A Study On Hero Image Deconstruction In An Outcast Of The Islands

Conrad lived in the heyday of the British Empire, when many of his contemporaries were devoted to imperial romance and singing high praise for imperial heroes. In sharp contrast to them, Conrad presented us the decline of an empire and the failures of imperial heroes in his work, which are the focus of this thesis. Most of traditional imperial heroes of British Literature have a combination of intelligence, courage, gentleman spirit and morality. The white characters in An Outcast of the Islands, however, are complete subversions of conventional wisdoms. Willems, devoid of moral standards, betrays his boss, benefactor and lover, thus becoming a symbol of treachery; Although he has some qualities of a hero, Lingard’s arrogance and misplaced benevolence still lead him directly to his failure. The picture is totally different when it comes to the native Babalatchi--a villain hero with extraordinary patience and wisdom. In order to take revenge on the white invaders, he spends many years brooding a vicious intrigue, taking advantage of depraved Willems and overturn Lingard’s rule. The victory of villain hero eclipses the imperial heroes, showing Conrad’s denial of idealism, heroism and imperialism.From perspectives of the other theory of Edward Said and Deconstructionism of Jacques Derrida, this thesis conducts detailed researches of the image construction and deconstruction in An Outcast of the Islands. Derrida’s Deconstructionism puts in question Logocentrism in western culture for thousands of years. Eurocentrism touted by colonialists is deconstructed by his de-centering strategy. From the view of Logocentrism, the world is separated into a variety of binary oppositions, such as west and east, self and other, civilized and savage. In An Outcast of the Islands, however, those binary oppositions are all abolished. Before Said, Hegel and Lacan had discussed the relations between other and self, arguing that the other is separated from self and is deemed as alien and abnormal. As the opposite of self, the existence of the other helps establish the subjectivism of self. In his Orientalism, Said uses "other" and "self" to describe the unequal power and discourse relations between the east and the west, the colonized and the colonizer. This thesis consists of six chapters. The first chapter introduces Conrad and An Outcast of the Islands as well as literature review and thesis statement. Chapter Two is mainly about history of adventure stories, imperial romance and hero, their traditional construction and Conrad’s deconstruction. In An Outcast of the Islands Conrad overturns those stereotypes. Chapter Three and Four deal with two white men-Lingard and Willems. The fifth chapter analyses the native villain hero Babalatchi, whose rise accentuates the decline of imperial heroes. The last part discusses the shift in Conrad’s attitude toward imperialism and the practical significance of this thesis.