Literary Devices in Nostromo
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
Costaguana is a fictional South American country loosely based on Colombia. Most of the action takes place in Sulaco, a port town (which is also totally made up). Understanding the geography of Sul...
Narrator Point of View
The narrative weaves in and out of characters' minds seamlessly, often floating back and forth between different people and even different locations within a chapter. The narrator doesn't really ed...
Genre
Okay, so, if you're used to reading Modernism à la Virginia Woolf or James Joyce, you might be scratching your head about this genre choice for Nostromo. Bear with us, though, as we make our caseâ...
Tone
Cold and Disinterested, with a dash of MirthSince the novel spends a lot of time "in" the characters' minds, the tone is often dependent on who is speaking. However, there are definitely some momen...
Writing Style
As we discuss in the "Genre" section, the narration likes to switch back and forth a bunch between different characters and locations, which makes the style pretty chaotic; you will be suddenly jer...
What's Up With the Title?
This is the question you will be asking yourself about eighty pages into the novel, when you realize you've really only gotten passing references to Nostromo, and that all those references were nes...
What's Up With the Epigraph?
"So foul a sky clears not without a storm." - ShakespeareHas anyone ever told you that sometimes things have to get worse before they get better? That's kind of what this quote from Shakespeare's K...
What's Up With the Ending?
The novel ends with Doctor Monygham arriving at the Great Isabel to relay news of Nostromo's death to the Violas. Hearing the news, Linda declares that she will never forget him. In fact, she screa...
Tough-o-Meter
Nostromo may be about sailors and hidden treasure, but don't expect a simple adventure tale. The plot is complex and jumps around a whole bunch, often abruptly shifting focus and perspective from c...
Plot Analysis
Silver and GouldPeace has finally come to Costaguana after a long period of civil war and the cruel reign of a man named Guzmán Bento. Charles Gould, a native Costaguanero of English extraction, d...
Booker's Seven Basic Plots Analysis
You could say that we as readers kind of experience the anticipation stage right along with Nostromo, since we have to wait a good long while for him to emerge as a central character. This treatmen...
Three-Act Plot Analysis
After years of political infighting and war, the Costaguana-born Englishman Charles Gould is hoping to bring lasting peace and stability by starting up a silver mine. The plan goes okay for a littl...
Trivia
In the movie Alien, the spaceship is named Nostromo after Conrad's novel. Also, some of the other ships got Nostromo-related names (like the Sulaco). (Source.)Famous director David Lean (of Lawrenc...
Steaminess Rating
Nostromo keeps things pretty clean. That said, Nostromo does get a bit hot and heavy with his fiancée's sister and is a little creepily obsessed with how tiny her feet are. Possible incipient foot...
Allusions
Ceres, Pallas (III.10.35)Hermes (III.11.2)Juno, Saturn, Ganymede, Cerberus (I.2.2)Lucia di Lammermoor (I.7.11)Minerva (I.2.10)Bolivar, Simon (I.6.5)Caesar, Julius (III.7.6)Cavour (I.4.16)Charles IV...