A Mad Art Attempting the Inconceivable
"a coruscating whirl of circles that by their tangled multitude of repeated
curves,
uniformity of form, and confusion of intersecting
lines
suggested a rendering
of cosmic chaos . . . (34).
Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent (1907)
Points
for Reflection
J. Conrad's The Secret Agent (1907), chps 1-4
- does Verloc's cover--his pornography shop--make him seem seem dark and mysterious, ridiculous, or something else?
- what exactly does the narrator mean when he describes Verloc as "thoroughly domesticated"?
- what about Winnie's "unfathomable" and quiet demeanor (5, 6) is so attractive to the various male boarders who befriend her?
- is Stevie cast as a pitiful victim with few redeeming qualities, or as a capable agent shaping his own destiny?
- do the circles drawn by Stevie lend themselves to symbolic interpretation?
- is the "blind love" Stevie has for his sister (8) the simple product of operant conditioning, or evidence of real, active compassion on his part?
- chapter two begins with a claim that the previous chapter effectively
described "the house, the household, and the business Mr Verloc left
behind him" (9). In fact, the narrator's tone is somewhat ironic
when he comments "Such
was the house
. . ." (9, my emphasis). All is not as it seems in this household.
Explain exactly how the narrator goes about undercutting his own description
of
the Verloc home across chapter one,
implying
one
state
of
affairs while
detailing another.
- does Conrad's use of free indirect discourse--a technique which takes us directly into Verloc's mind (while still sounding like the narrator's voice)--increase or decrease our sympathy for and and appreciation of Verloc? For an example look at the bottom of page nine.
- does the reader's appreciation of Mr. Verloc grow or lessen across chapter two?
- what is the endgame of Wurmt and Vladimir, and how does the latter suggest Verloc go about creating the desired state of affairs?
- do you think Mr. Vladamir's "philosophy of bomb throwing" serious,
comic, ironic, or something else (23-27)?
- are the various members of Verloc's anarchist group distinctive enough in their temperament and ideas to be considered separate individuals, or are they mirror images of one another?
- what does the narrator himself think of the anarchists?
- why is Stevie so upset by Karl Yundt's use of violent imagery and metaphor?
- do the individual brains of Stevie and Adolph Verloc encounter similar limitations?
- does the ridiculous Adolf Verloc finally become sympathetic at the close of chapter three?
- what does the narrator mean by his suggestion that Ossipon "[suffers] from a sense of moral and even physical insignificance" when speaking with the Professor (47)?
- is the Professor’s ominous self-confidence a pose or an unshakeable fact?
- to what degree does the narrator himself shape the reader’s opinion of the Professor? Are the narrator’s character judgments intrusive—does it bother you to be told what to think about a character?
- what is the Professor's endgame?
- why might the Professor tell Ossipon to "'[f]asten himself upon'" Winnie Verloc (59)?
A view of the
Royal
Observatory around 1800
John Varley
(www.nmm.ac.uk)
Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu
