Quotation from: Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard

Written by: Joseph Conrad


"Is it my fault that I am the only man for their purposes? What angry
nonsense are you talking, mother? Would you rather have me timid and
foolish, selling water-melons on the market-place or rowing a boat for
passengers along the harbour, like a soft Neapolitan without courage
or reputation? Would you have a young man live like a monk? I do not
believe it. Would you want a monk for your eldest girl? Let her grow.
What are you afraid of? You have been angry with me for everything I did
for years; ever since you first spoke to me, in secret from old Giorgio,
about your Linda. Husband to one and brother to the other, did you say?
Well, why not! I like the little ones, and a man must marry some time.
But ever since that time you have been making little of me to everyone.
Why? Did you think you could put a collar and chain on me as if I were
one of the watch-dogs they keep over there in the railway yards? Look
here, Padrona, I am the same man who came ashore one evening and sat
down in the thatched ranche you lived in at that time on the other side
of the town and told you all about himself. You were not unjust to me
then. What has happened since? I am no longer an insignificant youth. A
good name, Giorgio says, is a treasure, Padrona."

PREVIOUS GROUP HOME SITE HOME NEXT
Old Dominion University CS Dept
Designed by Joan A. Smith for the CRATE project
Created: 2007-2-22T12:35:29Z
Part of the CratePreservation Project
Change Tag: ~~ 0 ~~
Part of a series of experiments in web preservation under the direction of Michael L. Nelson, Ph.D.