The Lagoon

By Joseph Conrad (1857-1924)

A Study Guide

Type of Work

......."The Lagoon" is a short story with elements of realism, adventure, and

romanticism. Joseph Conrad completed the story in 1896 and published it in Cornhill
Magazine, a distinguished London periodical that featured poems, essays, short
stories, and serialized novels.

Setting

.......The story is set in Southeast Asia (on the Malay Peninsula or in the Malay
Archipelago) on a river flowing eastward to the ocean, on a creek flowing inland
through dense forest, and at a small house on a lagoon. The action takes place in
the last half of the nineteenth century after Europeans colonized southern Asia and
after the Malay kingdoms of Wajo, Soping, Boni, and Si Dendring fought wars over
who should succeed as rajah of Si Dendring.

Characters

The White Man: Traveler who captains a sampan propelled by Malay oarsmen. He
is unidentified by a given name or surname. A Malay friend, Arsat, addresses him as
Tuan, a title of respect meaning sir or mister.
Arsat: The protagonist, a Malay who has been living in a small house on a lagoon
with his beloved, a woman named Diamelen, who was once the servant of a rajah's
wife. After Arsat fell in love with Diamelen, he and she eloped and were chased by
the rajah's men.
Diamelen: Arsat's mate, who is dying.
Arsat's Brother: Young man who appears in a flashback story told by Arsat. Arsat
says he died while helping Arsat and Diamelen escape from the rajah's men.
The Juragan: Steersman of the white man's boat.
Oarsmen of the White Man's Boat
Rajah: A ruler in the land of the Malays. He is mentioned in the flashback story.
Inchi Midah: Rajah's wife. Diamelen was her servant until the latter eloped with
Arsat. She is mentioned in the flashback story.
Rajah Warriors: They are mentioned in the flashback story. They chased Arsat, his
brother, and Diamelen and killed Arsat's brother.
.

Plot Summary.
.......On both sides of the river in the land of the Malays in Southeast Asia, not a leaf
rustles in the windless forests as oarsmen paddle a sampan eastward, away from
the setting sun, toward the sea.
.......“We will pass the night in Arsat's clearing," the white man tells the Malay
steersman.
.......The steersman plunges his paddle into the water and turns the boat into a
narrow creek running into the thick forest. When the creek widens and the water
becomes shallower, the crewmen pole their way to a wide lagoon. In the distance is
a house resting on piles.
.......The Malay crewmen would rather break their trip elsewhere, for they believe
spirits haunt the darkness around the lagoon. These spirits do not bother the white
man, the Malays believe, because he and others of his kind are “in league with the
Father of Evil, who leads them unharmed through the invisible dangers of this
world."
.......The boat pulls up at the piles next to Arsat's canoe and a bamboo platform, and
the crewmen shout his name. After the white man climbs a rope ladder to the
platform, the juragan (steersman) tells him that he and the other crewmen will eat
and sleep in the boat. They pass a blanket and a basket up to the white man.
.......Arsat, a young man with a broad chest, comes out and asks, “Have you
medicine, Tuan?"
.......The visitor says no, then goes inside to see what prompted the question. On a
couch, a woman is lying unconscious under a red sheet. She is burning with a fever,
and her eyes are staring blankly upward. The Malay reports that her illness began
when she heard voices calling her from the lagoon. Now, after spending five
sleepless nights watching over her, the Malay says she is unresponsive.
.......“Tuan, will she die?"
.......“I fear so," says the white man.
.......For years, Arsat had been a faithful friend of the white man, even fighting by his
side when the need arose. The white man likes him—“not so much perhaps as a
man likes his favorite dog," the narrator says, but well enough to come to Arsat's
aid.
.......The white man goes back outside. Darkness is overcoming the last of the light,
and in a short while the lagoon reflects the stars. He opens the basket and eats
supper, then gathers twigs and builds a fire on the platform to create smoke to repel
mosquitoes. While the white man sits smoking, Arsat comes out and reports that his
woman continues to burn with a fever and asks again whether she will die.
.......“If such is her fate," the white man says.
.......Arsat goes back in and tries to rouse her. She does not respond. He comes
back out, sits by the fire, and speaks of the old days when he and the white man
fought together. After the fighting was over, he recalls, the white man went his way,
and Arsat and his people lived in peace under the rulership of a rajah. In time, Arsat
says, he fell in love with a young woman named Diamelen, the servant of the rajah's
wife, Inchi Midah. Diamelen returned his love. One day, he eloped with her with the
help of his brother. Taking with them some rice, they fled to the nearby river and
paddled their way to the sea. His brother had the gun that the white man had once
given him. Chased by the rajah's men, Arsat and his brother paddled furiously along
the coast through the night and into the morning. Weary beyond measure, they
stopped on the sandy beach of a bay to rest and eat rice. While Diamelen kept
watch, the brothers lay down to rest. But just as they had done so, she cried out.
The rajah's men were approaching in a prau. Arsat's brother, who knew well the
area along the coast, urged Arsat to run into the forest with Diamelen. "I shall keep
them back," Arsat's brother said, "for they have no firearms, and landing in the face
of a man with a gun is certain death for some. Run with her. On the other side of that
wood there is a fisherman's house—and a canoe. When I have fired all the shots I
will follow. I am a great runner, and before they can come up we shall be gone."
.......With Diamelen, Arsat did as his brother suggested. At length, while hearing the
ring of his brother's gunshots behind, they came to the fisherman's house at the
mouth of a wide river. A man came out of the house. The Malay overpowered him,
and he and Diamelen paddled away in the canoe. When Arsat heard shouting, he
turned around and saw many men chasing his brother.
I heard him cry my name twice; and I heard voices shouting, "Kill! Strike!" I never
turned back. I heard him calling my name again with a great shriek, as when life is
going out together with the voice—and I never turned my head . . . Three times he
called—but I was not afraid of life. Was she not there in that canoe? And could I not
with her find a country where death is forgotten—where death is unknown?
.......Arsat then says regretfully, “'What did I care who died? I wanted peace in my
own heart."
.......Arsat goes inside to check on Diamelen. As the white man sees dawning light
on the horizon, he hears a groan. Arsat comes back out and announces that
Diamelen has died. The white man invites Arsat to come with him, but the Malay
declines, saying,
I shall not eat or sleep in this house, but I must first see my road. Now I can see
nothing—see nothing! There is no light and no peace in the world; but there is
death—death for many. We were sons of the same mother—and I left him in the
midst of enemies . . . In a little while I shall see clear enough to strike—to strike. But
she has died, and ... now ... darkness.
When the white man and his crew leave, he looks back and sees Arsat “still looking
through the great light of a cloudless day into the hopeless darkness of the world" as
he plans to avenge the death of his brother.
..

