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If there is one theme that stands out among topics discussed by Machado de Assis in the series "A Semana ("The Week"), published in the newspaper Gazeta de Notícias between 1892 and 1897, this is undoubtedly the modernization of the city of Rio de Janeiro. As the Federal Capital, Rio concentrated the major contradictions faced by the country in its attempts to overcome our colonial past. Following the procedure suggested by the chronicler and then adopting myopic eyes, to see small things and see where big views do not get, one can close the focus of analysis in some specific elements, such as the Ouvidor Street - one of the favorite places of the chronicler and exemplary as disseminator of foreign fashions - and the electric trolley, symbol of our race towards progress. The accidents caused by the tram also function as an eloquent symbol of the disastrous - if not tragic - results of that race. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]