Conrad's Narrative Methods - Essay Example

Conrad's Narrative Methods Polish-born English novelist, Joseph Conrad is considered to be among the great modern English writers whose work explores the traditional virtues of human life. Conrad uses the narrative technique, in which the story is narrated by one or more of the characters. Conrad collaborated with Ford Madox Ford and together they were of the opinion that the goal of a writer should be to leave behind him a creative record of his own time (Craner, 2006). Although his works are taught as part of higher education in Britain, Conrad the novelist is difficult to understand. Critics have different point of views on his works. This essay will discuss the simplicity in his themes marked by the complexity of style with regard to the following works: The Nigger of the Narcissus, Heart of Darkness, Nostromo, Lord Jim, and The Secret Agent. Some critics are of the opinion that Conrad’s works are not understandable and therefore they are not acceptable while others claim that Conrad is one of greatest writers in modern literature. Newhouse (1966:54) claims that Conrad found the world a complex place to understand and that resulted in the complexity of his writings. This conforms to, and is directly related to his life. Conrad experienced several lives – he was born in Poland, spent his youth in Poland and Russia, adolescence in France, manhood as a mariner in the British Merchant Service before finally settling down in England as a writer (Carabine, n.d.). Conrad’s style in writing is one of the most complex styles ever. He uses a difficult language with sentences and phrases which are different from the others. By looking deep into his works’ themes, despite the complex narrative technique, the themes are simple, important, and not complex. Hewitt (1975:16) says: The themes are not schematic; they are embodied in the imagery, in the structural pattern, in the minute-by-minute flow of narration. This can be easily explained by knowing what Conrad believes in how a writer should be. In a letter to F.N. Doubleday Conrad stated:…I think than an author who risks to ‘explain’ is exposing himself to a very great risk__ the risk of confessing himself a failure. For a work of art should speak for itself. Yet much could be said on the other side; for it is also clear that a work of art is not a logical demonstration carrying its intention on the face of it. One of the most important works of Conrad is The Nigger of the Narcissus, which has a powerful text. He has constructed symbolism on binary opposites like day and night, life and death or dream and reality (Allingham, 2000). "Life seemed an indestructible thing . . . . It was bright like the twisted flare of lightning, and more full of surprises than the dark night”. Through the light-dark dichotomy, Conrad suggests that all experiences in life are a fusion of opposites. He also redefines time as a stream whose current washes the images on the shores of human consciousness. Through a voyage on the ship called Narcissus, Conrad depicts how freedom brings terror to the world. This powerful text explores the psychology of being at service and the pressure on the people who work at sea. In its voyage, Narcissus, the ship passes through various stages reflecting the conflicting emotions and ephemeral moods of the crew. The theme is simple and applicable to humanity but the use of imagery makes it difficult for an ordinary reader to comprehend. The story is about a journey of self discovery. According to Burningham (1999), it is a story of troubled interpersonal relationships, an exploration of compulsion, obsession, and neurosis. Conrad’s crew on the ship represent a microcosm of humanity that carries the vision of hell and heaven. This constant turmoil within, haunts every human being and thus through a series of images, Conrad plays upon the sub-conscious. Through discord, Conrad conveys the message of harmony, cohesiveness and solidarity. The description of the characters is difficult and the use of long sentences and paragraphs makes it difficult to follow the text. Conrad’s style of writing is interesting though. He does not talk about plots or characters. He talks about art, solidarity, and temperament. He wants the reader to delve deep within and explore. In the preface to The Nigger of the Narcissus, Conrad expresses, my task... is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel - it is, before all, to make you see. That - and no more, and it is everything. If I succeed, you shall find there, according to your deserts, encouragement, consolation, fear, charm, all you demand - and, perhaps, also that glimpse of truth for which you have forgotten to ask. Heart of Darkness, another symbolic story, is actually a story within a story. The story within the story descends four levels. Conrad writes the story that we read, which is the account of an unnamed narrator who relates Marlow’s journey down the Congo River to meet Kurtz (AA, n.d.). The central theme in this novel is racism, hypocrisy and the corruption of Imperialism. Here