How we cite our quotes: (Chapter. Paragraph)
Quote #4
"That's what he may be called scientifically. Very good type, too, altogether, of that sort of degenerate. It's good enough to glance at the lobes of his ears." (3.23)
Ossipon takes an interest in Stevie because he thinks Stevie's a "degenerate" in the terms of Lombroso. It's actually really tough to pin Conrad down in terms of his opinion on Ossipon and Lombroso. Yes, Karl Yundt says that Lombroso "is an ass," but there's probably no one this book respects less than Yundt. The idea that you can tell a person's intellectual capacity and honesty by looking at the lobes of his ears seems a bit nuts. But there were a lot of people in Conrad's time who thought this was a scientific fact.
Quote #5
Michaelis […] had come out of a highly hygienic prison round like a tub, with an enormous stomach and distended cheeks of a pale, semi-transparent complexion, as though for fifteen years the servants of an outraged society had made a point of stuffing him with fattening foods in a damp and lightless cellar. (3.3)
The physical effects of a fifteen-year imprisonment have been devastating for Michaelis' body. At one point, the book also refers to his gut as a ball and chain that he has to carry around with him for the rest of his life. Here, Conrad might be criticizing the long-term effects of imprisonment. The outrage of Michaelis' physical condition is made even worse by the fact that his prison sentence was far too strict for the crime he committed. His paleness also makes him sound like some sort of underground dweller, and gives him an almost half-dead look. Although when you look at Conrad's world, it's hard to believe that anyone gets sunshine ever.
Quote #6
Karl Yundt giggled grimly, with a faint black grimace of a toothless mouth. The terrorist, as he called himself, was old and bald, with a narrow, snow-white wisp of a goatee hanging limply from his chin […] When he rose painfully the thrusting forward of a skinny groping hand deformed by gouty swellings suggested the effort of a moribund murderer summoning all his remaining strength for a last stab. (3.6)
Of all the unattractive people in this book, Karl Yundt has to be the grossest. He almost sounds like a Disney villain. The use of certain words like "limply" show how old and weak Yundt is. But symbolically, they also show that like all the anarchists in this book, he never actually does anything to back up all his big talk about being a terrorist. Conrad seems to single out Yundt as the worst of the worst, and basically puts him in a dunking booth for us to throw apples at.