Monday, March 18, 2013

Group Difficulties HOD

Why does a sailor tell Marlow to "try to be civil" on page 106? I understand that the interruption is to draw attention to the fact that Conrad is behind two narrators, but in the context of the conversation I don't think anything Marlow says is particularly vulgar especially when compared to the other things he has said earlier in the book.
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3 comments:

  1. Eric BMarch 19, 2013 at 9:48 AM

    Perhaps that comment simply is a tool used to remind the reader of the double narrator situation. I can't really tell if it has any deeper meaning.

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  2. UnknownMarch 19, 2013 at 9:48 AM

    My interpretation of the comment was that it is in response to Marlow's saying "I felt often its mysterious stillness watching me at my monkey tricks, just as it watches you fellows performing on your respective tight-ropes for--what is it? half-a-crown a tumble--" which could certainly be seen as an insult; as I saw it, the unknown speaker is slightly offended by Marlow's comparison of his profession to "monkey tricks" and the somewhat condescending tone of "for--what is it? half-a-crown a tumble." However, I am still confused as to what exactly Marlow refers to there. I find it unlikely that the speaker in question was ACTUALLY some kind of circus performer, and I think far more reasonable that Marlow is talking of his profession metaphorically, but I am unable to discern exactly what that is.

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  3. UnknownMarch 19, 2013 at 10:03 AM

    I agree with both Ynez and Eric, this is to remind the reader of the fact that Marlow is telling a story and not the initial narrator. I also agree with Ynez's analysis of the previous comment made by Marlow but i think it is important to recognize the irony of another telling Marlow to be civil when Marlow has spent the book criticizing the uncivilized manners of the natives.

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