A Escrava Isaura 8.53 · 8.53

She invokes the dead mother's love as the moral authority Leôncio flouts. The old mistress 'amava e idolatrava' Isaura 'como a uma filha querida' — loved and idolized her as a cherished daughter. The relationship the novel keeps insisting on — that Isaura was raised as one of the family — is here made explicit, and it turns Leôncio's designs from mere cruelty into something near incest of the spirit: he pursues a woman his own mother held as a daughter.

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