Dom Casmurro 18.171 · 18.171

José Dias frames the whole scheme as costless. 'Que se perde em experimentar?' — what is lost in trying? — is the rhetoric of the man who has everything to gain and nothing at risk, since it is Bento's future, not his own, that is being wagered. The plural 'Experimentemos' folds him into the venture as a co-conspirator, sharing the enterprise while sharing none of the consequence.

The shift from that inclusive 'let's' to the bare command 'faça o que lhe digo' — do what I tell you — reveals the real hierarchy. José Dias, the dependent agregado, is directing the young master, and the softening of the imperative into partnership is exactly the sort of insinuation the novel has taught us to distrust. His counsel always arrives dressed as harmless suggestion.

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