In order to determine that hope exists for humanity in Joseph Conrad’s novel, readers should delve into the literature and investigate its dichotomies: apathy and compassion and life and death. At the same time, readers must be aware that while authors generally have experiences or beliefs that influence their writing, the impressionistic style of fiction writing allows readers “to form his or her own ideas as to what the writer is trying to convey as opposed to the writer telling outright how he or she sees and feels about a subject.” (Thompson) As such, readers analyze the above two dichotomies to argue the existence of hope for humanity, and come to realize that Conrad does not attempt to prescribe his view, but instead, he stimulates the
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As if humanity’s future did not feel grim enough, Ossipon decides to open “the door deliberately, and [leap] out,” committing the last tragic act of deception in the novel, thereby casting Winnie off into stygian blackness. Winnie’s suicide was due to a lack of perceived hope- her life was snatched away. Conrad seals the wretchedness of humanity in his novel, and, the final betrayal encompasses Conrad’s despondence after completing the novel that made him “feel as if [he] were left behind, aimless amongst mere husks of sensations” (229) that had “no morality, no knowledge and no hope.” (Meyers) With compassion dead and suicide amidst, one would assume that Conrad’s view on humanity is exceedly bleak. One might think that the last show of total betrayal implies limp, flavorless emotions- apathy, indifference and despair- but the story does not end in suicide. It …show more content…
If Conrad was trying to demonstrate his view on humanity, he could have chosen a different form of literature. Instead, Conrad weaves impression through one of the most undervalued elements in literature- the setting. Evidence of Conrad spinning a veil over the reader's stem from London’s “maze of streets… rested at the bottom of a black abyss,” (198) to “a town without shadows,” (9) which are like perspectives- indistinct and indefinite- to constant torrential rain and fog that blurs the characters’ and the reader's’ perception. To summarize, Conrad uses weather and atmosphere to emphasize unreliability and portrays perspective through the use of windows. In one distinct example, the Assistant Commissioner questions the reliability of the old woman who described Verloc and Stevie because it was a very foggy day. As if that was not enough to highlight perspective and reliability, the Assistant Commissioner ”moves across the room to the window.” (74) In The Secret Agent, windows are barriers that no one can truly see objectively through and limit the understanding in the observed subject due to its narrow scope. Therefore, not only is a person’s perspective skewed due to a window,
As if humanity’s future did not feel grim enough, Ossipon decides to open “the door deliberately, and [leap] out,” committing the last tragic act of deception in the novel, thereby casting Winnie off into stygian blackness. Winnie’s suicide was due to a lack of perceived hope- her life was snatched away. Conrad seals the wretchedness of humanity in his novel, and, the final betrayal encompasses Conrad’s despondence after completing the novel that made him “feel as if [he] were left behind, aimless amongst mere husks of sensations” (229) that had “no morality, no knowledge and no hope.” (Meyers) With compassion dead and suicide amidst, one would assume that Conrad’s view on humanity is exceedly bleak. One might think that the last show of total betrayal implies limp, flavorless emotions- apathy, indifference and despair- but the story does not end in suicide. It …show more content…
If Conrad was trying to demonstrate his view on humanity, he could have chosen a different form of literature. Instead, Conrad weaves impression through one of the most undervalued elements in literature- the setting. Evidence of Conrad spinning a veil over the reader's stem from London’s “maze of streets… rested at the bottom of a black abyss,” (198) to “a town without shadows,” (9) which are like perspectives- indistinct and indefinite- to constant torrential rain and fog that blurs the characters’ and the reader's’ perception. To summarize, Conrad uses weather and atmosphere to emphasize unreliability and portrays perspective through the use of windows. In one distinct example, the Assistant Commissioner questions the reliability of the old woman who described Verloc and Stevie because it was a very foggy day. As if that was not enough to highlight perspective and reliability, the Assistant Commissioner ”moves across the room to the window.” (74) In The Secret Agent, windows are barriers that no one can truly see objectively through and limit the understanding in the observed subject due to its narrow scope. Therefore, not only is a person’s perspective skewed due to a window,