Themes

Remorse

.......Remorse and regret for abandoning his brother to the rajah's men haunt Arsat
like the ghosts that the Malay boatmen imagine inhabit the lagoon and the forests
around it. He believes his failure to save his brother caused Diamelen's illness and
death.

Stagnation

.......When the white man's boat approaches Arsat's house, the narrator says, "The
creek broadened, opening out into a wide sweep of a stagnant lagoon." In describing
the lagoon as stagnant (motionless, dead, inert; or putrid, foul, rotting), the narrator
is also describing the life of Arsat and Diamelen since their arrival at their isolated
forest dwelling. Their life together has been lonely, uneventful, and motionless; the
fester of Arsat's guilt has poisoned their opportunity for a contented life just as the
mosquitoes from the lagoon have poisoned Diamelin's veins with deadly disease.
Selfishness

.......Arsat claims Diamelen. With the help of his devoted brother, he selfishly runs off
with her without stopping even to come to the aid of his brother.

The Ever-Present Past

.......Arsat has been unable to erase the memory of the day when he left his brother
behind. So painful is the memory of that day and so keen is his desire to redeem
himself that he deliberately offered up his own life when fighting with the white man.
Arsat says, “[Y]ou have seen me in time of danger seek death as other men seek
life! A writing may be lost; a lie may be written; but what the eye has seen is truth
and remains in the mind!" But Arsat lives on, as do the ghosts of the past.

