Analysis Of Joseph Conrad’s Ambivalence In Heart Of Darkness From The Postcolonial Perspective

Heart of Darkness is one of the greatest masterpieces of Joseph Conrad’s (1857-1924).Based upon a six-month journey he spent in the Congo region, Joseph Conrad wrote thisworld-famous work. It was the representative work of Conrad’s jungle novels, which describedin detail the contradictions of his inner soul, and the conflicts of European civilizations andAfrican primitive state. In this novel, Conrad tried to disclose and attack the crimes andhypocrisy of Colonialism. Therefore, many critics believed the publication of this novel wasahead of its time. However, between the lines of the novel, Conrad also showed the superiorityand pride belonging to the advanced western civilization, which revealed his colonial attitudesand vindication of Colonialism.Joseph Conrad’s ideological contradictions were strongly related to his being a famouswriter. His ambivalence embodied vividly in his works which were both supporting andchallenging cultural ideological trend at that time. He and other contemporary writers were allinfluenced by the epoch. But his abilities of insight and foresight of the culture at that timecould not be surpassed by the other writers. Conrad lived between the transition of the lateVictorian and the early Modernist cultural background, and his thought was both romantic andanti-romantic, conservative and rebellious. Thus, his literatury works contained dual culturalcharacteristics of both the19th century and of the20th century.Heart of darkness is one of Conrad’s most significant and also the most famous works.This novel is full of connotations, but the meaning is filled with ambiguity, expressing manycontradictions that he was unable to resolve. This paper takes the novel as an example, aimingat revealing Conrad’s ambivalence in each aspect and the causes of the formation of his attitude.This article is grounded on postcolonialism as the theoretical basis, the main of which isEdward Said’s Orientalism. His theory elaborated on the essence of imperialism andcolonialism at length. Judged historically, Heart of Darkness was ahead of its time. However,affected so deeply by the cultural ideological trend of his time, Conrad could not get rid of hisunderlying colonial ideology.This thesis is divided into three sections. The first part briefly introduces Conrad’s life andhis literary works, the domestic and foreign research in history, Edward Said’s Orientalism theory and the focus of this thesis. Chapter One to Chapter Three constitute the main body ofthe thesis. Each chapter respectively analyzes Conrad’s ambivalence towards the blacks,colonialism and imperialism, all of which were embodied in the text. The first chapter analyzesConrad’s psychological dichotomy of colonialism. On one hand, Conrad showed his superiorityas a colonist, treating the company men as pilgrims, and the hero Kurtz’s ambitions are vividlyelaborated. On the other hand, Conrad also revealed the whites’ greediness and their fate to bedoomed, and mercilessly treated them as false frauds. The second chapter illustrates Conrad’sambivalence to the African Continent and his attitude to the local residents, an attitude of bothcontempt and pity. He showed discrimination against the blacks, regarding the Continent as“Other world”, but, on the other hand, the blacks’ natural beauty and energy were also admiredby him. The third chapter introduces Conrad’s contradictions about imperialism. He showed hisdoubt about imperialism, but the limitations of the time made him try to conceal the sin ofimperialism. Meanwhile, the antagonism between cultures made it hard for him to have a securefoothold in the colony. Chapter Four elaborates on the reasons for the formation of Conrad’sideology. The conclusion is the last part of the thesis. Conrad’s ambivalence allows readers thefreedom to interprete the novle from multi-levels, and scholars more space for further studies.