First Verloc example essay topic

Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad, born Ted or Josef Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski, was born December 3, 1857 in a Russian-ruled province of Poland. His parents' involvement in the Polish independence movement had them kicked out of Northern Russia in 1863. After his parents' deaths, he moved in with relatives where he was often ill and received little schooling. At sixteen years of age, Conrad decided to become a seaman and he joined the British merchant marines in 1878. His lack of speaking the English language did not discourage him. During his ten years of service, Conrad became a British citizen, traveled the western continents, developed into a Captain and learned the English language.

Health problems caused his early retirement of the British merchant marines. In 1894, he started his career as a writer, using his seaman and sailing experience to write. In 1895, Conrad's first novel, Almayer's Folly, was published, with some of the book being written in the service. One year after his first novel, on March 24, 1896, Conrad married Jessie George.

They had two children, Alfred Boys and John Alexander. In Kent, England, 1924, Joseph Conrad suffered a heart attack and died. For the rest of his writing career, Conrad would have difficulty being a writer. He found it difficult to write in the English language: he thought it was a slow and unbearable torment.

His novel Chance was his first financial success. His other novels and short stories that were published in the first ten years of the twentieth century are thought of as his most important works. Throughout his career, Conrad examined the ridiculousness of living by a traditional code of conduct: his novels suggest that the complication of the human spirit allows neither absolute loyalty to any ideal nor even to one's conscience. It is presented in all of his novels that failure is a fact of human existence. The novel Nostromo, which deals mainly with revolution, politics and financial manipulation, is best at portraying failure. This novel is widely recognized as Conrad's most ambitious novel.

The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale begins with Mr. Verloc being summoned to a certain foreign embassy. Strolling down the street he did not look like the agent provocateur he was meant to be. He owned an ambiguous little shop where his family lived close by. He often entertained anarchists from London that he had to keep and eye on and hid his actual occupation. Thinking to himself how embarrassing it would be for one of his anarchist friends to see at the embassy, he went inside. He had an appointment with Mr. Vladimir, who was the First Secretary of an unnamed embassy.

Vladimir was threatening Mr. Verloc's job. Vladimir noticed Mr. Verloc's laziness and slothfulness within the past few years and wanted Verloc to straighten up his act or leave. Vladimir gave Verloc his final warning and sent him on his way. Extremely upset, Verloc returned to his shop and rejoined his family where he resumed is powerful demeanor.

Not long after, some of his anarchist friends came into the store. He hid his frustration and fear behind the friendly smile he always gave. Unfortunately, he wasn't as successful with his wife as with his friends. Mr. Verloc's wife was named Winnie. She was much younger than him and married him out of protection than of love. It wasn't her own protection she was worried about; it was more for her brother, Stevie.

Ever since they were children, she had been his leader and guardian. Stevie was now physically mature, but mentally immature. He looked up to Verloc and wanted his attention very much. Verloc had very little patience and wanted nothing to do with him. Verloc also supported Winnie's mother, and she along with Winnie would try to explain to Stevie that Verloc was very busy and needed not to be bothered. Stevie and Winnie's mom decided to move out to an almshouse to prevent Verloc from kicking both Stevie and his mom out of the house.

This arrangement made Stevie very upset. He would wonder around the house in a sadden daze. Winnie became so upset with the changes in her brother, she asked her husband to take Stevie along when he went on his mysterious walks. At first Verloc was annoyed, but he soon accepted Stevie's company. Things were going really well and Winnie felt no objection when an elderly anarchist, Michaelis, offered to have Stevie stay at his house for a few days.

For the next few days, the Verloc household was quiet with little or no incidents going on. One afternoon, Verloc came home in a terrible turmoil. He had emptied his and Winnie's bank account, and mumbled about leaving the country. Winnie yelled to him that she would not leave the country and that he should eat his dinner and put on his slippers. He simply ignored her, but he couldn't ignore the Assistant Commissioner of London Police who took him away. During the time that Verloc was away, another visitor came to the Verloc residence.

The visitor was Chief Inspector Heat. He presented a cloth label that was bearing Stevie's name and address. She became hysterical and demanded to know where Heat had found this cloth. Just then, Verloc returned home, interrupting their conversation.

Heat directed Verloc into another room where Winnie tried to hear what they were saying. Stevie had been trying to bomb the Greenwich Observatory and fell on the bomb from the fog, causing it to explode prematurely. When Heat left, Verloc tried to explain to his wife why he trained Stevie to take part in a bombing. She was so upset she couldn't listen to a word he said. He gave up trying to explain and fell asleep on the couch. While he slept, Winnie grabbed a knife and stabbed Verloc in the heart.

She ran out into the night and came across Comrade Ossipon, one of her husband's anarchist friends. He promised he would help her in any way he could. Not long after he promised to help her, he realized he could be brought into this murder as being apart of an affair. He convinced Winnie to get on a boat train, and when it began to take off, he jumped off; taking all the money that Winnie had trusted him with. A week passed and Ossipon didn't enjoy the wealth that came with Winnie's money. He began to take on a sense of guilt, which worsened when he heard the story of a woman who committed suicide.

She had been a female passenger of a boat train. Ossipon was convinced that the woman's last words would haunt him forever, for he alone knew the truth about Winnie's death.