“A deadened burst of mighty splashes and snorts reached us from afar, as though an ichthyosaurus had been taking a bath of glitter in the great river” (p. 26). An ichthyosaurus was a dinosaur from the Early Jurassic period. Its name means “fish lizard” as it was a dinosaur which lived in the oceans. The narrator references this water dinosaur as a very large creature; in the Jurassic period it grew up to thirty feet long. The remains of this dinosaur were found in Europe, which explains Conrad’s reference to it in his novel. Conrad gives more of a fictional picture to the reader in this passage.
“Ichthyosaurus.” Mountain City Elementary. 29 Aug. 2009. http://www.mce.k12tn.net/dinosaurs/ichthyosaurus.htm
hrmmm... it is to make things fictional? What other effect might conrad be shooting for by including reference to a giant prehistoric fish in the middle of this jungle?
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