An Analysis Of Marlow’s Jurney Of Self-Discovery In Heart Of Darkness

As one of the most significant novellas in the history of modern British literature,Heart of Darknesshas received extensive critical attention. In this thesis, the concepts of self-formation in Lacan’s Mirror theory and Said’s critique of the binary opposition of “Self” and “Other” in Orientalism are used to analyze Marlow’s psychological changes in his travel to Africa. Kurtz serves as Marlow’s role model, and then Marlow chooses to keep a distance from the brutal colonizers represented by Kurtz. This thesis intends to reveal how Marlow’s travel in Africa is a journey of self-discovery and that Conrad holds an ambivalent attitude towards colonialism.Marlow and Kurtz are both colonizers. Their knowledge on the colonized is acquired under the influence of the orientalist ideology. They treat the Africans as the “Other” that is in opposition to the European “Self”. Marlow is unconsciously integrated with the colonial self and regards the African “Other” as inferior to the European “Self”. He considers Kurtz as his role model and tries to follow the footsteps of Kurtz. Kurtz serves as an image in the mirror for Marlow. On his way to searching for Kurtz, Marlow witnesses the brutal and greedy humanity of the colonizers. He is awakened to the fact that the colonizers are not morally superior to the colonized. The image in the mirror collapses as the evil and cruelty of white colonizers in Africa are revealed. Marlow’s self-consciousness emerges. Marlow discloses the evil of colonialism and shows pity for the colonized. But he attempts to conceal the true essence of colonialism to some extent. Marlow gets newknowledge on the colonized and accomplishes his journey of self-discovery in this process.This thesis argues that Conrad has, on the one hand, criticized the evil nature of colonialism v and expressed his sympathy to the colonized; on the other hand, as a member of the Europeancolonizers, he condemns colonialism to some extent, but he does not rejects it entirely. Conrad holds an ambivalent attitude towards colonialism.