Conrad, thus attached great importance to visual perspective for he believed that a thoroughly concretized art does not impose the subjective opinion of the author upon the world as a gospel truth. And so we have Conrad describing the revolution in Sulaco from the perspective of Nostromo, whose presence permeates the entire novel, either in terms of physical presence or in constant references to him. Conrad's 'narrative stance'- the relation that is in which the teller stands to his tale as well as the character and nature of the teller himself- makes his novels cinematic rather than simply fictional narratives. So, he presents his stories through the restricted vantage point of a character and centres the action in the individual's perception and makes him serve, if not precisely as the narrator, atleast as the window of consciousness, through which the reader would then perceive the fictional world laid out before them. And, so in the manner of Kurtz, the character of Nostromo, the 'Capataz' " who is much of a man" is presented rom the vantage points of various characters. Captain Mitchell describes Nostromo as the 'deliverer of Sulaco' : " A crazy mob Sir, does not discriminate . Under providence, we owed our presence to my Capataz de Cargadores, as they called him in the town, a man who when I discovered his value Sir, was just the bos'n of an Italian ship, a big Genoese ship...He left her on account of some very respectable friends he had made here but also I suppose to better himself....I engaged him to be the foreman of our litterman and caretaker of our jetty. That's all that he was. But without him Senor Ribiera would have been a dead man. Nostromo Sir, a man absolutely above reproach became the terror of the thieves in town... the sight of his black whiskers and white teeth was enough for them. They quailed before him, Sir. That's what the force of character will do for you.(p.46).
Part of the Dream Weave Walk 1999-2010