some strong and others victims?

In "made of love and contempt," whose contempt is it?

Brás answers "cynic" by saying "I was a man": does the answer absolve him, or merely shift the question?

Eugênia tells Brás he "does well" to leave: does she ease his flight, or does she make the decision first?

Brás sees Marcela's face in Virgília's and then sees her whole again: what does this vision show about what he feels for the two?

Does the theory of balls explain Brás's bad mood, or excuse it?

Virgília chooses the eagle: does the chapter show her as self-interested, or does Brás tell it this way so as not to admit that he lost by a narrow margin?

Did the father die of a dream undone or of illness? And why does Brás leave the answer hanging?

Brás says it cost him to quarrel with Sabina, but he does not give in on the silver. What does that show of what he values most?

Brás confesses to having tried to discourage a better poet. What makes the gesture possible without his calling it wickedness?

Does the tip of the nose explain Brás's conduct in the earlier chapters, or does it serve as an excuse?

Brás returns the coin and at once finds himself good, perhaps great: what does the "law of windows" say about how he handles his own conscience?

Brás returns the half gold coin and keeps the five contos: what changes from one find to the other, and what does the text leave the reader to conclude?

Is the "opportunity of the subjects" a theory of love or a convenient excuse for the narrator?

Virgília says that loving him is the will of Heaven and Brás hands everything over to Destiny: what does each gain by taking the decision away from themselves?

Brás wants to see Quincas's misery "dignified": what does he ask of the beggar, and what does the theft take from him?

Brás calls Virgília the pillow of his spirit: what does his love ask of her, and what does he stop asking of himself?

Does Brás propose flight out of fear for the two of them, or out of jealousy of Lobo Neves?

Brás recognizes that Virgília is not at fault and still calls her selfish: what does he gain from the accusation, and what does she yield?

Virgília accepts the little house and refuses flight: what would each of the two solutions cost her, and what does she want to keep?

Brás calls the episode "merry" and "profound": who comes out ahead with this reading, and what does it leave unsaid about the one who makes it?

Dona Plácida accepts the whole novel invented by Brás: what does her acceptance say about her, and what does it say about the one who invented it?

Brás says the greatest defect of the book is the reader: what does he demand of the reader, and what does he concede in return?

Dona Plácida backtracks on realizing to whom she has spoken: what must she keep silent in order to stay in the house, and what must Brás refrain from hearing?

Brás's conscience agrees after hearing that vice is the manure of virtue: does the argument convince, or does it merely close the conversation?

Brás leaves the decision with Virgília and walks out of the house: is it loving surrender, or a way of not deciding?

Why does Brás say yes to Lobo Neves's invitation, which at first seemed a serpent to him: what decides it, the husband's frank look or Virgília's silent request?

Is the reconciliation of Sabina and Cotrim with Brás family affection, an interest in stopping the trip, or both? What can the chapter allow us to affirm?

Brás explains his own smile by botany: what does this explanation hide, and what does it confess?

Lobo Neves sacrifices the presidency to a number and goes on doubting the superstition: what does that say about his ambition?

Brás calls the "mountaintop" the point of maximum love and already describes the descent: did he know it at the moment, or does he see it only afterward, like a dead man recounting?

Does the defense of Jacó Tavares, that the peace of cities costs reciprocal deceptions, serve to read Brás's conduct with Virgília and Lobo Neves?

What does the death of Viegas, haggling to the end, show about the narrator who keeps the accounts?

What paternity does Brás imagine in calling his conversation with the embryo the dialogue of Adam and Cain?

What elements of Quincas's letter support Brás's reading, and which already call for caution?

Does Lobo Neves want from Virgília the truth, or a reason not to act?

Among resentment, distrust and satiety, which reading would you choose for Virgília's drawing back?

What does Brás gain by announcing the suppression of a chapter he has already written?

How do Brás's contempt for the crowd and the love of the crowd that he coveted to the point of death coexist?

Does the decree number 13 prove Brás's law, or merely illustrate it?

Brás recommends looking away to those who have no ready answer: what does he avoid saying to Plácida and to Virgília by using the gesture?

Brás feels longing for marriage at the moment of fright: is it the desire for another life, or flight from danger?

Quincas Borba trades the well of the Greeks for the sea of Humanitism: what changes, in this image, in the way of seeking the truth?

Brás prepares to leap a wall because of a note he had already used: what moves him, love, self-love, or fear of seeming a coward?

Brás attributes to Lobo Neves fear of opinion and not jealousy: is it a reading of the husband, or a convenience of the one who makes it?

Is the opinion that keeps Virgília's marriage to Lobo Neves a solder or a coercion?

Brás defends the lunch as biographical truth against romantic despair: is the lunch indifference, or another form of mourning?

Brás teaches the "philosophy of old leaves" and says it gives the pleasure of seeing oneself from afar: what does he gain and what does he lose by rereading his youth in this way?

Quincas Borba makes envy a virtue and hunger a necessary proof: does Humanitism explain the world, or merely license whoever explains it?

Brás praises Cotrim with reasons that also serve as accusation: at what point does the praise turn into irony, and at whom is it aimed?

Brás does not weep for Nhã-loló and concludes that perhaps he did not love her: does the lack of tears prove anything about feeling?

Damasceno wanted the eighty guests even if they came out of formality: does Formality console, or does it disguise?

Brás says he had no remorse because he wanted to be minister: does ambition erase remorse, or does it replace it?

Brás tells the officer about Virgília, against the interest of keeping quiet: is vanity an interest like any other, or does Helvetius's principle fail to account for it?

When Brás says that the best part of life was the remainder, is he speaking seriously, or consoling himself?

Does the speech on the barretina follow Quincas Borba's advice, or does it parody it?

Quincas Borba swaps "he knows he is dying" for "he knows he is hungry": what does he gain and what does he lose?

Brás attends to Plácida to pay an overdue bill with Virgília: what does this say about Plácida's place in his life?

Does the theory of benefit explain Cotrim's attitude, or merely absolve him?

Virgília betrays and weeps with sincerity: does Brás solve the riddle, or does he get around it?

Is the good that Brás does in the Order charity or vanity?

Does the balance of not having had children close Brás's accounts, or leave them open?

A dead narrator has nothing more to lose: is Brás Cubas's frankness sincerity, or only another form of vanity?

The book laughs at almost everything: does the laughter make what it shows lighter or more serious, from slavery to adultery?

Brás interrupts the story at every turn to speak with the reader: what do these interruptions do to the one who reads?

Is Quincas Borba's Humanitism an absurd doctrine, or the exact description of the world the book shows?

Is the final balance, "I had no children," pessimism, or the only generous gesture of Brás Cubas?