Dom Casmurro 26.58 · 26.58

The pirouette is decoded: it was a private wish leaping into the air. José Dias, we learn, longs to go back to Europe — 'tornar á Europa,' with tornar carrying the exact sense of returning to a place once known. The verb quietly claims a past for him, a former crossing, a life larger than the Matacavalos parlour where he now folds himself into usefulness.

Machado is careful with the word 'ambições.' It is not a flaw here so much as a longing, and the plural hints at a whole inner catalogue of hopes the dependent must keep tucked away. The dance was the one of these hopes that could not be contained. What follows will show how the ambition attaches itself to Bento's future — for José Dias, the boy's education is also a door back to the continent he misses.

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