Joseph Conrad and William Faulkner are two of the most prominent writers of the modern literary era. In fact in an event held in the year 1957 at the Virginia University, Faulkner openly stated that his works were influenced by Conrad’s writing style. Faulkner have rated ‘ A Heart of Darkness’ as one of his favorite books, and reportedly when he travelled through Kent he remarked to his mother about the serenity of the place, and commented that ‘ no wonder Conrad writes such fine books from here’. Such was the admiration he carried for Conrad. Both of them wrote during the initial years of the twentieth century, so they have had a huge influence in the post World War I literary era. The aim of this essay is to analyze two novels, one each of Conrad and Faulkner, and examine the various literary elements of them.
Conrad Passage 1
He says, "`The last word he pronounced was--your name.' "I heard a light sigh, and then my heart stood still, stopped dead short by an exulting and terrible cry, by the cry of inconceivable triumph and of unspeakable pain. (Conrad, 1899, chapter III, pg.17)
The first novel of our discussion is a brief work named ‘Heart of Darkness’, written by Conrad, which was first published in the year 1899 and Marlow’s explanation of Kurtz’s last days holds a huge significance in the story. The above mentioned lines are found in the very last chapter. To understand its importance let us dwell on the story a little bit. Written in the dying years of nineteenth century, the novel aptly captures the colonialism and racialism that was widely prevalent in those days. The story is a narrative told by a sailor called Marlow. The novel depicts the journey undertaken by him into the deepness of the African woods and his search for the mysterious Mr. Kurtz. Marlow is appointed as a captain of a steamer for an ivory trading company, in the Congo area. There through the accountant of the company, Marlow first hears about Mr. Kurtz, a company agent who is highly successful in collecting ivory. After a strenuous journey through Africa, Marlow reaches his station only to find his ship in utter ruins. Through interactions with them Marlow hears more about Mr. Kurtz and his respect for that mysterious person grows even more. After days of journey their steamer is engulfed with white fog when they are within 8 miles to the inner station. When the fog lifts their steamer is assaulted by natives and their pilot die in the attack. When they somehow edge towards Mr. Kurtz’s hut they are met with a Russian who assisted Mr. Kurtz, and through him Marlow learns that the natives worship Mr. Kurtz as their God, and that the attack on their ship was ordered by Kurtz himself. Through the Russian Marlow learns about Mr. Kurtz’s mysterious ways and about his possible madness. He realizes that the once idealistic Kurtz has now succumbed to blind greed and is no more the visionary he once was. Kurtz is then brought in a stretcher to the steamer. While they are returning to the central station Marlow has a soul searching conversation with Kurtz, and Kurtz gives him many important papers. Kurtz die during the journey and his final speech was ‘The Horror! The Horror”. When Marlow return back to Brussels he distributes Kurtz’s belongings among his friends and relatives. The story ends with Marlow meeting Kurtz’s fiancé. To her he says a lie, just to comfort her, that Kurtz finally uttered her name before dying.
Conrad Passage 2
“Brought from all the recesses of the coast in all the legality of time contracts, lost in uncongenial surroundings, fed on unfamiliar food, they sickened, became inefficient, and were then allowed to crawl away and rest.” (Conrad, 1899, chapter I pg. 10)
The above mentioned passage in the first chapter talks about the evils of colonialism. Through this story Conrad explore many themes such as the evils of colonialism, race discrimination and conflict between good and evil. Throughout his journey in Africa, Marlow witnesses various cruelties and atrocities committed by the ruling forces on the native people. Though the company for which Marlow works deem their activity to be a ‘trade’ and a process of economic development, in reality they are only robbing the natural resources of the natives. In fact Kurtz out rightly accepts that he is not trading but is doing an act of suppression. For the colonists the Africans are only objects who are to be used and not respected. Racism is also one of the important themes of the story. Be it Kurtz or the company, all of them see Africans, as people who are backward and are not to be treated as equals. Kurtz when he first ventures into Africa has a notion which is similar to the idea of a ‘Whiteman’s burden’. He naturally assumes that his culture is superior to the Africans and he is supposed to tell them what to do and how to live. This attitude is reflected in most of the Whites working for the company. The inhumane punishments given to the Africans are vividly explained in the book and they are generally portrayed as oppressed people throughout the book. The conflict between good and evil is another theme discussed in the novel and the character of Kurtz particularly reflects this struggle. He came to Africa with the aim of civilizing a community which he presumed to be full of savages and was in need of external help. But once on the ground his darker nature took control of him, and he elevated him selves to a Demigod status and exploited the natives to satisfy his greed.
