Nigger Of Narcissus Analysis

This extract from the Nigger of Narcissus a novel by Joseph Conrad depicts a sailing ship by the name of Narcissus entering into a port. The language used to describe the port depicts it as a dark, lifeless, constraining and dangerous location and the perspective from which the extract written is one which consists of negative opinions about this location. There are many examples throughout this extract where contrasting ideas are used to depict the diversity in the nature of the port. These contrasting ideas compare elements which we would usually associate with pleasant locations and objects with elements which are typically unpleasant and disgusting. These fundamental aspects of this extract portray the port from a perspective which views …show more content…
This is because soared is often used to describe the free movements of birds. Yet in this context the soaring only occurs in short flights indicating that something is stopping this movement from happening and thus constricting the freedom freedom. “A penetrating smell of perfumes and dirt” is another example of contrast used in this extract. In this instance contrast is used to describe the difference between the pleasant, sweet, clean scent of perfume and the earthly, unclean smell of dirt. Another two ways in which contrast used to describe the smell of the port is the the smell of “spices and hides” which is again contrasting between a sweet, pleasant smell, (the spices) with the revolting, unclean and dirty scent of hides. As well as the contrast between “things costly and filthy” a contrast again between clean, sweet smelling and pleasant objects with dirty, repugnant items. To summarise the atmosphere that these contrasting smells create Conrad has used the words “precious and disgusting”. The precious smells would include that of the “perfumes”, “spices” and “things costly” while the disgusting scents would be the “dirt”, “hides” and “filthy” items. This creates an atmosphere which is chaotic in that there are so many contrasting smells and presumably sights that it creates a small world of