"But Marlow was not typical [...] and to him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze, in the likeness of one of these misty halos that sometimes are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine" (Conrad 68).
I take this to mean that the process, or journey that Marlow takes in getting to the point or lesson of his story is more important to him than the lesson itself. This relates to the theory of teaching that involves coming to a conclusion with your student, rather than throwing information at him. Marlow takes his listeners on a journey that created a proverbial glow around the point of the story itself.
The book also implies that sailors are implicitly simple. Their stories have basic points, and the sailors stick to themselves, their crafts, and the sea. Marlow, however, is depicted as a teacher. He is the last one to still "follow the sea", and although this would seem to allude to Marlow being a genuine sailor (i.e. not a teacher), I believe that it has some sort of wisdom related significance. The book portrays Malow as a genius rambler. His fellow sailors are used to his ramblings, and tune out most of his stories and lessons, including the one he spins in the first chapter about the Romans coming to England and feeling terrified in the new area. He traces this story along to his experience when he traveled up the Congo river as a younger sailor.
As a reader, I'm guessing that Marlow's stories are what weaves this book together, and that the knowledge in it is to be grasped by the storytelling mechanism itself; not the end of the book.
No comments:
Post a Comment