The Ambivalence of 19th Century Imperial Discourse with Special Reference to Heart of Darkness and Nostromo

Abstract

The present thesis studies the ambivalence of the imperial discourse as expressed in two of Conrad’s novels: Heart of Darkness and Nostromo. Joseph Conrad stands as a reference writer whose tackling of imperialism still attracts scholars and researchers. In order to study the imperial discourse in Conrad’s two novels, postcolonial criticism, mainly Edward Said’s and Homi Bahabha’s writings on Imperialism, are fostered to share interesting ideas in connection with the imperial discourse and its ambivalence. The core of this study examines the discourse of representing the ‘Other’ in Nostromo and Heart of Darkness. This representation comes as the result of an imperial discourse that was dominant during the nineteenth century when large territories were colonized. This discourse encompasses the demarcation of the other, the ambivalence of views and the use of different stereotypes about non-European characters. In Heart of Darkness, Marlow and Kurtz can easily be considered as agents of Empire in the African Congo. Marlow tells his story and keeps the reader yearning for meeting Kurtz ‘the remarkable man’. However, he is skeptical about the intention of Empire and the discrepancy of its discourse. His attitudes and descriptions of Africans are a continuation of the previous colonial perceptions of the colonized who are also represented as a source of labor and threat. In Nostromo, Conrad deals with a neo-colonial context where the imperial discourse is perpetuated taking different and new forms. Material interest and the love of power are main reasons for instability in ‘Sulaco’ and ‘Costaguana’ which are epitome towns of Latin America. The Indian native is represented in a way to suggest backwardness and naivity. Although its setting is Latin America, Nostromo is more a European novel than a Latin American since most of the active characters are Europeans. The prevalence of the European characters such as Italian, French, German and British demarcates the modest presence of Indians. Ambivalently, Indians are a source of purity as well as evil.