Part of the novel's ‘sociability of vision’ certainly comes from Nostromo's riches of characters. The novel is rich in numbers - Najder speaks of its having over twenty protagonists (NA, 289), and there are many more - perhaps seventy or so named or unnamed persons; it is also rich in variety - of ages, sexes, races, religions, educations, and moral attitudes. But we must also ask whether these characters are shown in convincing and significant ways, and whether Conrad's narrative teqhnique assists in showing this process or not.

Conrad is not generally considered to be one of the novel's supreme creators of character; and, rightly or wrongly, we must concede that he does not initially make things smooth for his reader. There is, for instance, his fairly random habit in the way the characters are introduced. Some of them get no names, such as the assistant to the chief of police, or the chief engineer. We understand that the policeman is not named, since he only appears once; but the chief engineer, as Tillyard has shown (r, 146-8), is an interesting and rather admirable person. Monygham calls him ‘the Napoleon of railways’ (N, 318), but his views of Gould and Holroyd, show an admirably free and understanding intelligence. This is also exhibited in his surprising open-mindedness about the possible success of Decoud's scheme for secession, whereas Monygham merely mocks the idea, presumably because he dislikes ‘that plump dandy, Decoud’ (N, 316). The engineer is also more understanding than Monygham in seeing what Holroyd's missionary enthusiasm means: ‘things seem to be worth nothing by what they are in themselves. I begin to believe that the only solid thing about them is the spiritual value which everyone discovers in his own form of activity’ (N, 318).

The engineer's lack of a name is not particularly important, of course; but if fits in with Conrad's other refusals to concede to the usual convention of naming characters: some important ones, like Sir John, get no surname; and others, like Monygham, get no given name. On the other hand Conrad sometimes merely does not name a character until some time after he has been introduced, as happens with Don Pepe; while others, such as Harris or Sidoni (N, 243, 548), are given proper names though they are hardly characters; here Conrad is merely throwing in a name for casual verisimilitude.