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   kc4u Teacher
   College - Senior

   eNotes Editor

   The deep and mysterious lagoon in the forlorn and ancient Malayan forests primarily serves as a symbol for Arsat's life of loneliness and alienation. Arsat, after having eloped his beloved, Diamelen, lives in a hut beside the lagoon. But his sense of moral default for having betrayed his brother in order to escape with Diamelen to another world where 'death is unknown', alienates Arsat. As the white man visits Arsat's clearing, Diamelen is on the brink of death, and the Malay on the verge of disillusionment.

   The weird-looking lagoon with its mysterious depth lying lurking in the midst of dark forests may also symbolise the evil and the uncanny. It may also be seen as a metaphor for human existence, its tragic disillusion and moral isolation.

   Conrad's story that deals with a moral dilemma, a faulty choice leading to stagnation, has rightly been called 'The Lagoon'.

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   Posted by kc4u on Sunday November 1, 2009 at 11:20 PM