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ornamental line

Unconquerable Memory

“He had a fixed idea that if he should not forget before he died
he would have to remember to all eternity" (128).

 

Points for Reflection

Joseph Conrad's Almayer's Folly (1895), chps. 9-12

  1. Mem Almayer tells the incredulous Babalatchi that Almayer will kill someone if he learns about their plans to help Nina escape with Dina, that he’s quite capable of killing someone (86-87).  Is she accurate in her assessment of Almayer’s capacity for vioilence/
  2. is Mem Almayer's advice to Nina, about men, obviously particular to only her own experience, or do her observations have a cross-cultural ring of truth (95-97)?
  3. the narrator opens the novel with Almayer gazing at a golden sunset, thinking about the gold which he has earned through above-the-board trade and which his competitors have won through subterfuge and dishonest means.  Does the novel ultimately support Almayer’s claim of personal innocence?
  4. A number of characters—including Nina, Babalatchi, and Mrs. Almayer—critique the novel’s representatives of European culture (Almayer, the Dutch sailors, etc.).  Does the novel suggest that their criticism is warranted?
  5. does Nina love her father?
  6. at the beginning of chp 10, we see Nina briefly doubting her intended course of action (94).  Does the novel later suggest that she has made the wrong decision?
  7. is Almayer’s dream (101) the nightmare of a drunk failure, or of all the human race?
  8. why has Mrs. Almayer not killed her husband?  She has had many opportunities to do so.  (An answer to this question is not explicitly stated by the text, so you’ll have to perform some deductive reasoning.)
  9. is Nature configured as friend or foe?  Is it latent with symbolism, or mere backdrop?  Why might Conrad wait till so late in this particular novel to indulge in detailed descriptions of the river (104), the forest (106), the sea (112), and the sun (120)?
  10. does Dain’s love for Nina hold the promise of life-long commitment?
  11. does Dain’s love for Nina hold the promise of life-long commitment, or are we encouraged to accept the perspective of both Mem Almayer and Kaspar as concerns a Malay prince’s libido (98, 114)?
  12. why does Almayer ask his precious daughter to stop looking him in the face (115)?
  13. who yields more to the other, Dain or Nina?  Or, is theirs a mutual deference and submission?
  14. why does Almayer not give in to the hopeful dream painted by one half of his psyche (124)?
  15. are Almayer’s attempts to erase his memory efficacious?


A painting of two young women sitting in a field together. There is a tree to the right of them with a large shadow on the ground. The woman in the foreground is leaning forward with a hand to her chest, and she is wearing a bright red and orange skirt and a white flower behind her ear. The woman behind her has a pink dress and is pointing to the right. There are mountains and grasses in the background and two figures wearing wide-brimmed hats standing in the distance.
When Will You Marry? (1892)
Paul Gauguin


Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu