The Lagoon (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Joseph Conrad
- First Published: 1898
- Type of Plot: Symbolist
- Time of Work: The late 1890's
- Setting: Malaysia
- Principal Characters: Tuan, Arsat
- Genres: Short fiction, Frame story
- Subjects: Love or romance, Courage, Betrayal, Guilt, Fear, Death or dying, Sick persons, Adventure, Honor
- Locales: Malaysia
The Story
Toward dusk in a tropical lagoon, a white man arrives by boat at the hut of Arsat, a Malayan whom he had befriended years earlier. Arsat greets him at the doorway with an anxious, fearful look and asks the white man, whom he calls “Tuan,” if he has brought some medicine. Tuan asks who is sick, and Arsat brings him to the bedside of Diamelen, his woman. She has been stricken with fever and is seriously ill. Fearful that she will die, Arsat and Tuan keep watch by the fire outside the hut. As night arrives, plunging the lagoon into an unquiet darkness, Arsat begins...
[The entire page is 1359 words long]
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