Nostromo: the telling of history

Conrad generally does not relate the large, historic events. He is rarely the narrator of such events. Instead, he steps aside and others tell those portions of the tales. Battles, riots, the stuff of newspapers.

Thus, he serves to tell of Barrios departure for Cayta, when the Riberist forces are battling the Montero forces for control. Dona Emilia, Martin Decoud, Antonio and sundry others see the troops off. Later, there is a meeting at the Casa Gould of the various Europeans and local political players with ties to the Riberists. After he has left, Martin returns to tell Mrs. Gould of something he has learned from Nostromo on the way home: the Riberist forces have lost (197). He tells her of his plans for an independent Occidental Republic and ask for her help, her keeping it a secret so the Silver can be brought down. She agrees with "an almost imperceptible nod of her head"( 204).

This brings us to the end of chapter 6 of The Isabels section of the book. Much occurs between the end of 6 and the start of 7, but this happens off-stage, is not presented by the narrator. We only read of it in the written account Decoud sends his sister after the events. He sends her an account of the prior two days of rioting, suppression and conniving. What apparently happens: the news of the Monterist victory gets out. Already, two moderate provincial assembly men have started to lean that way and come out in open favor. There is a great demonstration on the plaza and things get edgy. At this point Ribero himself appears, having fled across the mountains and the crowd begins to attack him. Nostromo spots the commotion and comes to his aid, spiriting him away to a boat that departs Sulaco (206).

Similarly, there is a gap in the action right after Nostromo decides to enlist in the cause of the Occident Republic and head down to Cayta to get Barrios and his troops aboard. This occurs at the close of chapter 9. With the start of Chapter 10, time has passed, the tumultuous events are in the past, and we are told of them by the pompous, ridiculous OSN Steamship Captain Mitchell.

Mitchell is a fool, "proud of his experience, penetrated by the sense of historical importance of men, events, and buildings, he talked pompously in jerky periods, with slight sweeps of his short thick arm, letting nothing 'escape the attention' of his privileged captive"(395-396). Captain Mitchell is prone to clichés and stereotypes in his self-aggrandizing telling of the events giving rise to the Occident Republic. "The phrase 'In my delicate position, as the only consular agent then in port, everything, sir, everything was a just cause for anxiety,' had its place in the more or less stereotyped relation of the 'historical event' which for the next few  years was at the service of the distinguished strangers visiting Sulaco"(394).

The reader does not experience the "historical event" but is told of it. Given a choppy relation, in the past tense, as Mitchell takes a guest around town, showing him the sites. Here is where Barrios put down Pedrito Montero's troops. Here is the home of Antonia Avellanos, who Mitchell comically describes as "'the beautiful Antonia. A character, sir! An historical woman!'"(396). Here is where the miners' army confronted the Nationals, saving their boss Don Carlos. There is the former bandit Hernandez, who was enlisted in the fight back in the day, and created the legendary "Carabineers of the Campo"(399). Conrad interrupts, so to speak, to add "The programme went on relentlessly, like a law of nature"(400).

As with the self-important, Mitchell nurses grievance. Mitchell elevates his role in events. He tells his visitor how Nostromo went to Barrios in Cayta to enlist him in the Separation efforts but that he wasn't aware Nostromo was alive or so sent at the time these events occurred. As Mitchell tells it, "'I was never told; never given a hint, nothing-as if I were unworthy of confidence"(401). But, he sees Nostromo's actions as central to the events and is quick to point out that he discovered Nostromo. So, in the end, the Occidental Republic would have never happened but for him, Mitchell. "The merciless cicerone"(404), Mitchell, boasts, "'you can't get over it, Sir...the "Treasure House of the World", as The Times man calls Sulaco in his book, was saved intact for civilization-for a great future, sir'"(402).

Conrad sympathizes to the listener of Mitchell's history, "the privileged passenger....stunned and as it were annihilated maentally by a sudden surfeit of sights, sounds, names facts, and complicated information imperfectly apprehended, would listen like a tired child to a fairy tale"(404-405).

Conrad comes close to saying here is history. Here is its source. Here are its objects: nations, armies, great men. Here is its typical end-to show action in defense of "civilization." But, this history is not the center of his story. Suspicious of stories that have tidy shape, clear ends and morals, Conrad ends his story with the tragic, compelling tale of Nostromo's end, reshaping Nostromo into something other than heroic and far more fascinating.













.