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The Slum · Chapters XVIII to XX

Libório, the Construction Work, and Piedade's Fall

AmbitionSocial ClassCorruption and DecaySexuality

Chapter XVIII: João Romão Takes Libório's Bottles

AmbitionSocial ClassCorruption and Decay

Section summary

During the fire, João Romão sees old Libório flee to his hiding place and follows him. Libório takes eight bottles out of the mattress and wraps them in the bedspread, but he collapses vomiting blood, clutching the bundle, and tries to bite the hand of the shopkeeper who wants to help him carry it. João Romão tears the bundle from him when the fire breaks through the roof and rushes to hide it, glimpsing that the bottles hold paper money. Only at five in the morning, when Bertoleza, exhausted from fighting the flames, falls asleep, does he confirm that there are eight bottles full of banknotes, and, afraid of being seen, he postpones the count and puts them somewhere safer.

The next day the tenement takes stock: some thirty little houses burned, Rita Baiana disappeared in the confusion, Piedade fell ill with fever, Augusta's daughter was trampled to death by the crowd, and the bodies of the Witch and of Libório are laid out between two candles, with a plate for alms toward the shroud. Léonie pays for the little girl's burial. Miranda comes in the morning, sorrowful and superior, and congratulates João Romão because everything was insured, which the shopkeeper had arranged after the first attempt at arson. He hears the plan to rebuild with four or five hundred rooms and leaves filled with unreserved admiration for his neighbor, lamenting only his tie to the crioula. At night João Romão counts the money: fifteen contos and some change, of which eight contos and six hundred are in expired banknotes. Indignant at the loss, he regrets not having taken the treasure earlier, says it would have been an act of justice, and concludes that the bad notes could still pass as small change, and decides to use the rest on the construction.

Analysis

Libório, in reply, drew back his lips, showing his toothless gums, and tried to bite the hand the shopkeeper was already extending over the bottles.

Libório sees in the offered help a threat to what he guards, and would rather roll about dying than let go of the bundle. The text supports two readings of João Romão: helping the old man escape the fire, as he says, or using the rescue as a pretext to lay hands on the bottles, which he had long been secretly eyeing. The next scene, in which he tears the bundle from him, favors the second.

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Chapter XIX: Construction Work, Courting Zulmira, and Piedade Humiliated

AmbitionCorruption and DecaySlaverySexualityWork and Vocation

Section summary

Work on the tenement begins on Miranda's side, and João Romão decides to raise a townhouse taller than his neighbor's. He starts dressing well, frequenting the Stock Exchange, and dining on Sundays at Miranda's house, where he makes Zulmira and the family the target of gifts and extravagant spending. The Baron and Botelho wonder what will become of the crioula, and Bertoleza, who smells the scent of other women on her lover, stops being his mistress and is reduced to a working slave. On a day of long talk with Botelho, who advises him to ask for Zulmira's hand because he has already spoken to the Baron on his behalf, Bertoleza weeps and cannot work. Among the residents, Leocádia, who did not want to hear Pombinha's letter, visits her husband Bruno in the hospital and returns to him.

Jerônimo takes a job again at the São Diogo quarry and lives with Rita Baiana in a tenement in Cidade Nova, where he spends all his money on the house and the delights of the honeymoon. Piedade, after the fever, becomes grumpy and thin and starts drinking parati to ease her sorrows. Their daughter Senhorinha starts going to her mother's tenement on Sundays. When the headmistress threatens to expel her for six months of overdue tuition, Piedade seeks out Jerônimo, who receives her tenderly and promises to pay, but does not: he has already drawn against his wages, owes the baker, and fears crossing Rita. On the second visit she finds him drunk, and dinner ends in a fight: he sends her away and says the daughter will stay with him, and mother and daughter are driven out.

Analysis

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Chapter XX: The Avenida São Romão and Piedade's Fall

AmbitionSocial ClassCorruption and DecayNature and CivilizationSexuality

Section summary

Piedade gets home at nine at night, after the humiliating dinner, drinks aguardente and goes out to the courtyard, where the tenement has changed: the space has narrowed with the new buildings, the rooms have gone from a hundred and some to more than four hundred, and there are verandas, latrines, lamps, and Albino's carefully kept house. Among the new residents, who already wear ties and socks, students, shop clerks, and employees appear, while the Italians occupy the left side, which is dirtier. The sobrado of João Romão, taller than that of Miranda, commands respect, its entrance has been set back, and the sign now reads "Avenida São Romão". The Cabeça-de-Gato is declining, and since the departure of Rita Baiana no open-air sambas are held anymore.

That restless Sunday, Piedade goes drinking with the group around das Dores and, by the second round of the bottle, becomes the liveliest of them, to the point of dancing to mock Rita. João Romão, returning from Miranda's house in a tailcoat, scolds her and orders the gathering to break up. Pataca stays with her, and the two drink and eat at her place, where Piedade recounts the humiliation she suffered at the other woman's house. Pataca rebukes her conduct and not that of Jerônimo, offers himself as consolation, and in the kitchen takes advantage of her, while she can barely defend herself. Her daughter, who has woken, sees it in a glance and runs away. Piedade vomits and is dragged to bed, and Pataca leaves furious for not having had his coffee.

Analysis

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