A Escrava Isaura 9.2 · 9.2

The narrator names the drive without decorum: 'libidinosos desejos,' lustful desires. The verb 'resignar-se,' to resign oneself, is bitterly ironic — the same word Isaura used of bracing for martyrdom now describes Leôncio's inability to endure even a delay in his gratification. Her resignation is to suffering; his impatience is with waiting for pleasure. The moral distance between persecutor and victim is caught in one shared word.

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