Conrad’s deterministic view of what makes the story of mankind
tragic is because in spite of all his genius and intelligence, he is an
unconscious victim of nature. As long as one is not conscious of this fact, life
is easy, but the moment one realises how one is enslaved to this Earth, things
become painful! Joseph Conrad’s short stories, a few of which I will attempt to
examine, question the very meaning of life, in a civilized society, especially
when we are fed the concepts of religion, propriety,youth, ambition, love, and
brotherhood. Unfortunately, the moment one steps out of the protection of a
civilized society, things begin to change. Take for example the case in the
short story and Outpost of Progress where Kayerts sees no purpose in returning
to the civilized world because his exposure to a primitive world, unmitigated
savagery, and the primeval instinct that he sees hiding beneath the veneer of a
civilized culture have proved to him that he is just another savage.
Another story by Conrad, The Lagoon, questions the purpose of
life when one is deprived of the company of his beloved. Ultimately Arsat’s
sacrifice of his brother for the sake of eloping with his beloved, and the risk
he takes in eloping with Diamelen, a woman belonging to the ruling family end in
the moment when he states to his western friend, Tuan, ‘In a little while I
shall see clear enough to strike-to strike. But she has died, and
…now…darkness.’ Arsat had sacrificed his brother, he had involved him in the
plan but had to abandon him so that he could flee with his beloved, while his
brother was overwhelmed by their pursuers, the ruler’s men. The final words
describing Arsat are poignant enough, ‘Arsat had not moved. He stood lonely in
the searching sunshine; and he looked beyond the great light of a cloudless day
into the darkness of a world of illusions.’ Arsat’s romance ends in tragedy, and
grief, and a descent into a realm of darkness and a world of illusions. If all
the struggle, all that planning, all that risk, and the guilt of choosing
Diamelen and leaving his brother to die, even when he called out for help was in
the long run worth it. Earlier, immediately after his beloved had passed away
from fever and illness, Arsat said to his western friend whom he called Tuan,
‘Now I can see nothing – see nothing! There is no light and no peace in the
world; but there is death – death for many. We were sons (His brother and him)
of the same mother –and I left him in the midst of enemies; but I am going back
now.’ Romance has ended up in a sense of emptiness, and life will end up in a
sense of guilt for having abandoned his brother. Death, for Arsat is the
ultimate reality!
Conrad’s short story, Youth attempts to examine the meaning of
youth especially youthful visions of success. In some ways, it even brings out
the emptiness of the visions that young people have about future careers of
success, building up business empires and making a mark on the professional
front. In the short story, Marlow describes how he looked forward to his first
Voyage to the East, and his first voyage as second mate on a ship named Judea.
He had high hopes of it being a successful voyage. His vision of the voyage and
its future benefits are described in his own words, ‘It was one of the happiest
days of my life. Fancy! Second mate for the first time-a really responsible
officer! I wouldn’t have thrown up my new billet for a fortune.’ Unfortunately,
the ship turns out to be a jinxed ship that barely sails. On its final journey,
the coal in the holds of the ship catches fire and the whole ship sinks. There
something rather tragic about the way the ship lingers on, and how Captain
Beards stays on board the doomed ship till the last moment, attempting, as it
were to salvage whatever can be saved for the underwriters. Ultimately, the
survivors board their life boats and manage to reach Eastern shores where they
tie up their boats for the night at a jetty.
Twenty years after the whole episode, Marlow recounts to his
gathered friends the whole story and he analyses the emptiness of that vision of
youthful adventure and excitement and opportunity that his appointment as second
mate on board Judea had given him. In his words, the East is ‘contained in that
vision of …youth.’ His trip to Eastern shores made Marlow understand the paradox
of life, that within that vision of youth, to which the East is connected, ‘a
stealthy Nemesis lies in wait, pursues, overtakes so many of the conquering
race, who are proud of their wisdom or their knowledge, of their strength.’
Marlow had thought that he would be a swashbuckling second mate on an English
ship and that he would go to the East, Malay and win all that he saw. It was a
truly romantic vision of success and adventure. In Marlow’s own words, ‘And for
me there was also my youth to make me patient. There was all the East before me,
and all life, and the thought that I had been tried in that ship and had come
out pretty well.’ He was young and the vision was young, the words on the ship’s
stern spurred him on with the exhortation, “Judea, London. Do or Die.” What
starts with a bang for Marlow ends with a whimper when he sees what he had once
thought to be less cultured than him look down at the exhausted sailors as if
in pity. Marlow describes the moment to his friends in the following words, ‘And
then I saw the men of the East – they were looking at me. the whole length of
the jetty was full of people..I saw brown, bronze, yellow faces, the black eyes,
the glitter, the colour of an Eastern crowd.’ It is this defining moment that
challenges Marlow’s vision, he had though he was going to bring civilization to
the East, but here were people who were perhaps more civilized than he was, this
was a culture that was ‘so mysterious, resplendent and sombre, living and
unchanged, full of danger and promise.’ Who knows how they perceived the
survivors of the Judea, perhaps they looked like savages to them? Ultimately it
all boils down into the following words, ‘But you here…you all had something out
of life; money love – whatever one gets on shore – and , tell me, wasn’t that
the best time, when we were young as sea; young and had nothing, except hard
knocks – and sometimes a chance to feel your strength – that only what you all
regret?’ What did that feeling of strength and false bravado displayed by the
narrator and his fellow sailors on board the doomed ship amount too? It all came
to nothing and thereof lies the existential question, was it worth it after
all?
Reference:
Conrad Joseph, Selected Short Stories, Wilco Publishing House, Mumbai India, 2006
Thank you so much, Ankita, have a nice day!
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