Nostromo Literary Elements

Political Novel

The fictional South American nation of Costaguana and a deserted island on which a treasure trove of silver has been buried.

Multiple narrative viewpoints including third person omniscient and first-person perspectives.

Tone is ironic. Mood is tragic.

Protagonist: Nostromo. Antagonist: The silver which dehumanizes people through greed.

The conflict at the center of the story is that between the power of the silver to corrupt humanity and the ability of humans to withstand the greed which corrupts the soul.

The accidental shooting which inadvertently causes the death of the Nostromo.

When Nostromo cuts off the silver buttons of his coat and gives them to a girl, it foreshadows both his eventual disillusionment with his heroic status and his taking possessorship of the missing silver.

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Then slowly, without a limb having stirred, without a twitch of muscle or quiver of an eyelash, an expression, a living expression came upon the still features, deep thought crept into the empty stare—as if an outcast soul, a quiet, brooding soul, finding that untenanted body in its way, had come in stealthily to take possession." This dense and expansive imagery is typical of the way in which the author describes the sensory reactions of characters at moments of great emotional significance.

Martin DeCoud is left alone on an island in sole possession of a massive supply of silver which he can't spend and which leads to his suicide.

"But it was mere aimless wandering; he had written nothing, collected nothing, brought nothing for science out of the twilight of the forests."

The word "mine" is utilized throughout the novel as metonymy that refers not just to the mine itself, but the exploitation of workers, and the greed which infects the owner.

"Action is consolatory. It is the enemy of thought and the friend of flattering illusions" personifies the consequences of taking action.