Dom Casmurro 5.26 · 5.26

In one line the Santiagos acquire their standing. The father is 'eleito deputado' and the family moves to the capital — the social ascent that lies behind the comfort of the Matacavalos house and the widow Dona Glória's later means. Machado gives it no fanfare; the political success is a subordinate clause, mentioned only because it carries José Dias along.

That is the sly hinge of the sentence. Everything grand about the father — office, election, the move to Rio — exists here as the vehicle by which the agregado is transported into the household for good. 'Elle veiu tambem': the great man rises, and his little dependent rides in on the same tide, folding himself into a family whose fortunes he will quietly help to steer.

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