Conrad Passage 3
“It was difficult to realize his work was not out there in the luminous estuary, but behind him, within the brooding gloom.” (Conrad, 1899, Chapter I, pg. 1)
Darkness is a concept which finds repeated mention throughout the story. We find the above mentioned words in the very beginning of the story (the first page). Darkness follows Marlow everywhere from London, to Congo, to his inner self. It is the depiction of the savage that is present in the human nature, and one which is to be suppressed before it takes hold of our entire personality. But after reading the story, the readers are left with the question whether it is the Africans who are the savages, or is it the White Men who are using brute force to rule the people of a country. This is a question to ponder. The river is used as a symbol of life in this story. As Marlow’s journey progresses along the Congo River he also embarks on a self discovery. Conrad describes the Congo as a ‘snake that charms’, which means that it, is to be both, admired and feared. Marlow travels through the Congo to the inner station to meet Kurtz; symbolically he has reached the ‘heart of darkness”. His travel back to the downstream is his journey away from savagery, which is there in every human heart, and back to civilization. The author also employs various symbols to accentuate his themes and characterizations. The fog that envelops the steamer during Marlow’s search for Kurtz symbolically represents, the delusion about Kurtz’s image surrounding Marlow’s perspective. He has a pre conceived notion about Kurtz, which is formed in his mind even before he has met the person. So he views the events around him without knowing the actual facts, and thus his thoughts are clouded which is represented by the mist surrounding the steamer.
The second novel of our discussion, ‘As I lay Dying’ by William Faulkner, was first published in the year 1930, and was written by him when he was working at a power plant. The title of the novel is borrowed from one of the passages in ‘The Odyssey’, and the novel is considered to be one of the best, written by Faulkner. The chapter lengths are varying, and each chapter is narrated by different characters of the story. Thus the reader is offered fifteen different perspectives (there are 15 narrators altogether) of the story.
Faulkner Passage 1
pa says, kind of hangdog and proud too, with his teeth and all, even if he wouldn't look at us. "Meet Mrs. Bundren," he says. (Faulkner, 1930, pg. 136)
This passage comes at the very end of the story and in a nutshell captures the selfish motives of the characters. To further understand this point, let us discuss the story a little. The story revolves around the burial of the deceased Addie Bundren, whose dying wish is to be buried in Jefferson. The Bundren family is based out of Faulkner’s favorite fictional town of Yoknapatawpha County, and they set out on a journey to fulfill the dying wishes of Addie. Addie Bundren is the wife of Anse Bundren and they are a poor family based out in the rural South of the 1920s. The first chapter is narrated by Darl Bundren, who introduces jewel, his brother, as a silent and introvert person and says how Cash, the oldest son, builds a coffin for their mother by his own hands. Vardaman is the youngest brother and Dewey Dell is the only daughter of the family. Though Darl narrates the scene of his mother’s death, both he and Jewel were not present at her last moments, as they were sent on a trip by their father so that they can earn three dollars, even though their mother was dying. The family sets off on a tedious journey towards Jefferson to fulfill Addie’s wishes. The journey is tiresome because of many reasons. The Bundrens are poor, Cash has a broken leg, Dewey is pregnant but unmarried, and Anse is a selfish father who can only think of getting a new set of teeth for himself. The bad weather devastates a bridge on their way and they decide to cross the river on a ford and lose their mules in the process. Cash breaks his leg again, and with the help of their neighbor Vernon Tull they recover their coffin. A chapter narrated by Addie herself reveals that, Jewel is actually the son of the local minister, with whom Addie had a brief affair. This was not known to the rest of the family, and Jewel was always the favorite child of Addie. Jewel seems to have a special liking for his horse, but he had to sell it when Anse mortgages all he had plus Jewels’ horse, to procure a new set of mules for their journey. The family rests in a farm belonging to a person named Gillespie, for the night. Darl sets the barn on fire to cremate his mother and save the family from further expenses, and through the efforts of Jewel the coffin is saved. The family finally reaches the town of Jefferson, and Dewey tries to abort her child but is coerced into a sex relationship by a boy who lies to her that he is a doctor. Her father takes all her money and buys himself a false teeth set, and a doctor declares Cash’s leg to be beyond repair. Darl is sent to a mental asylum, to evade a law suit for his burning of the farm, and when he realizes his family has cheated on him, he loses his sanity for real. Addie is buried in Jefferson as per her wishes and the story ends with Anse introducing a new woman to his children as his wife.
