Thoughts on: The Secret Agent

Thoughts on:  The Secret Agent

A scene that moved me.     From: The Secret Agent      By: Joseph Conrad

To me Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent is a book filled with misery and suspense at the same time. In re-reading the first half of the book I came upon a section that I remember struck me as personal the first time I read it and it so happened to stand out when I read it once again. The part that, for some reason, was of some significance to me was the scene where Mr. Verloc goes up to bed the night he had been chewed out by Mr. Vladimir earlier that same day, and he is tired, and he feels ill, and he is starting to realize that, maybe just maybe, this life isn't what it once used to be, and that he does not really feel like giving up the comfort of his family for the safe keeping of his job. It is a very dramatic scene in which the conflict that man struggles with is against man, and himself. To provide some more background into the situation, Mr. Verloc is an undercover agent for a Proletariat group he belongs to. For a long time, his job was relatively easy, However, Mr. Verloc is given the task of blowing up a public building, to make a statement and to get the group back on task. This task is by no means something that Mr. Verloc wishes he had to do, and he goes home that day, after being assigned the mission, and finds himself in a state of lethargy or stupor.        

All in all it is easy to say that Mr. Verloc feels the exact same feeling we as teenagers, and we as humans, always feel, when faced with an ultimatum. That being, conflicted. Mr. Verloc feels this so much in fact that he is noticeably quiet and unusual at dinner that night. Even his wife, who is used to his soundless presence, can tell something is up. He stays up for a while after dinner, sitting exhaustedly, simply thinking, wondering why he must be faced with such a task.  Mr. Verloc, who is is truly good at heart, must now commit an act of violence against humanity which could possibly render the style at which he is living his life, irreversible.

After a long while sitting and thinking, watching Stevie, his Wife’s younger brother who has some type of mental challenge, the sullen Mr. Verloc is compelled to go up to his bed and get to sleep. When he goes up his wife shows some slight affection towards him, although an almost superficial affection, she does her job as a good wife to make sure her husband is taken care of and stays in good hands. If I had not known that Mr. Verloc and his wife had a strange relationship I would have sensed no awkwardness in the conversation they had before bed that night. However, I did know, and I did sense that presence of awkwardness immensely. The scene felt awkward to me because, as Winnie talks to Verloc, she seems to be very animated in her defense of Stevie and his actions, while Mr. Verloc simply seems to want her to stop talking and go attend to her brother so he can go to bed. At least that’s the remark he seems to give her, that’s the remark his body gives off, however in his head, through his thoughts provided in the lines of the book Mr. Verloc seems to wish he could have a connection with his wife but nearly grunts at all her remarks. I think this is because he doesn't really know what to say, so he says nothing. Also because he has no emotion towards Stevie and finds him a burden financially and in other ways, and feels that if Stevie wasn’t there then he might be able to have a better relationship with his wife.

 I believe what strikes me as personal, or that I can relate to about this scene, is that it feels real, it feels awkward, it feels like you want to fast forward just so you don't have to have that same feeling Mr. Verloc is feeling. It was the first time in the book I saw Mr. Verloc as a human with real conscious thoughts, feelings, emotions, and struggles. It made me want to find out where he would go from this point on, whether he would make the heroic choice to pack up, to leave, take his family with him, and escape having to perform the task that would eventually lead to his inevitable doom, or would he stay and be the tragic failure of a “would be” hero who causes the death of the innocent and the death of himself.