Youth by Joseph Conrad

The second mate on this harrowing voyage was a young man named Joseph Conrad, and his recollection of the events formed the basis of his short story, "Youth." In one sense, then, "Youth" occupies a curious debatable ground between fiction and autobiography. Some features of the story which we might take to be deliberate artistic choices--such as the name of the fictional ship, Judea, with its Biblical overtones--turn out to be closely modeled upon fact. (It should be noted that the name "Palestine" was then purely geographical, and did not have its modern political connotation.) Even the names and approximate ages of the captain and first mate in the story are borrowed from those of their actual counterparts.

Yet in a more fundamental sense, the story of "Youth" is as much Conrad's literary creation as if he had invented the ship, its crew, and its ill-fated voyage entirely out of his imagination. The characters of Captain Bea

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y. To this day the middle-aged Marlow still hates the pilot, Jermyn, who cast doubts on his seamanship at the beginning of the voyage, in part because he suspects that the pilot was (at that time) right. He mistrusted my youth, my common sense, and my seamanship, and made a point of showing it in a hundred little ways. I dare say he was right. It seems to me I knew very little then, and I know not much more now, but I cherish a hate for that Jermyn to this day. (Conrad 181) But by the end of the voyage, and in spite of Marlow's own modesty, we are confident that he has become a seasoned and skilled seaman--which, in Conrad's symbolic world, is to say that he has become a seasoned and mature man. There is nothing sentimental about "Youth." Moreover, the heroic is granted no admittance whatever. For the young Marlow is not interested in that. He sees the successive perils ... as being so much adventure, so much fun--and so much opportunity for a new second mate to do not badly, and be pleased with himself in consequence. (Stewart 72) He has become not disillusioned, but unillusioned, with a keen sense of what matters and what does not. Without the framing device of
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Tory Churchman, Youth Moreover, Beard Ahab, Conrad Marlow's, Cape Horn, Captain Beard, Die Beard's, Marlow Jenny, Moby Dick, John--Captain Beard--without, joseph conrad, middle-aged marlow, moby dick, captain beard, captain ahab, joseph conrad york, beard ahab, story youth, conrad york, joseph conrad's, ship crew,
Approximate Word count = 2366
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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