Faulkner Passage 2
"I have fed you and sheltered you. . the daughter of nay dead wife, calls me a thief over her mother's grave." (Faulkner 1930, pg. 132)
The passage highlights the relationship between Faulkner’s characters. The main theme of the novel is the complexity of human relations. The Bundrens though unified as a family in fulfilling the dying wish of Addie, each has a selfish motive, in making the journey to Jefferson. Anse wants a teeth set, Dewey requires an abortion, Vardaman wants a toy train and Cash wants a gramophone. Cash even builds a coffin for his mother in front of her own eyes, and interested more in his carpentry rather than spending time with his ailing mother. The Bundrens are a bunch of people, with individual selfish motives, who stick together as a family only to fulfill their individual desires, rather than out of love.
Faulkner Passage 3
“Not him to miss a chance to make that extra three dollars at the price of his mother's goodbye kiss.” (Faulkner, 1930, pg. 9)
This passage accentuates the horrors of poverty. The novel was published in the year 1930, which marked the start of the Great depression which engulfed America. A common slogan during that period was that ‘poor land makes poor people’. Faulkner’s characters throughout the novel reflect this theme. Addie was from a poor family who marries Anse because he had a piece of land. Economic reasons played a part in a marriage decision which is supposed to be based on love, mainly because Addie was poor. Every other decision of the family is driven by financial reasons. The coffin is made by Cash to save expenses, Tarl and Jewel are out on business to earn money rather than be with their dying mother, and Dewey’s own father uses all possible means to rob her $10 from her, rather than worrying about how she got the money and for what purpose. Poverty and ill effects of the Great depression is clearly portrayed by Faulkner with the help of his characters.
Comparison
Both Conrad and Faulkner through their characters have expressed their views on larger issues. While Conrad’s Marlow talks about racialism and the evils of imperialism, Faulkner’s Bundrens are victims of poverty and in their own way express the evils of the Great Depression that befell on the country during that period. Both the authors have used a psycho analytical approach in discussing their topics. Conrad narrates explicitly various soul searching moments of both his main characters – Marlow and Kurtz. The characters’ self search reveals some important details about the life in an imperialist Africa. When Kurtz first comes to Africa he comes with good intentions of helping the local community, but gradually he succumbs to greed and turns into a self effacing dictator. This is the story of the colonial powers in Africa and Asia during the imperial regime, and Conrad captures it vividly through Kurtz character but achieves this without making any direct remarks on imperialism.
The same way Faulkner’s poor Bundren family, through their journey to Jefferson, clearly depicts the predicament of a rural poor family in the 1930s America. Faulkner like Conrad (a writer he admires) without making a direct comment on the Great depression, portrays the plight of the country which was gripped by a huge financial crisis. Even family values were traded for material gains and the poor land made the people poorer. Both use symbolisms and motifs to drive home their points. Congo and darkness are two powerful tools employed by Conrad to define a person’s journey into the darkest part of his self/heart and how he emerges out of it. The New Hope church in ‘As I Lay Dying’ acts as a symbol for the hope carried in the hearts of the poor people, and the fish of Vardaman acts as a reminder of the mortality of human life.
These two works are two masterpieces carved by two of the greatest writers of the past generation. Though these stories deal with different themes, they are similar because of the way a larger theme is expertly conveyed through the troubled life of the protagonists.
References
Joseph Conrad. (1899) Heart of darkness. Web. Accessed on October 19, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Joseph_Conrad/Heart_of_Darkness/Chapter_III_p17.html
William Faulkner. (1930) As I lay dying. Web. Accessed on October 19, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.rodriguezalvarez.com/novelas/pdfs/Faulkner,%20William%20%27%27As%20I%20Lay%20Dying%27%27-Xx-En-Sp-Xx.pdf
