Dom Casmurro 24.21 · 24.21

The chapter closes on one of Machado's small, perfect tautologies: 'gostava do elogio; era um elogio.' He liked the praise; it was praise. The reason folds back into the fact, and the circularity is the whole truth of it. The boy did not need to understand the compliment to enjoy it; it was flattering, and that was enough.

The line lays bare the mechanism by which José Dias's affection did its lasting work. A child who simply likes praise because it is praise is a child easily shaped by whoever offers it, and the agregado offered it constantly. Machado ends not on José Dias but on Bento's susceptibility, the soft ground in which such attentions took root. It is a gently damning close: the future Dom Casmurro, so quick to suspect and condemn others, began as a boy who loved being told he was good, and believed the man who told him.

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