What It Is
The title of Baron of Freixal, which the Portuguese government grants to Miranda in chapter X of The Slum. From chapter II it is the object of Miranda's desire; in chapter X it is the cause of João Romão's envy; and in chapter XXI it becomes the yardstick Romão wants to surpass, with the dream of a viscount's title. What comes to Romão in the end is another honor, the diploma of honorary benefactor member (chapter XXIII).
Where It Appears
In chapter II Miranda envies the neighbor who got rich without marrying for a dowry, and from the emptiness of that spite a new ideal is born. He opens the house and starts giving parties.
Foi da supuração fétida destas ideias que se formou no coração vazio do Miranda um novo ideal - o título, It was from the fetid suppuration of these ideas that a new ideal formed in Miranda's empty heart: the title
In chapter X the newspaper carries the news, the house goes into celebration, and the tenement watches from the windows. Romão, who never envied Miranda, spends the day thinking of nothing else and takes out his bad mood on those nearby.
Lia-se no “Jornal do Comércio” que Sua Excelência fora agraciado pelo governo português com o título de Barão do Freixal, It was read in the “Jornal do Comércio” that His Excellency had been honored by the Portuguese government with the title of Baron of Freixal
aquele ente atrofiado pela cobiça e que parecia ter abdicado dos seus privilégios e sentimentos de homem; aquele desgraçado, que nunca jamais amara senão o dinheiro, invejava agora o Miranda, that being stunted by greed, who seemed to have renounced his privileges and feelings as a man; that wretch, who had never loved anything but money, now envied Miranda
tudo se convertia em comendas e crachás; até os modestos dois vinténs de manteiga, que media sobre um pedaço de papel de embrulho para dar ao freguês, transformava-se, de simples mancha amarela, em opulenta insígnia de ouro cravejada de brilhantes, everything turned into commendations and badges; even the modest two vinténs of butter that he measured on a piece of wrapping paper for the customer turned, from a simple yellow stain, into an opulent gold insignia set with diamonds
um desejo forte de querer saltar e um medo invencível de cair e quebrar as pernas, a strong desire to leap and an invincible fear of falling and breaking his legs
In chapter XIII Romão remakes himself from the inside out, with fine clothes, dance lessons, a watch, shares, and the theater, until Miranda starts taking off his hat to him, and he closes the invitation to the Baron's house with Botelho, for twenty contos.
In chapter XIX he frequents the Bolsa (stock exchange), dines on Sundays with the Baron's family, and decides to raise a townhouse taller than the neighbor's.
In chapter XXI, on the night the marriage to Zulmira is decided, he sees the way to a higher title than Miranda's.
sustentava de si para si nos últimos anos o firme propósito de fazer-se um titular mais graduado que o Miranda, he had held to himself, for years, the firm purpose of becoming a titled man of higher rank than Miranda
In chapter XXIII, right after Bertoleza wounds herself with the knife, a commission of abolitionists in tailcoats arrives to present him respectfully with the diploma of honorary benefactor member.
Era uma comissão de abolicionistas que vinha, de casaca! trazer-lhe respeitosamente o diploma de sócio benemérito., It was a commission of abolitionists coming, in tailcoats! to respectfully bring him the diploma of honorary benefactor member
What It Means
The title changes meaning in each head. For Miranda it is born of emptiness and envy, a thing on which to spend without accounting to his wife (chapter II). For Romão, who never envied the neighbor, it is born of the newspaper item, and what bites him is not knowing how to wear a tailcoat or converse in a drawing room (chapter X). Afterward he wants a higher title (chapter XXI), and what comes to him at the close is a diploma, delivered by men in tailcoats just after he had it made (chapter XXIII). The text does not say whether the honor is worth what it pays or what it covers, and it sets the two facts side by side.
Relationships
- Work: The Slum, by Aluísio Azevedo.
- Standard themes: Ambition, Social Class.
- Characters: Miranda, João Romão, Botelho, Zulmira.
- Neighboring symbols: Miranda's townhouse, the house where the title is celebrated, and the São Romão tenement, from which Romão envies it.