Joseph Conrad regarded life as the pursuit of a dream
which gives man a sense of purpose in life. The individual's
attempt, through action and communication, to make this dream
real to himself and to his fellow men constitutes the quest
for identity in Conrad's works.
Chapter I explores various aspects of the quest.
Because life is a "destructive element", the individual must
struggle to justify his existence and make his dream come true.
To be successful in this struggle, man needs self-knowledge.
This, in turn, requires a commitment to the community. The
quest is, therefore, ethical rather than metaphysical.
Chapter II is a study of the egoistic dream. The sense
of superiority over the rest of mankind causes Jim, Heyst, and
Kurtz to dissociate themselves from their fellow men. Consequently,
they lack a clear sense of their moral responsibility
and of the destructive tendencies in their own nature. Rather
than help these individuals to find meaning in life, the
egoistic dream becomes the cause of their failure.
Chapter 111 concentrates upon the "saving illusion",
a sense of self involving a moral commitment to the community.
Through involvement, the individual becomes concerned with fulfilling his moral obligation, rather than vindicating an
ideal of himself. Therefore, he seeks the self-knowledge
which will enable him to guard against defeat. Obedience to
the claims of love and conscience in Under Western Eyes, the
sense of duty towards the ship in "The Secret Sharer", and
the sense of solidarity in “The Nigger of the Narcissus”
enable the protagonists in these stories to fulfil their
obligation to the community.
Finally, Chapter IV deals with Conrad's artistic endeavour
as his quest for identity. Conrad's aim was to communicate
his truth to the reader. The achievement of his artistic
goal required self-knowledge which he, like his characters,
acquired in the struggle of life. The hard realities of
life become the "terms of his appeal". Conrad's vision of
life evokes in his readers the sense of solidarity which
testifies to the success of his quest for identity. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/41720 |
| Date | January 1968 |
| Creators | Epp, Harold Bernard |
| Publisher | University of British Columbia |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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