Heart of Darkness

Why do you suppose the listeners aboard the Nellie sigh?

***PART TWO***

At the end of the paragraph that begins, “The other shoe went….” Why do you suppose the listeners aboard the Nellie sigh? (Pg. 43) They sigh at the end of the paragraph.

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The person that answered said that they don't see where they sigh. They sight at the end of the paragraph.

I'm going to grab my copy and then I'll delete the above post...... page 43....... do you have a chapter in case our copies are different?

It's part 2. I'm reading the book off of cliffnotes.com (Original Text).

Here's the paragraph:

"The other shoe went flying unto the devil-god of that river. I thought, 'By Jove! it's all over. We are too late; he has vanished — the gift has vanished, by means of some spear, arrow, or club. I will never hear that chap speak after all' — and my sorrow had a startling extravagance of emotion, even such as I had noticed in the howling sorrow of these savages in the bush. I couldn't have felt more of lonely desolation somehow, had I been robbed of a belief or had missed my destiny in life . . . . Why do you sigh in this beastly way, somebody? Absurd? Well, absurd. Good Lord! mustn't a man ever — Here, give me some tobacco." . . .

Source(s)

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/heart-of-darkness/summary-analysis/part-2/original-text-8.html

The sigh doesn't come from listeners aboard the ship; it comes from Marlowe. The sigh (or cry) is something he couldn't beklieved he uttered...... he compared it to those hding in the bush, but it was his own sound of exasperation and hopelessness because he'd never speak to Kurtz. It was a sigh from the gut.... one of those inexplicable utterances that you cannot stop or explain.

Oh, I get it! Thanks! :)

great.............. and sorry I can't spell today. I need to slow down!