VICTORY 

By Joseph Conrad

Book Summary

Axel Heyst, born to educated Swedish parents and raised in England, accepts his philosopher father's concept that life is essentially evil and that participating in it can only increase the evil and get a man into trouble. The elder Heyst taught his son that the only condescension towards life should be to observe it from a distant distance, never to participate in its action.

Such a philosophy ingrained in Heyst during his impressionable youth leads him to withdraw from life. His legacy is modest, but the income he generates will support him in the Malay Archipelago, where he has chosen to live the life of a knight-errant.

Fifteen years pass and nothing changes Heyst's philosophy. He is now in his thirties and is confirmed in his lifestyle. Then an unexpected event brings the latent strengths of his character into conflict. He finds a man, Captain Morrison, in trouble with the Portuguese authorities in Timor over a small fine. Without a paltry sum of money, Morrison is about to lose his ship.

Compassion for this neighbor in distress leads Heyst to offer him his help. Morrison agrees, but is so deeply grateful that he insists that Heyst join his now redeemed ship. Heyst, embarrassed and ashamed of his involvement, accompanies Morrison. When Morrison decided to organize the Tropical Belt Coal Company, he appointed Heyst as his manager for the tropics, based on the island of Samburan, about three hundred miles from Sourabaya.

During a fundraising trip to England, Morrison catches a cold and dies. Tropical Belt Coal Company closed and Heyst, after laying off the company's employees, continued to live in Samburan with no company other than a Chinese servant, Wang.

Heyst has no idea of ​​the scandal that arose over him in Sourabaya, where Schomberg the hotelier tells anyone who will listen that Heyst swindled Morrison out of huge sums of money and then sent him home to England to die there. Schomberg says that Morrison's death is murder and that Heyst is the killer.

Another ocean-going ship captain, Captain Davidson, passes the isolated island of Heyst at regular intervals and, being a human person, takes an interest in Heyst; past Samburan, he gets close enough to be called from the shore if Heyst wants anything.

Heyst, after eighteen months of a solitary existence in Samburan following the collapse of the Tropical Belt Coal Company, greets Davidson and escorts him to Sourabaya on business. Knowing nothing of Schomberg's hatred for him or malicious gossip about him, Heyst takes up residence at Schomberg's hotel.

A traveling troupe of musicians, the Zangiacomo Ladies' Orchestra, plays nightly for hotel guests. Heyst is annoyed by the miserable music, but out of boredom and mild curiosity, he ventures one night into the hall where he is playing the orchestra. He sees a young Englishwoman, Lena, abused by the headmaster's dragon-faced wife. Immediately compassion arises in Heyst, the same emotion of pity and kindness that involved him with Morrison. He befriends the girl, and when he discovers that the obnoxious hotelier, Schomberg, is pressing her attentions on Lena, he kidnaps her from her and takes her to his lonely island of Samburan.

Schomberg hated and vilified Heyst for years; now he is full of mad fury against the man. Although he and Zangiacomo are mortal enemies, he joins forces with the driver in an attempt to hunt down the pair. His search for the port is futile and Schomberg returns to his hotel to exact revenge.

Schomberg has a colorless wife who seems to know nothing, be nothing and care nothing about what goes on around her, but she was the one who helped the little girl, Lena, run away with Heyst. . She is smarter than she seems.

Other visitors arrive at Sourabaya, a trio of outlaws, who have set up their headquarters in Schomberg's hotel and promptly blackmail him into allowing illegal card games and other games of chance that they enjoy while partying. Mr. Jones, leader of the three, appears to be a gentleman of good birth but so demonic in every respect that he seems more like a malevolent specter than a human being. His "secretary to him," Ricardo, a feline villain who constantly thinks of murder, complements Mr. Jones's talents. His servant, a man named Pedro, terrorizes Schomberg. The hotelier is ruined and destroyed by these three. His own guilty conscience reacts on him and fills him with terrible fear. Finally, in a confidential conversation with Ricardo, he mentions Heyst and the pile of money that Schomberg is sure Heyst hid from Samburan. Ricardo retrieves this information and passes it on to Mr. Jones, and with Schomberg's enthusiastic help, the three set off for Samburan in an open boat.

Meanwhile, Heyst and Lena enjoyed three months of idyllic happiness in Samburan. Still, both have reservations. Heyst realizes that he has gotten involved in life again and regrets it. He feels that opening her heart to Lena opened the door to trouble and he was wrong.