Narration

.......Joseph Conrad tells the story in omniscient third-person point of view, enabling
the narrator to reveal the thoughts of the characters, as in the following passage
presenting the feelings of the Malay boatmen:

The polers ran along the sides of the boat glancing over their shoulders at the end of
the day's journey. They would have preferred to spend the night somewhere else
than on this lagoon of weird aspect and ghostly reputation. Moreover, they disliked
Arsat, first as a stranger, and also because he who repairs a ruined house, and
dwells in it, proclaims that he is not afraid to live amongst the spirits that haunt the
places abandoned by mankind. Such a man can disturb the course of fate by
glances or words; while his familiar ghosts are not easy to propitiate by casual
wayfarers upon whom they long to wreak the malice of their human master. White
men care not for such things, being unbelievers and in league with the Father of Evil,
who leads them unharmed through the invisible dangers of this world.
Midway through the story, the omniscient narrator presents lengthy quotations in
which Arsat tells the most important part of the story—about the death of his brother
during Arsat and Diamelen's escape from the rajah's men. Arsat's account is of
course in first-person point of view. Shifting from one narrator to another is a favorite
technique of Conrad. In his novella Heart of Darkness, for example, Conrad opens
with a first-person narrator who sets the scene, then shifts to another first-person
narrator who tells the main story. (For further information, see Heart of Darkness on
this site.)

Structure

Conrad divides the story into three main sections:

1...The white man travels to Arsat's dwelling and discovers that Arsat's wife is dying.
In this section, the narrator establishes the somber tone and atmosphere of the
story.
2...Through flashback, Arsat tells the story of how he eloped with Diamelen with the
help of his brother and how his brother died when the rajah's men chased them.
3...Diamelen dies. Arsat prepares to avenge his brother's death as the white man
leaves.

Climax

.......The climax occurs when Diamelen dies. Her death forces Arsat to confront his
inner demons and to prepare himself for avenging his brother's death. Arsat says,
"We were sons of the same mother—and I left him in the midst of enemies; but I am
going back now. . . In a little while I shall see clear enough to strike—to strike."

Imagery and Symbolism

.......Conrad, a highly talented stylist, developed the foreboding atmosphere of "The

Lagoon" with imagery that emphasizes the somber stillness and motionlessness of
the forests and waters, foreshadowing the stagnancy of the lagoon and the spiritless
life of Arsat in his lonely wilderness retreat with Diamelen.

At the end of the straight avenue of forests cut by the intense glitter of the river, the
sun appeared unclouded and dazzling, poised low over the water that shone
smoothly like a band of metal. The forests, somber and dull, stood motionless and
silent on each side of the broad stream. At the foot of big, towering trees, trunkless
nipa palms rose from the mud of the bank, in bunches of leaves enormous and
heavy, that hung unstirring over the brown swirl of eddies. In the stillness of the air
every tree, every leaf, every bough, every tendril of creeper and every petal of
minute blossoms seemed to have been bewitched into an immobility perfect and
final.
As Conrad draws the reader deeper into the story, he mixes into the stillness the
darkness of the forest, which symbolizes the darkness in Arsat's heart.
Immense trees soared up, invisible behind the festooned draperies of creepers.
Here and there, near the glistening blackness of the water, a twisted root of some
tall tree showed amongst the tracery of small ferns, black and dull, writhing and
motionless, like an arrested snake. The short words of the paddlers reverberated
loudly between the thick and somber walls of vegetation. Darkness oozed out from
between the trees, through the tangled maze of the creepers, from behind the great
fantastic and unstirring leaves; the darkness, mysterious and invincible; the
darkness scented and poisonous of impenetrable forests.
.......Several passages contrast darkness with light, which symbolizes the world that
Arsat left behind for his forest retreat: "In a few moments all the stars came out
above the intense blackness of the earth, and the great lagoon gleaming suddenly
with reflected lights resembled an oval patch of night-sky flung down into the
hopeless and abysmal night of the wilderness." When Diamelen dies, morning light
begins to drive out the darkness of the forest, signifying a change in Arsat. An eagle
soars heavenward, symbolizing the rising soul of Diamelen. Here is the passage:
After a chill gust of wind there were a few seconds of perfect calm and absolute
silence. Then from behind the black and wavy line of the forests a column of golden
light shot up into the heavens and spread over the semicircle of the eastern horizon.
The sun had risen. The mist lifted, broke into drifting patches, vanished into thin
flying wreaths; and the unveiled lagoon lay, polished and black, in the heavy
shadows at the foot of the wall of trees. A white eagle rose over it with a slanting and
ponderous flight, reached the clear sunshine and appeared dazzlingly brilliant for a
moment, then soaring higher, became a dark and motionless speck before it
vanished into the blue as if it had left the earth for ever. The white man, standing
gazing upwards before the doorway, heard in the hut a confused and broken
murmur of distracted words ending with a loud groan. Suddenly Arsat stumbled out
with outstretched hands, shivered, and stood still for some time with fixed eyes.
Then he said—
Figures of Speech
.......Following are examples of figures of speech in the story.

