Who She Is
Daughter of Miranda and Dona Estela, whom her father suspects is not his, a pale and thin girl with lively eyes who grows from twelve to seventeen at the townhouse window and ends up engaged to João Romão. She hardly speaks on stage: what the book does is measure her by what each one wants from her: her father's contempt, her mother's lesser affection, the street flirtation, the shopkeeper's self-interested gallantry.
Trajectory
She is born when her parents already hate each other: her mother loves her less than instinct asks, since she supposes her to be her husband's daughter, and her father detests her because he is convinced that he is not her father (chapter I).
a pobre criança nada mais representava que o documento vivo do ludíbrio materno, e o Miranda estendia até à inocentezinha o ódio que sustentava contra a esposa, the poor child represented nothing more than the living proof of the mother's deceit, and Miranda extended to the little innocent the hatred he harbored against his wife
At twelve or thirteen she is already pale, slight, with large and mischievous eyes (chapter II). In the morning, at the townhouse window, she files her nails with her mother, oblivious to the noise of the tenement (chapter III). On the Sunday of the pagode, her father's shout shows her livid, with an air of boredom (chapter VII).
E via-se de relance Dona Estela, com a sua palidez de flor meia fanada, e Zulmira, lívida, um ar de fastio a fazê-la feia, e o Henriquinho, cada vez mais bonito, e o velho Botelho, indiferente, a olhar para toda esta porcaria do mundo com o profundo desprezo dos que já não esperam nada dos outros, nem de si próprios., And one glimpsed Dona Estela, with her pallor of a half-withered flower, and Zulmira, livid, with an air of boredom that made her ugly, and little Henrique, ever more handsome, and the old Botelho, indifferent, looking at all this filth of the world with the deep contempt of those who no longer expect anything from others, nor from themselves.
On the night of the pagode, Alexandre says that her flirtation with a young man in spectacles, who prowls around the house at night, is nothing but talk from the window to the street (chapter VII).
Ele fala muito em casamento e a pequena o quer; mas, pelo jeito, o velho é que lhe corta as asas., He talks a lot about marriage and the little one wants it; but, by the look of things, it's the old man who clips her wings.
At the Baron's dinner, João Romão slips and nearly falls with a chair on casters, and she laughs and covers it up with her mother (chapter XIII).
Zulmira riu-se, mas disfarçou logo a sua hilaridade pondo-se a conversar com a mãe em voz baixa., Zulmira laughed, but at once hid her mirth by starting to talk with her mother in a low voice.
During the fire, what is heard from the house are her shrieks, in a fit (chapter XVII).
Da casa do Barão saíam clamores apopléticos; ouviam-se os guinchos de Zulmira que se espolinhava com um ataque., From the Baron's house came apoplectic clamor; the shrieks of Zulmira could be heard, thrashing about in a fit.
With the construction of the tenement, she becomes the focus of João Romão's attention, who offers her his arm, takes her to the theater and lavishes gifts on her and her family (chapter XIX). Miranda confirms that she accepts him as her husband (chapter XXI). At the confectionery, she complains about the ice cream and the liqueur and, at the start, is the only one speaking at the table (chapter XXIII).
Mas Zulmira reclamou sorvete e licor. E só esta falava; os outros estavam ainda à procura de um assunto para a conversa, But Zulmira complained about the ice cream and the liqueur. And only she was talking; the others were still searching for a topic of conversation.
Themes Embodied
The standard themes that run through her are Marriage, Family, and Social Class. The symbol linked to her is Miranda's townhouse, from which the tenement watches her.
Zulmira is the object of João Romão's social desire, and the marriage reaches him through her father's mouth, who says she accepts him; what we see of her, laughing, asking for ice cream, having fits, is little and indirect.
The book gives Zulmira two clues of her own will, the window flirtation and the ice cream ordered against the suitor's wishes, and does not say what becomes of the first. This can be read as a sign that she accepts what comes her way, or as a will that appears only in small choices.
Relationships
- Miranda: the father who doubts he is her father and who accepts her marriage to the neighbor.
- Dona Estela: the mother who loves her less than instinct asks and with whom she speaks in a low voice.
- João Romão: the suitor who courts her and whom she accepts.