Self-struggle In A Two-dimensional Psychological Projection

Due to F.R.Leavis' influential commentaries in The Great Tradition,Joseph Conrad was considered as one of the greatest novelists in the history of English literature.His best-known character,Charles Marlow,is narrator of his masterpieces such as the novels Lord Jim,Heart of Darkness,and the short story Youth.However,this famous man has yet been studied thoroughly.Written in 1898-1900,Youth,Heart of Darkness,and Lord Jim are the products of a burst of continual inspiration,which registers,as for the protagonist or narrator,Marlow,is a united life track.Seeing from his age,Marlow is a newly-promoted second mate at twenty in Youth;whereas he becomes a skillful captain around thirties in Heart of Darkness;similarly,the Lord Jim witnesses him as a middle aged man who gives a hand to the lost young man.In a word,these three works register Marlow as a single continuously evolving character who is profoundly affected by his experiences and develops inner conflicts.With the application of ?i?ek's ideology theory,this thesis purports to argue the narrator of Youth,Heart of Darkness,and Lord Jim,Marlow,is stuck into a two-dimensional psychological projection.In The Sublime Object of Ideology,?i?ek revised the orthodox definition of ideology in Marxian discourse,arguing that a subject's ideological fantasy rests on his activity rather than misrecognition.In effect,the subject possesses a good awareness of the fraudulence of any given ideology,whereas in his activity he is prone to ignore it.Thereupon,we see a two-dimensional tension between its “doing” and “thinking” within a subject.In light of this this paper intends to concern with Marlow “doing” and his “thinking”.Based on the argument,one central question will be foregrounded: do Marlow know that his fetishism to his youth,Kurtz and Jim is an illusion? Doubtlessly,my answer is Yes.For he knows the youth is no less than a naught dream,Kurtz is no better than a hollow man,and even Jim is no more than a tragic.But he still kept his loyalty them,even When he has been informed of Kurtz's heart of darkness,he still kept his loyalty to him;When he has lamented for Jim's romantic devotion,he still felt antagonism to his utopian community.As ?i?ek said,“They know very well how things really are,but still they are doing it as if they did not know.The illusion is therefore double”.On account of that,the thesis will conclude that illusion of the youth,empire and utopia reflected respectively in Youth,Heart of Darkness,and Lord Jim is double.