Dom Casmurro 4.13 · 4.13

Here is the social miracle of José Dias in a single clause: on him the cheap calico house-coat 'parecia uma casaca de cerimonia' — looked like a formal tailcoat. The manner ennobles the cloth. It is Machado's most sympathetic insight into the man — the dependent's art of bearing, the dignity conjured out of nothing, the way sheer ceremoniousness can raise a poor garment into grandeur. And it quietly redeems the whole mocking inventory: José Dias is absurd, yes, propped up and behind the times, but he is also a small triumph of will over circumstance, wearing his poverty like a costume of state.

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