In the pages of “Sexto Sentido,” the twenty-one-year-old Adriana Amutio makes a name for herself as an expert in Height and Nationality. Height and nationality are important concerns in the world today, especially with the possibility of international conflict arising due to human population control. Height is a factor used by those in the legal system, such as judges, lawyers, and police officers, in determining whether or not one is fit to be part of a certain ethnic group. The issue of race can be found in the very matter of marriage, where couples choose to marry persons of the same race or ethnic group. For example, a Brazilian woman who wants to marry a Japanese man must be able to pass the Brazilian Height Test, which is administered by Brazilian doctors and is designed to determine if the proposed spouse is really of the same height as he claims to be.
The Height and Nationality issue also plays itself out in the pages of “Sexto Sentido.” After her marriage to Mario Colli, the curio at La Pleta de Serra reveals to her new lover that she is, in fact, eight feet tall. The reader soon comes to understand that this is an exaggeration on her actual height by several feet. She attempts to correct this discrepancy by ordering her maids to measure her with a yardstick. It is only when she and Mario get to their modest home in Serra do Guianaro that Adriana discovers that the yardstick they use is one and a half yards shorter than the true measurement.
Afraid that something terrible might happen to her husband if he learned the truth, she forces her maids to bring in the hired professional of the city of Rio de Janeiro to take a look at the place. The electrician, Joao Pereira, arrives just in time to help Adriana before her husband arrives. The entire episode is quite ridiculous and is followed by the seemingly inevitable conclusion: Joao Pereira dies of a heart attack, and Adriana marries Mario Colli.