Description that appeals to the senses (what is seen, heard, smelled, tasted, or touched) and makes the reader perceive the scene, not only understand it.
In The Slum
E naquela terra encharcada e fumegante, naquela umidade quente e lodosa, começou a minhocar, a esfervilhar, a crescer, um mundo, uma coisa viva, uma geração, que parecia brotar espontânea, ali mesmo, daquele lameiro, e multiplicar-se como larvas no esterco, And on that soaking, steaming land, in that hot and muddy damp, a world began to wriggle, to seethe, to grow, a living thing, a generation that seemed to sprout spontaneously right there from that swamp and multiply like larvae in dung
The adjectives "soaking", "steaming", "hot", and "muddy" make the reader feel the heat and the mud, and the verbs "wriggle" and "seethe" put movement and bustle into the scene.
Chapters I to II: João Romão's Tenement and Miranda's House, the narrator
Sentia-se naquela fermentação sanguínea, naquela gula viçosa de plantas rasteiras que mergulham os pés vigorosos na lama preta e nutriente da vida, o prazer animal de existir, a triunfante satisfação de respirar sobre a terra, One could feel in that sanguine fermentation, in that lush gluttony of low plants that plunge their vigorous feet into the black, nourishing mud of life, the animal pleasure of existing, the triumphant satisfaction of breathing over the earth
Chapters III to V: The Tenement Wakes and Romão Hires Jerônimo, the narrator
onde ela, tantas vezes, com a cabeça encostada ao ombro do seu homem, suspirava feliz, ouvindo gemer na guitarra dele os queridos fados de além-mar, where she, so many times, with her head resting on her man's shoulder, sighed happily, listening to the beloved fados from overseas groan on his guitar
Chapters XV to XVII: Firmo's Death, Piedade's Fight, and the Fire, the narrator
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