Dom Casmurro 3.11 · 3.11

'É mais que tempo' — it is more than time, high time: José Dias hurries the plan along, siding openly with sending Bento away. But the little pivot 'e já agora' — and even now, at this late hour — turns the sentence, bracing his listener for the complication he is about to introduce. He has agreed with her only to make his coming disagreement land harder. It is a small masterpiece of insinuation, and Machado lets us watch the seam where helpfulness turns into manipulation.

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