The Theme in the Work
The distance between what one shows and what one is appears early. In chapter XV, Marcela says she has often sold appearances and kept reality for a few; in chapter XXIV, Brás Cubas confesses that from the university he learned only formulas and vocabulary, and that he reflected the opinions of a hairdresser from Modena.
The adultery with Virgília lives by keeping up the façade. In chapter LXV, Brás reviews the forest of lookouts and eavesdroppers; in chapter LXXXII, the pun of the surgeon Garcez shows that the affair was public; in chapter XCVI, Virgília calls the anonymous letter slander in front of her husband; in chapter CXII, Brás judges that Lobo Neves is afraid of opinion.
The book also undoes appearance through illness and time: in chapter XLI, Brás sees Virgília's face eaten by the smallpox that ravaged Marcela's; in chapter CXXVII, the Turkish veil in the engraving uncovers the whole face; in chapter CXXXIV, at fifty, rejuvenation is in other people.
Other scenes show appearance manufactured on purpose. In chapter XXXV, Eugênia tells Brás that he is right to avoid the ridicule of marrying her and does not believe the oaths he makes. In chapter XXXVIII, Brás meets Marcela again, aged, marked by smallpox and owner of a goldsmith's shop, and she offers him jewelry at low prices after recognizing him. In chapter LVIII, after confessing his lack of public glory to Brás, Lobo Neves receives two deputies and a political boss with joy, and in half an hour no one would say he is not the most fortunate of men. In chapter LXXXVII, Jacó Tavares, the most honest man Brás has known, denies being at home to the importunate Dr. B. and defends the social lie, saying the peace of the cities costs mutual little deceptions.
Almost every appearance in the book is a joint arrangement: Marcela sells hers, Lobo Neves wears joy for his visitors, and Jacó Tavares defends it as a condition of the peace of cities. Brás recounts these appearances as one who practices them, and the text supports two readings of the deceased's cynicism, that of lucidity and that of complicity. When reality breaks in, it arrives without warning, as in the hallucination of the smallpox, and he pushes it away with a theory.
Where It Appears
- Chapter XV: Marcela denies the story of the gold cross and protests against Brás's gifts, but keeps the necklace she said she did not want, after first trying to throw it into the street.
- Chapter XXIV: Brás confesses that from the university he learned only formulas and vocabulary and reflected the opinions of a hairdresser from Modena, who distinguished himself by having none.
- Chapter XXXV: Eugênia tells Brás that he is right to avoid the ridicule of marrying her and does not believe the oaths he makes.
- Chapter XXXVIII: Brás meets Marcela again, aged, marked by smallpox and owner of a goldsmith's shop, and she offers him jewelry at low prices after recognizing him.
- Chapter XLI: Brás suddenly sees Virgília's face eaten by smallpox, as Marcela's was, makes a gesture of disgust, and soon sees her whole again.
- Chapter LVIII: After confessing his lack of public glory to Brás, Lobo Neves receives two deputies and a political boss with joy, and in half an hour no one would say he is not the most fortunate of men.
- Chapter LXV: Brás reviews those who suspect him and Virgília, the baroness, Viegas, cousin Luís Dutra, some ladies, and the servants, and calls the whole a forest of lookouts and eavesdroppers.
- Chapter LXX: Brás invents for Dona Plácida a novel of loves prior to Virgília's marriage, which she accepts whole, and in six months anyone who saw them together would say she was his mother-in-law.
- Chapter LXXXII: Brás spreads word that he is going north as secretary, and the listeners smile slyly, because the surgeon Garcez's pun on Virgílio and Virgília shows the affair was public.
- Chapter LXXXVII: Jacó Tavares, the most honest man Brás has known, denies being at home to the importunate Dr. B. and defends the social lie, saying the peace of the cities costs mutual little deceptions.
- Chapter XCVI: Lobo Neves receives an anonymous letter denouncing the two lovers, and Virgília calls it slander in front of her husband and gets away with it.
- Chapter CXII: Brás judges that Lobo Neves is afraid of opinion, and not of Brás, of himself, of the code, or of conscience, and that it forces him to feign the ignorance he had before.
- Chapter CXXVII: Brás links Damasceno's outburst to an engraving of ladies of Constantinople, wearing a veil so fine that it reveals the whole face, and praises Formality.
- Chapter CXXXIV: At fifty, Brás rejuvenates at the ball, but at four in the morning he finds his fifty years at the bottom of the carriage and imagines a bat saying that the rejuvenation was in the others.
Passages
Marcela separates what she sells from what she keeps.
Vendera muita vez as aparências, mas a realidade, guardava-a para poucos., She had often sold appearances, but reality she kept for a few.
Brás describes the opinion he once held as borrowed.
eu refletia as opiniões de um cabeleireiro, que achei em Módena, e que se distinguia por não as ter absolutamente, I reflected the opinions of a hairdresser, whom I found in Modena, and who distinguished himself by having none at all
The restrained smile turns into a flower in full view of everyone.
a princípio, o contentamento, sendo interior, era por assim dizer o mesmo sorriso, mas abotoado; andando o tempo, desabotoou-se em flor, e apareceu aos olhos do próximo. Simples questão de botânica, At first, contentment, being inward, was, so to speak, the same smile, but buttoned; in time it unbuttoned into a flower, and appeared to the eyes of others. A simple question of botany
Jacó Tavares defends the lie as a condition of social peace.
a veracidade absoluta era incompatível com um estado social adiantado, e que a paz das cidades só se podia obter à custa de embaçadelas recíprocas, absolute truthfulness was incompatible with an advanced social state, and the peace of the cities could only be obtained at the cost of mutual little deceptions
Brás attributes to the husband the fear of opinion.
tinha medo - não medo de mim, nem de si, nem do código, nem da consciência; tinha medo da opinião, he was afraid, not of me, nor of himself, nor of the code, nor of conscience; he was afraid of opinion
The veil that uncovers the whole face.
um véu tenuíssimo, que simulava descobrir somente os olhos, e na realidade descobria a cara inteira, a very thin veil that seemed to uncover only the eyes, and in reality uncovered the whole face