A ESCRAVA ISAURA

A Escrava Isaura 5.13 · 5.13

The gardener's post

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que ha muitos annos exercia naquella fazenda mui digna e conscienciosamente, apezar de sua deformidade e idiotismo, o cargo de jardineiro.

who for many years had filled on that plantation, most worthily and conscientiously, for all his deformity and simple-mindedness, the post of gardener.

Word by word

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The setting

who for many years had filled on that plantation, most worthily and conscientiously — for all his deformity and simple-mindedness — the post of gardener.

A note on this passage

Guimarães insists on Belchior's competence — 'digna e conscienciosamente' — precisely against 'sua deformidade e idiotismo'. The man the world writes off as a monstrous fool has done real, careful work for years. The sentence quietly separates worth from appearance and from cleverness alike: he is good at his labour and good in his loyalty.

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