HOD Blog #2

    The events at the Central Station appear to be happening in slow motion. As Marlow arrives, the narrative become slower: "White men with long staves in their hands appeared languidly from amongst the buildings, strolling up to take a look at me, and then retired out of sight somewhere. One of them [...] informed me with great volubility and many digressions..." (Conrad 88). The descriptions of the men moving around portrays a slow, heavy atmosphere with no rush. The people are taking their time to do their jobs as Marlow says, "I saw this station, these men strolling aimlessly about in the sunshine of the yard. I asked myself sometimes what it all meant. They wandered here and there with their absurd long staves in their hands" (Conrad 91). They walk around aimlessly just as Marlow does as he describes himself as a wanderer earlier in the novel. The difference is that this time Marlow is the observer and not the wanderer. He is beginning to question why these men stroll aimlessly and find nothing. This aspect relates to Plato's "Myth of the Cave" where Marlow is slowly coming out of the cave.