To-morrow

Joseph Conrad's "To-morrow" tells the tragic story of Captain Hagberd, who settles in the small seaport of Colebrook and is described as strangely "morbid and unreasonable". Hagberd lives with the obsessive, hopeful delusion that his son will return at any moment, saving his money and believing every day holds a new "to-morrow" for his return. This hopeful madness is contrasted with the pathetic plight of his neighbour, Bessie, who endures a life with old Carvil in her "stuffy little inferno". The story is a dark examination of hope versus disillusionment, happiness versus misery, and the ruin wrought by a constantly deferred future, as Captain Hagberd's joy in his belief in an "everlasting to-morrow" brings terror to Bessie's heart.