The Spiritual Crisis In Joseph Conrad’s Chance

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) is one of the outstanding British novelists from the late19thcentury to the early20th century. Literary critic F. R. Leavis believes that he is one of thegreatest writers in the Edwardian period. His unique narrative method and keen insight andvivid portray to the human nature have been a hot spot for the academic circles both in homeand abroad. His works, such as Heart of Darkness (1899), Lord Jim (1900), and The SecretAgent (1907), etc. have won the high attention of the critics, but Chance (1912), his first longnovel Chance drawing the public attention, is less discussed at home.Chance is one of Conrad’s few novels which were located in London. Its publicationaroused people’s reading enthusiasm to his early works, but this reputable work has alwaysbeen controversial to the critics. Some commentators believed that Chance marked adeclining of Conrad’s writing career, but others held the opinion that Chance represented his“transformation”. In the late19th century, the whole western society showed a sign of theshake of religious faith. The great development of science and industry not only enrichedpeople’s material life, but also made them trapped in a spiritual dilemma and void. Conradvividly depicted the profound impact of this social environment to the human nature andmorality. Amidst the period of social transformation, Conrad was keenly aware of the crisis ofBritish society at that time. He fully described the humanity distortion, interpersonalalienation and the conflict between personal desire and social convention in Chance. If LordJim presents the self-exile on the aspect of personal spirits, then Chance portrays a societycaught in a state of disorder. Those characters in this novel were just like living in a spiritualdesert that was barren and dangerous.In Chance, Conrad mainly depicted the various spiritual crises of those who fromdifferent social classes, including the distortion of individual value, the failure of emotionalconnection and the frustration of social identity. In this thesis, the author follows thegrowing-up experience of the heroine Flora, analyzes how to get involved in and face thespiritual dilemma of those who affecting this process deeply, and tries to expound the socialand cultural significance embodied in Chance and probe into Conrad’s moral ideal and socialconcern in this novel. The introduction sorts out the history and current status of the researchon Chance conducted by the academic circle at home and abroad; besides, this part alsodescribes the theoretical background and subject value of this thesis. The first chapter mainly analyzes the crisis caused by the distortion of individual value. Suffering from the impact offinancial disorder, old De Barral, a nonentity of the middle class, was overwhelmed by thehuge fortunes, and finally not only distorted his own value but also lost the basic humannature. The second chapter mainly analyzes the emotional crisis caused by the alienated anddetached social reality. Growing up in the indifferent world, both Anthony and Flora were shyabout expressing their true desire for love due to their deep feeling of loneliness andinferiority, which led to many twists and turns in their marriage. In the third chapter, a crisisof social identity was analyzed from the perspective of women. Women in the middle class,who were represented by Mrs. Fyne and the governess Elisa, faced crisis of social identityduring the process of pursuing their own identity and value in the society. They both hated thetop patriarchal tradition and were frustrated by the fact that their demand for the social rightand freedom were ignored. Although accusing the society fiercely, they still failed ofobtaining the social attention and identity.From the description of the spiritual crisis in Chance, we could see that Conrad’s laterperiod of creation began to concern about the social environment’s profound impact onhuman nature. Conrad presented a society in the parlous state; the social suppression, thefutile moral standard and the indifferent impersonal relationship were no longer the individualproblem but reflected a dangerous state of the whole society. Conrad sensitively perceived thesocial disorder and moral crisis in Britain that was during a period of social transition.Through Chance, he criticized this social crisis and took profound moral reflection.