“. . . white men being so alike at a distance that he could not tell who I might be. . .” (52)

This is an ironic stereotype on the part of Conrad, one more typically used by white people to say that they can’t distinguish between individuals of another ethnic group, most commonly Asians or African Americans. For one white man to use it against another is ‘proof’ that individuals of ethnic groups are, more or less, similar. This is not entirely the case; such sweeping generalizations cannot be made. However, the irony remains that in a blatantly traditionally stereotypical novella should enforce this treatment upon members of the group typically seen as “in power”.