Although Lena has come to love Heyst with gratitude and devotion, she sees that despite him, he views her with mixed feelings. Her concern crystallizes into a desire to prove her love to him in a way that will forever dispel her doubts and lead her to fully accept him. She doesn't have much to look forward to; the opportunity is on its way.

The three bandits arrive in Samburan more dead than alive. Their open boat ride nearly kills them, but under Heyst's surprised care, they quickly recover and a deadly battle of wits ensues. Heyst soon learns that these visitors are outlaws of the worst kind. He knows that he and Lena are in terrible danger. Wang, the Chinese servant, compounds the difficulty of his situation by stealing Heyst's only weapon: a pistol.

Ricardo hid from his teacher, Mr. Jones, the fact of Lena's presence in Samburan. Mr. Jones has such a dislike for women that he borders on insanity. He hates them. Ricardo does not share his feelings. He spies on Lena in her bedroom and sexually assaults her. Lena, with unexpected strength, rebuffs her advances and earns her respect and admiration, as well as her fierce affection.

Knowing that Heyst is in mortal danger, Lena has only one intention: she must disarm Ricardo and save Heyst. To achieve her goal, she tricks Richard into believing that she supports his plan to steal Heyst's "treasure" and destroy the two knights. Lena knows that Heyst has no gold reserves, but she plans to use Ricardo's infatuation and greed to disarm and destroy him.

On the last night, Heyst sees that they are trapped. He is sure that he cannot escape, but he tries to save Lena by insisting that she put on a black dress and slip into the woods to hide. He hopes that she will escape detection until morning, when he can reach Wang and the natives on the other side of the island for protection. Heyst leaves to talk to Mr. Jones sure that whatever happens to him, Lena will be safe.

Lena has no intention of obeying Heyst. She knows that Ricardo has a dagger strapped to her leg and that she intends to murder Heyst and Mr. Jones later that night. She is sitting in the house by candlelight waiting for Ricardo. When he cums, she charms him with the display of his sweet submission to all of his desires. He allows her to wield her dagger, which she hides in the folds of her dress. She pushes her foot away for him to caress it. He is kissing her white ankle when Heyst and Jones appear in the doorway. Heyst has just revealed to Jones that he has a daughter here in Samburan. Jones is furious with Ricardo for keeping this information from him. He knows how stupid Ricardo is with women. Jones is in a murderous rage.

Mr. Jones shoots over Heyst's shoulder into the room. The bullet bounces off Ricardo's head and goes through Lena's chest. Heyst is so shocked by what he believes to be Lena's betrayal of her love that he is confused and doesn't realize what has happened. Jones walks away. Ricardo jumps and rushes into the night. The two are left alone. Lena is delighted. She disarmed the enemy and saved Heyst; but Heyst turns away from her and comments that it is all very "fun". He is hurt by what he believes to be his falsehood, but his old habit of aloofness prevents any angry denunciation.

Now she sinks before him; there is a look in her eyes that seems to have a terrible omen. He catches her and lays her down on her bed, wondering what's wrong with her. At that moment Captain Davidson, whose suspicions have been aroused by the discovery of Pedro's body in an open boat adrift off the island, enters with the dagger, Ricardo's dagger, which he picked up on land. Heyst, horrified at the thought of a secret stabbing, rips Lena's clothes off, revealing the small black bullet wound from her gun. Lena is dying and asks Heyst to assure her that she is finally allowed into the inner circle of her love. He is unable to give the cry of love that she wants to hear and that he wants to give. His habit of isolation and detachment is still too strong. He lifts her into her arms, and she mistakes this for the surrender she gave her life to win. She dies in an illusion of glorious triumph, a victory that transcends all pain and joy.

Meanwhile, Mr. Jones searches for Ricardo and shoots him dead. He then stumbles onto the dock where Wang has already shot Pedro and pushed him out of the boat. By accident or on purpose, Jones falls into the water and drowns.

Heyst makes his last sad statement to Davidson: "Ah, Davidson, woe to the man whose heart was not taught from a young age to hope and love and trust in life!" Davidson tells "Your Grace", who called him to report on the Samburan tragedy, that Heyst then asked to be left alone with his dead. Later, Davidson discovers that the bungalow is on fire. Unable to do anything to save the property, he sees all the buildings consumed. Later, with Wang, he examines the ashes and discovers that Heyst died with his beloved Lena. "There was nothing he could do," Davidson told 'Excellence'.