too, Conrad uses the binary opposites of dark and light. ‘Darkness’ reflects the unknown as Africa at that time was referred to as the ‘dark continent’ by the Europeans. The ‘darkness’ of barbarism is contrasted with the ‘light’ of civilization. As in the Narcissus, Conrad indicates the spiritual darkness, which prevails within human beings. The setting of most of the events takes place in the jungle of Africa. Conrad in this text criticizes the Belgian brutality in Congo when it was a part of its colonial power. Kurtz has been described as a devil among devils. Marlow refers to a helmsman as a piece of machinery and Kurtz’s African mistress as a piece of statuary. The usage of the words darkness and devil is found through out the text. The text describes the black Africans as the beasts of burden and the blundering fools. It gives hints about slavery which took place at that time. For example, when Marlow at the very beginning of the book begins to be on the voyage to Africa, he encounters scenes when blacks are treated as slaves. Towards the end, like Marlow, the reader too emerges from the novel with an understanding of his own mind. The struggle shown here is between good and evil within a person’s mind and not between people. It reveals the depths of human corruption. Conrad conveys the theme of loyalty through Marlow, who concealed the knowledge of Kurtz’s madness when he learnt of Kurtz’s death. He felt a loyalty to protect Kurtz’s reputation, who had trusted Marlow with his papers. Even when he conveys the message to Kurtz’s girlfriend, he lies to her saying that Kurtz’s last word was her name. To tell her the truth would be to push her into darkness. While the themes are simple, the difficulty lies in the plain truth that this story is an analytical description of what is going on in the deep jungle of Africa. Conrad tries to analyze the psychology of human beings in this jungle (jungle of their own minds). Heart of Darkness is considered to be a tough text for the ordinary reader because the more you read, the more the words which Conrad uses become constantly deeper and more abundant in their meanings. Therefore, the reader gets tired and feels exhausted. Moreover, the long chapters in the novella are at times confusing and boring. In appreciation of Nostromo, one of Conrad’s finest works, Hewitt (1975:48) says, ‘Nostromo is, in every sense of the word, the biggest thing that Conrad ever did’. Nostromo is another example, which shows the simplicity of Conrad’s themes and the complexity of his narrative technique. It is the economic imperialism at work in the fictional South American state of Costaguana. The Costaguana political class grows rich through corruption and bribery. There is a subtle connection between ideals and the economic motives. Conrad’s theme is how colonization ended innocence along with civilization. Costaguana was rich in silver. Nostromo felt betrayed by the colonial system and lost peace; the silver mine was symbolic of the destruction of his honour, of colonial oppression. In this novel too, while we find that Conrad reaches messages, it requires effort on the part of the reader to follow the events. Conrad makes the story complex by mentioning in the beginning of the novel about the revolution events and then he continues the story by bringing some of the flashbacks and visions of the future. Hewitt (1975:65) says: The changes in tone and the juxtaposition of different themes and points of view is paralleled on a larger scale by the structure of the book, which throws into relief the central theme as distinct from the plot. The arrangement of different sections, the frequent shifts in time and in view-point are often designed to sharpen our apprehension of the issues involved, to force us to make comparisons and to see links between incidents and emotions which are not necessarily related to the casual logic of plot. Lord Jim or The Consciousness of Lost Honor is a story based on a true historical event. On Conrad’s first longest novel, Newhouse (1966:78) says: Lord Jim uses Marlow with greater complication. Conrad begins the story speaking as author. Marlow shows up at the end of chapter four as the narrator of the story. He describes a young seaman who has a lot of dreams and ambitions to achieve and at a time when he loses his temper, he commits an offense, and abandons his ship in a moment of cowardice. Then, in the second part, Marlow tells us how Lord Jim wants to play the part of a hero in East India in a very romantic way and he tries to redeem himself when the novel ends up in a tragic and heroic moment. However, the end of Lord Jim is not clear. Marlow says: It is when we try to grapple with another man's intimate need that we perceive how incomprehensible, wavering, and misty are the beings that share with us the sight of the stars and the warmth of the sun. Lord Jim talks about many themes. For example, it talks about the idea of cowardice, and moral responsibility. In addition, Conrad talks about the differences between people in understanding the meaning of