Alliteration
Repetition of a Consonant Sound

somber and dull, stood motionless and silent on each side of the broad stream.
but her big eyes, wide open, glittered in the gloom,
sunset put out by the swift and stealthy shadows
He flung his arms wide open, let them fall along his body, then stood still with
unmoved face and stony eyes. . . .
Anaphora
Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of word groups occurring
one after the other
In the stillness of the air every tree, every leaf, every bough, every tendril of
creeper and every petal of minute blossoms seemed to have been bewitched into
an immobility perfect and final.
A rumor powerful and gentle, a rumor vast and faint; the rumor of trembling leaves,
of stirring boughs, ran through the tangled depths of the forests. . . .
Metaphor
Comparison of Unlike Things Without Using Like, As, Than, or As If
the earth . . . became . . . a battle-field of phantoms (Comparison of the earth to a
battlefield of ghosts)
Darkness oozed out from between the trees. . . . (Comparison of darkness to an
oozing liquid)
Paradox
Contradictory statement that may actually be true
There's no worse enemy and no better friend than a brother. . . .
Simile
Comparison of Unlike Things Using Like, As, Than, or As If
water that shone smoothly like a band of metal. (Comparison of the smooth water to
a band of metal)
a twisted root of some tall tree . . . writhing and motionless, like an arrested snake.
(Comparison of the root to a snake)

Vocabulary

nibong, nipa: Palm trees of Asia with leaves that can be used to make a roof.
prau: Malayan boat with a triangular sail and an outrigger.
rajah: an Indian, Malay, or Javanese ruler.
sampan: small boat with a stern-mounted oar used for steering.
sarong: Malay garment of men and women. It consists of a single length of cloth that
is wrapped at the waist and may extend to the knees or ankles.
tuan: Malay term for sir or mister.
Diamelen's Illness

.......Diamelen apparently dies of malaria, a parasitic disease spread by the bite of

the female anopheles mosquito. Mosquitoes lay their eggs in water, and the
stagnant lagoon beneath Arsat's dwelling is infested with the insects, as the narrator
indicates in this passage: "The white man had some supper out of the basket, then
collecting a few sticks that lay about the platform, made up a small fire, not for
warmth, but for the sake of the smoke, which would keep off the mosquitos."
.

Author Information
.
.......Joseph Conrad, one of the most important novelists in English literature, was
born in 1857 to Polish parents in Berdichev, Ukraine, a country in eastern Europe
that was annexed as part of Poland in 1569 but incorporated into the Russian
Empire in the 19th Century. Ukraine is now an independent country. Conrad’s birth
name was Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski.When he was a child, Conrad learned
about the great English authors—including Shakespeare, Dickens, Thackeray, and
Sir Walter Scott—from his father, a poet who also translated English books into
Polish and French. Young Joseph could read translations of these authors in both of
those languages. His parents, devout Roman Catholics, raised him in that religion.
When he was still an adolescent, his father and mother died, and thereafter his uncle
saw to his upbringing and schooling. In 1874, Conrad abandoned his studies to fulfill
a longing to go to sea. Subsequently, he served on French and British merchants
ships, sailing around the world. During this time, he became not only a master
mariner (acknowledged with a British certificate in 1886) but also a master of the
English language. He also became a British subject. In the late 1880's, he began to
write. In 1890, he traveled up the Congo River from the Atlantic coast, then back, on
a four-month journey. The trip provided him all the background he needed for Heart
of Darkness. His first novel, Almayer’s Folly, was published in 1895, marking the first
time he used the name “Joseph Conrad" instead of his birth name. Many other
distinguished works–including The Nigger of the Narcissus, Heart of Darkness, Lord
Jim, Typhoon, and Nostromo—followed within a decade. The British government
invited him to receive knighthood in his later years, but he declined the honor. He
died of a heart attack in 1924 at Bishopsbourne, England.
.

Study Questions and Writing Topics

1...At the end of the story, the reader learns that Arsat plans to avenge the death of his brother.
Would his plans be the same if Diamelen had lived?
2...Write a short essay that explains the change (or changes) that Arsat undergoes.
2...What passage in the story indicates that the Malay oarsmen are Muslims?
3...Point out on a world map the general area where the story is set.
4...Do you believe the white man regards Arsat as an equal?
5...Write a short story that imitates Conrad's writing style. The subject is open.