ALENCAR

O Guarani 3.8 · 3.8

The young leader breaks the silence

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Uma dessas occasiões, em que os cavalleiros se aproximavão da tropa que seguia á alguns passos, um moço de vinte e oito annos, bem parecido, e que marchava á frente do troço, governando o seu cavallo com todo o garbo e gentileza, quebrou o silencio geral.

On one of those occasions, when the horsemen drew near the pack-train that went a few paces off, a good-looking young man of twenty-eight, riding at the head of the band with every grace and gallantry, broke the general silence.

Word by word

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The setting

The scene's first figure: on one of the moments when the riders drew near the pack-train, a good-looking young man of twenty-eight, riding at the head with every grace, broke the general silence.

A note on this passage

Álvaro de Sá enters exactly as a Romantic hero should — young, handsome, superbly mounted, first in the line. Alencar frames him with open admiration before a word is spoken, so that the sly voice about to needle him will feel, from the first, like a serpent in a clean scene.

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