heroism, bravery, cowardice, honor, and lowliness. Through the actions and emotions of Jim, Conrad explores the conception of personal honor. Jim spends his life trying to make up for an act of cowardice he committed as a young officer. However, there are various difficulties in this text. There are numerous voices of narration for the story. Apart from Marlow’s narrative voice, there is Marlow’s writing as a voice of narration. In addition, the narration of Marlow is not clear especially when he talks to Jewel about Lord Jim. Davidson (1984:8) says: Marlow can promise Jewel that she will never, as she fears, be abandoned, because Jim, he claims is “better” and “more true” than other men (p.314)…Marlow soon sounds a different note an brutally informs the girl that Jim will never be called away from her “because he is not good enough (p.318)…as he at that point in his story confesses: “for my part, I cannot say what I believed __ indeed I don’t know to this day, and never shall probably” (p.320). Nevertheless, only a few pages later, he is again assuring his anonymous auditors that he has again “maid up {his} mind that Jim…had at last mastered his fate. Secondly, all the characters in part one vanish in the rest of the novel. Thirdly, a reader must give each word he reads in the book a great consideration in order to follow up the events. Fourthly, Lord Jim is a novel which contains long sentences, paragraphs which sometimes last for pages, and it has long and connected scenes which make the reader exhausted. Besides, the narrator of the novel, Marlow tells the story by shifting from past to present in a complex way which requires a lot of time, effort, and concentration on the reader’s part. Moreover, his style of writing opens the door to different explanations and different points of view. For example, he does not make it clear whether Lord Jim is afraid of the death, a brave man, or a victim. In addition, the relationship between Jim and Marlow makes the narration of Marlow to the story not neutral. Newhouse (1966:79) says: As the novel progresses, Marlow and Lord Jim become involved in a close relationship. Marlow ceases to be an observer and becomes a participant in Jim’s fate. This further complicates the narration. Finally, one of the difficulties in the narrative technique is the ambiguity which is around Jim and Marlow. For example, Marlow the narrator of the novel confuses the reader to believe that Jim only exists in the imagination of Marlow. Marlow says: He existed for me, and after all it is only through me that he exists for you. The Secret Agent is a short novel about Mr.Verloc who works as spy for a foreign embassy in London. He is ordered by his bosses to plan and do a terrorist attack by blowing the Greenwich Park Observatory so the British society may stand up to their responsibilities. The central theme of the book is terrorism and following the boss’s instructions. This novel is based on the actual occurrence – ‘the Greenwich Bomb Outrage’ of 1894. From his experiences at sea Conrad had learned about the virtues of common loyalty. In The Secret Agent, he depicts a society in which loyalty does not exist: everyone is ruled by motives of self-interest except the idiot Stevie, Winnie's wretched mother, the pitiful Michaelis and, perhaps, Michaelis's rich patron. Evil has to be identified before it can be eradicated (Seymour-Smith). Conrad has explored the minds of revolutionists, anarchists and terrorists. Through this novel, the structure of the entire society was exposed and destroyed. Conrad uses a different narrative technique in telling this story. For example, the title of the novel inspires the reader that Mr.Verloc is the hero of the novel. As one reads through, it is clear that Mrs.Verloc is the actual protagonist. The end of the novel is extremely surprising and different from what can be seen in Conrad’s works. In conclusion, Conrad’s narrative methods have been used in all his novels, but with greater complexity in Heart of Darkness, where the story descends four levels. In all his novels, his major interest and concern has been the human condition. While his character development is powerful and compelling, his style is not appealing to the ordinary reader. The paragraphs tend to be lengthy and run into several pages. He uses abstract vocabulary, imagery to convey messages. The reader can get bored, confused and frustrated. Nevertheless, his style reflects profound insight into the traditional human virtues. He explores issues of deep moral values. He urges humanity to delve within, reflect, correct, and move ahead. Bibliography: Absolute Astronomy (AA, n.d.), Heart of Darkness, 21 February 2006 Alingham P V (2000), Conrad's Imagery in The Nigger of the 'Narcissus', 19 February 2006 Bohlmann, Otto. Conrad’s Existentialism. New York: St.Martin’s Press, 1991. Burningham, Nick. The Nigger of the Narcissus. 23 Jan. 2006 http://www.boat-/reviews/review028.html> Carabine K (n.d.), The Critical Assessments of Writers in English Series, 19 February 2006 Conrad J (n.d.), Heart of Darkness, Read More